Ozark County Missouri, Turnbo Cemetery Headstones ==================================================================== Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm A SURVEY OF OZARK COUNTY CEMETERIES Published by the Ozark County Genealogical and Historical Society, Gainesville, MO 1989 These surveys were done in 1986-1988 and were currant at that time. ______________________________________________________________________________ Prepared by Shirley M. Hassell Henry from the original publication. Used by permission dated 28 Sep 2004. ==================================================================== Compiled Inscriptions for Relocated Turnbo Cemetery at Pontiac For the second time in 25 years, the relocated Turnbo Cemetery at Pontiac is being cleared of brush and overgrowth of grass, weeds, and brambles. The chairman of the cemetery committee, Guy Johnson, says that some $160 in donations received this summer have made it possible to begin cutting brush and clearing up the grounds. The work is being done by Verl Mahan, Floyd Mahan and D. P. Herd. So far, several loads of brush have been cleared away and after the first frost, weeds and brambles will be cut down. It was in 1950, in preparation for the impoundment of Bull Shoals Lake, that the U. S. Corps of Engineers moved the cemetery to its rocky slope not far from Pontiac Cemetery. The present location, approximately two acres, was purchased by the Corps of Engineers from William M. Martin. First located between the east side of Little North Fork and the west side of Spring Creek, the cemetery was in existence there before the Civil War. It now lies under the waters of Bull Shoals Lake. Located on land first owned by Andy Herd and Hettie Johnson Herd, the cemetery became known as the Turnbo Cemetery probably after Hettie Herd was widowed and later married to J. N. Turnbo. Another tie with the Turnbo name came when Hettie and Andy Herd's son, Jess E., Herd, married Eliza Turnbo, the daughter of S. C. Turnbo, author of Fireside Stories, a detailed history of the settlement of central and western Ozark county. Later, Jess and Eliza Herd's daughter, Fannie Herd, married M. M. Sanders and it was the Sanders family who sold the old location of the cemetery to the U. S. Government. S. C. Turnbo, in one of his Fireside Stories, tells of this incident, which occurred 100 years ago at the old cemetery location: "One day in August, 1865, I and Abe Nave, Joe Hall and John Mahan found a rich colony of bees in the graveyard on what is now the Jess Herd place in the fork of Little North Fork and Bratton Spring Creek. The bees occupied the hollow of a dead hickory stump, fifteen feet high. The bees went in at the ground. Hall pushed the stump down, which broke off two inches above the surface of the ground. The cavity in the stump was filled with rich honeycomb from four inches below the level of the ground to several feet above. The honeycomb was so rich that John Mahan carried a piece of it to his wife in Douglas County, Missouri. The stump yielded a little more than eight gallons of strained honey." When the Corps of Engineers moved the cemetery, existing markers were moved. But where there were no markers but the name of the burial was known, the Corps of Engineers put up wooden markers which now have largely deteriorated. Some of them have been reduced to splintery sawdust. On those which stand, much of the identifying inscription has worn away. Some of the graves have been marked with large new headstones. A chart of all of the burials has been prepared by the Corp of Engineers and where the name of the buried is known, it is given on the chart, along with the location of the grave in the cemetery. There are some 172 unknown burials. A copy of the chart or map of the relocated cemetery is available from the U. S. Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District, for a small fee. The names listed on the map of the relocated Turnbo Cemetery are" Atkins, Rugh Coffee, Pauline Cosby, Martha E. Donel, Lizzy Ellison, Ollie Evans, Alma Ford, Aga Ford, Eligah Ford, Mary A. Ford, Mary Ettie Ford, Peggy Ford, Polly A. Ford, Rebecca Friend, infant Friend, Rena Gibson, 2 infants Haynes, Euhraim Henry Hillhouse, Alwillia Hillhouse, Rebeckey E. Jenkins, Arvel Jenkins, Earl Jenkins, Margaret E. Johnson, Ada Johnson, Alva Johnson, America Johnson, Hirby Johnson, Isaac (location unknown) Johnson, 5 infants Johnson, James G. Johnson, Mary J. Johnson, Nettie Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Serelda Johnson, Solman Johnson, Tomey Johnson, W. C. Lamberson, Elizabeth Lance, infant (lacation unknown) Lance, Mrs. (location unknown) Mahan, A. W. Mahan, Arthur Mahan, Austin Mahan, Elouisa Mahan, George W. Mahan, Isaac M. Mahan, Isaac N., Jr. Mahan, Martha A. Mahan, Nettie, Mahan, Nancy E. Mahan, Perlina Mahan, Sam Mahan, Stellie Mahan, Thomas Malonee, Digie Malonee, Dora B. and infant Malonee, G. W. Malonee, Mary Malonee W. E. Martin, Emiline (location unknown) Martin, Josephone Nave, Bill Nave, Gracie Nave, Harrison Nave, Ida Nave, John E. Nave, Madge Nasve, Nancy Nave, W. F. Nave, Maudie Neasby, R. Neasby, V. W. Nelson, Ben Nelson, Edward A. Nelson, Sarah Ellen Nelson, W. B. Pearson, James Pearson, _____ Pitts, Arie Pitts, Ganarie Pitts, Sarah A. Prierand, Margot Reeves, infant Reeves, Martha E. Reeves, Michal Rice, Margaret Richmond, Bill Richmond, Nat, Richmond, _____ Schofield, Ellis M. Schofield, Joe Schofield, Laura A. Schofield, Laura Adelind Schofield, Warren W. Sloyarber, Mortghey, Snow, Abe Sturmon, Deliha E. Suell, Arie D. Taber, Larkin Taber, Nan Terry, two infants Terry, Timmey Terry, John F. Terry, Mary Jane Terry, Willie Turley, Benjamin Turley, Betty (location unknown) Turley, Hannah Turley, Judy Ann (location unknown) Turley, Lafate Turley, Mary Ann (location unknown) Turnbo, E. A. Turnbo, Polly M. H. Turnbo, W. A. Turnbo, Eliza E. Upton, Elmer Upton, A. Upton Henry E. Wilbanks, Iduma (location unknown) Willbanks, infant (location unknown) And approximately 172 unknown graves. Graves that were claimed by relatives for burial elsewhere reported by the Corps of Engineers were Clara E. Herd and Dick Wilbanks.