GIEGER CEMETERY, COVINGTON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI




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This file was compiled and contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:
	Gerry Gieger   [giegerg@hotmail.com]
	
        
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Location:  This Cemetery is located on a tributary of the Okatoma Creek in a 
heavily wooded area on the East Side of US Highway 49, south of Collins, MS.  
It is about two miles from the courthouse and just past a private Zoo which 
houses unwanted and discarded exotic animals...  The land is presently owned 
by a Jackson MS descendant of Mr. Sam Shoemake, and is only accessible from 
the adjacent land of Mr. R.C. Sanford and his wife. It requires crossing The 
Sanford's pasture, and climbing a five-foot net and barbed-wire fence, and 
has been sought for by many Gieger descendants, but the path was marked with 
orange florescent paint on the trees on 31 August 2000.

Once,  a wagon road passed within 20 yards of the Cemetery, but that has since 
disappeared.  The Markers are cement slabs covering the entire graves and hand 
lettered inscription adorn the surface...since they are at ground level, often 
the falling leaves cover up the slabs and soon they are underground by the 
process of decaying leaves...Years ago, someone placed a barbed wire enclosure 
around the Cemetery but only one post remains upright...The area is inhabited 
by feral Emu's and other wildlife...an Alligator has been seen in the Sanford's 
pond...


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Jessie GIEGER Senior 
Born 20 March 1793
Departed 20 October 1871

Tobitha MARTIN 
Wife of Jessie GIEGER
Born 22 July 1793
Departed 17 November 1871

Martha DIKES*
Wife of Benjamin DIKES
Departed 1 May 1862


Additional graves may be located in the area and it is rumored that a slave 
Graveyard existed in the same immediate area, however, it has not been located...
although Mrs. Sanford maintains some markers did exist, at one time...

* [Note: Martha DIKES is the mother-in-law of Zachariah GIEGER, elder child of 
Jessie and Tobitha GIEGER, and believed to be the wife of Benjamin DYKES, who is 
thought to have died before 1860 and been buried in the old Welborn Cemetery in 
Jasper County, MS.  Family tradition states that Martha's maiden name was GIEGER, 
however, it has never been validated]


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