MADISON COUNTY, TN - Newspapers - Extract from December 23, 1871
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Transcribed from a microfilm copy available from TN Archives Whig and Tribune,
Jackson Tennessee December 23, 1871 Volume XXVIII no. 8

The First Wedding In Jackson.--The first marriage ceremony ever performed in the
town of Jackson united Miss Nancy Sevier, a daughter of Charles Sevier, a soldier
in the war of 1812, under Gen. Jackson, to Mr. Jessee D. Russell. They were
married in 1823, and have the honor to be the parents of the first male child born
in Jackson. They have had eight children, all living, the youngest being 26 years
of age. Many a day, in the rosy spring-time, fifty years ago, they remember
gathering the wild strawberry, which grew in luxuriance on the very spot where
Jackson now stands. Their memories are still vigorous, and it is a rare treat to
hear them discourse of the long-gone days of their early youth. Heath and clear
minds bless their old age, and they are passing into the twilight of life with the
gracefulness of an Autumn evening. They are still citizens of Jackson, and
universally esteemed.

An Old Grave Yard.--About four years ago Messrs. Ramsey & Ferguson purchased a lot
from Dr. W. F. Still, in the western suburbs of the city, and established upon it
a brick yard. For several months past they have been digging up human skeletons,
evidencing a fact, hitherto unknown to them, that their brick yard had been a
burying ground. One of the skeletons dug up had on spurs, the make of half a
century ago, and about the skull of another was found two well preserved
tortoiseshell combs, about ten or twelve skeletons in all being exhumed by the
workmen. These facts coming to our knowledge, we interviewed several of our oldest
citizens, with but little satisfaction as to who was buried in this almost
forgotten spot, or when it was first used as a resting place for the dead.
However, from an interview with Mrs. Jessie D. Russell, a daughter of Maj. Charles
Sevier, one of the first settlers, we learned the following interesting facts: The
graveyard mentioned was established about the year 1821, before the incorporation
of the town of Jackson, and some thirty or forty persons were buried there.--When
the town was incorporated many of the bodies were removed to the present city
cemetery, yet several were left behind in their rude resting-place, with only rail
pens to mark their graves. Among them Mrs. Russell remembers Col. Gibson, a
distinguished officer in the war of 1812, under Gen. Jackson, who was buried with
military honors, and Mrs. Shannon, the wife of Thomas Shannon, the first Sheriff
of this county. These were, doubtless, the skeletons which excited special
attention as mentioned before, and account for the spurs and the combs. It is
strange that this ancient burying-ground, where sleep the bones of many of the
pioneers of this now prosperous country, should have ceased to exist even in the
traditions of the city. Our authorities, it seems to us, should have handed the
fact down from one Board to another, and either removed the dead or protected
their remains. There is something sad in the fact of these old settlers' bones
being disturbed by the rude spade, and handled by the careless hands of workmen,
after a sleep of fifty years.