Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Johnson, J. Cecil, 1926 

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TWO MEN DROWN IN PLUNGE THRU DRAW BRIDGE 

Cecil Johnson and Negro Die as Car Falls into Open Draw at South Quay 

NEGRO NOT YET FOUND 

  Cecil Johnson, a well-known young white man of the Franklin community and 
Buck Holland, colored, were instantly killed at South Quay bridge Monday night 
of this week at 8 o'clock when a Ford roadster in which they were driving 
plunged into the open draw of the bridge over the Blackwater River.  The 
bridge had just been opened by two colored men to admit the passage upstream 
of the tug "Ida" of the Camp Manufacturing Company, towing a light barge 
astern and was being closed when the two unfortunate men approached the bridge 
from the Southampton side.  There were no lights on the bridge and the negroes 
said that they saw the car coming and shouted loudly in an effort to stop them 
before too late.  The night was somewhat foggy and the car went over. 

  Practically the whole of the South Quay bridge is contained in the draw, 
which was built with a 63-foot clearance to allow the passage of the big side-
wheel steamer "Nanticoke" at that time owned by the Albemarle Steam Navigation 
Company.  On the Southampton side the draw begins at the abutment and the 
slight incline made by the roadway in its approach would prevent lights on an 
automobile from showing to a driver whether the bridge was open or closed. 
The ship channel is on the Nansemond side, the bridge being built between the 
two counties in 1907 to replace a ferry at that point. 

  W.A. Jones, keeper of the bridge, immediately came to Franklin with the news 
of the tragedy and for assistance.  A large crowd speedily gathered at the 
scene and Burnette Johnson, Pete Lowe and Robert Johnson in a rowboat located 
the car and about 9:30 pulled an overcoat out of the car, which several 
friends of young Johnson identified as his, it being known that he, with 
Holland, a young negro employed on his farm, had left Leonidas Cutchin at the 
Cross Roads Filling Station at 7 o'clock to come by Franklin and join Cutchin 
and a party of other friends below South Quay on a coon hunt.  A little later 
an axe was taken from the car which Cutchin positively identified as his own, 
one that he put in Johnson's car for use on the hunt.  A block and fall and a 
large spotlight were secured from Rawls' Garage here and about midnight the 
car raised to the surface, but the bodies were not in it. 

  Search for the drowned men continued throughout the night and at 8 o'clock 
Tuesday morning the body of Johnson was found a few feet from the scene of the 
plunge.  The indications were that he had been killed when his car struck some 
old piling at the water's edge, and Sheriff Rawls of Nansemond County turned 
the body over to W.J.M. Holland and Son, local undertakers, who brought it to 
Franklin.  Search for the body of the negro has been unsuccessful up to this 
time, and as Johnson was driving it is thought that Holland must have been 
hurled some distance from the car as it turned over, or has drifted off with 
the current. 

  Cecil Johnson was 27 years of age, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. G.T. 
Johnson of Nansemond County in the Lee's Mill neighborhood near Franklin.  The 
deceased was unmarried and is survived by his parents, a half-brother, Charlie 
Johnson, and a large family connection in this community.  He was a member of 
South Quay Baptist Church and funeral services were conducted from the home 
Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock by Rev. C.G. Lowe, a former South Quay 
pastor, assisted by Dr. N.G. Newman of Holy Neck Christian Church.  Interment 
was made in the family burial plot, the body bearers Tom and Jack Holland, 
Leonidas and Adolph Cutchin, Ernest Kehayias, Patrick Peters, W.E. Beale and 
W.J.M. Holland, Jr. 


Joseph Cecil JOHNSON, farmer, 
b. 23 Jul 1899*, Nansemond Co., crashed 8 Nov 1926, South Quay bridge, 
interred in the family cemetery*, near Holland, 10 Nov 1926, 
"Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), Vol. 22, No. 5, Fri., Nov. 12, 1926, p. 1 

*Additional information: 

Site not known (Feb 2024) to the Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} 
   Cemetery Project. 

No Find a Grave Memorial 

D.Cert. 27521 (Franklin #49) states he fractured his neck; he did not drown. 

WW-I draft card gives b. 23 Jul 1898. 

Presumably his parents are also buried there.  His father's D.Cert. 1947-23009 
   gives buried Home Place, near Holland.  His mother's D.Cert. 1961-7881 
   gives buried Family Cemetery, Nansemond Co. 

Both of his grandfathers were Confederate veterans. 

Robert Junius JOHNSON served as a private in Co. A, 14th VA Infantry. 
   He is buried in the JONES-JOHNSON family cemetery on Quaker Rd. 
   Nansemond Co. Miscellaneous Cemeteries, Vol. 2 (NV-II-31), 
   an extension of the SCHS Cemetery Project. 

Elisha Rawls COPELAND served as a private in Co. I, 41st VA Infantry. 
   He is buried in a COPELAND family cemetery on Box Elder Rd. 
   Nansemond Co. Miscellaneous Cemeteries, Vol. 2 (NV-II-18), 
   an extension of the SCHS Cemetery Project: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/nanvol2.txt 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/j525c20o.txt