The Knox Cemetery

Date: 1873 to 1889
Location: Rossville, Fayette, Tennessee, United States
Surname/tag: Sherron

The Knox Cemetery is located on private land near Rossville, Tennessee. It is near latitude/longitude 35.02009, -89.50139 (coordinates from Find A Grave). ^[1] As of Feb 2024, there are no known photographs of this cemetery.

The following description of the cemetery was written by Jenny Rainwater in 2016.

The Knox Cemetery, Fayette County, TN

The Knox Family Graveyard is located on the original plantation of Robert Knox (1800- 1879) near Rossville TN. Numerous family members, including daughter Almira Knox Sherron, are buried in the area. Family tradition has it that Catherine (Kirk) Knox had the graves built high during the Civil War so when the boys got home for a visit, they could sleep between the graves and no one could see them. I do not know if “the boys” referred to her four sons who served in the war or to any of “the boys” who lived in nearby communities. This burying ground is still owned by descendants of Catherine and Robert but cannot be located without permission and assistance. Four sons served in the Civil War: Dr. Robert Lee, Lebuzan Houston, & Franklin M. were in MS and TN and John A. was in AR.)

The original list of grave markers was a typewritten sheet (date unknown) contributed by Mrs. Florence (Brooks) Hardee, 1639 Broome St. Fernandina Beach, Florida, granddaughter of Florence May (Hooks) Knox and was circulated widely among Knox researchers. In 2008, I was part of a party of three who returned to the cemetery to ascertain if there were omissions or corrections to be made to the earlier list. The cemetery is located in dense woods and many of the stones were broken and/or covered in moss which made reading and photographing the markers difficult. However, the three of us double checked one another in an effort to have an accurate accounting of burials there.

In researching the Knox family, a new found cousin and I corresponded and later visited with Mrs. Bernice Cargill, Collierville, TN, who compiled several books of genealogical information about Fayette County and helped many who were interested in their family histories by sharing information she found in the genealogical library or had personally collected. I mention her because, among other things, she provided us with photographs of the gravesite of the family of Mary D. Knox Webb, sister of Almira Knox Sherron. Mary Webb and her child, Willie, died on the same day in Sept. 1878 from the Yellow Fever Epidemic. Their deaths are substantiated in an article about the Collierville epidemic which mentions Mary’s husband, Dr. Augustus Webb. (I will send you a photo of Mary and Augustus’ pillar marker erected a different cemetery because it was similar to the one for Almira and Wyatt Sherron.) Mrs. Cargill thought that Almira and her husband were victims of Yellow Fever because they died about a 6 weeks after Mary Knox Webb and her child died and they lived close to one another.

Here is the Sherron information I helped collect in 2008 from the four-sided pillar marker in The Knox Family Cemetery.

Side one:

Mittie Sherron Aug 30, 1860 - Jan 20, 1888 [The obituary, which appeared in the Somerville newspaper, gave her name as “Nettie” Evidently the Somerville Library has some old newspapers].

Nancy C. Sherron Oct 10, 1862 - Sept 19, 1873 . [ It is not clear if Nancy was the daughter of Almira (Knox) Sherron and Wyatt Sherron as no Nancy Sherron is listed in the Wyatt Sherron household for the census of 1870. There was a listing for a “Nannie” Sherron, age four, however. There is no listing for either “Nannie” or “Nancy” on the 1880 census in which her brother Felix K. Sherron is listed as head of household and farmer].

Side two: Wyatt Sherron March 3, 1826 – Oct. 22, 1878 &
Almira L. Sherron ( March 15, 1832 – Oct. 26, 1878)

Side three: Mary A. Sherron, June 20, 1886 – October 8, 1888 [not on the original “Brooks/Hardee” list]
Zach Sherron, March 31, 1870 – December 18, 1889. [not on the original list]

Side four: No discernable names

Sources

1. ↑ Knox Cemetery, Find A Grave