General Albert Sydney Johnston

Texas State Cemetery (Reinterred)

The death of General Sidney Johnston is heart-rendering, He fought bled and died-- for he breathed
his last in two minutes after dismounting suppose to have bled to death from a wound in  his Leg. (Quote from Miss Priscilla Larkin: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Belle)

Source

National Cemeteries (As Of 1902)

National Cemetery in New Albany, Indiana

Source                      

History Of The Thirteenth Regiment In Tennessee

Mountain Home National Cemetery In East TN (Washington County)

History of the Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, U. S. A ...,  By Samuel W. Scott, Samuel P Angel:

The Prairie

Jim's Photo (Ohio)

The prairie: A tale, by James Fenimore Cooper:

"The meagre herbage of the prairie, promised nothing, in favour of a hard and unyielding soil, over which the wheels of the vehicles rattled as lightly as though they travelled on a beaten road; neither wagons nor beasts making any deeper impression, than to mark that bruised and withered grass, which the cattle plucked from time to time, and as often rejected, as food too sour, for even their hunger to render palatable."

Daniel Boone And His Fellow Pioneers

Daniel Boone's Grave In Frankfort, KY

From The New Nation Grows, Volume Two:

"So many followed the trails marked out by Daniel Boone and other pioneers that Kentucky, their favorite destination, entered the Union as a state in 1792. By 1800 it had a population of more than 200,000 and a local pride the equal of any of the older states."

"The inhabitants of Kentucky...are nearly all natives of Virginia, and particularly the remotest parts of that state; and exclusive of the gentlemen of the law, physicians, and a small number of citizens who have received an education suitable to their professions in the Atlantic states, they have preserved the manners of the Virginians. With them the passion for gaming and spirituous liquors is carried to excess, which frequently terminates in quarrels degrading to human nature. The public-houses are always crowded, more especially during the sittings of the courts of justice. Horses and law-suits comprise the usual topic of their conversation."

"The inhabitants of Kentucky eagerly recommend to strangers the country they inhibit as the best part of the United States, as that where the soil is most fertile, the climate most salubrious, and where all the inhabitants were brought through the love of liberty and independence!"

In Memory Of Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan

A centograph in Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama:

Morgan's Raid, by Allan Keller, is a detailed account of this Civil War General's cavalry dash through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.

Source

Details surrounding the General's death from Tennessee History excerpted below:

"In September 1864, Morgan and his men came to rest around Greeneville, Tenn. The General posted his men to guard the town and retired to the Williams residence– a local home where he was a friend of the family. During the night, a unit of Union cavalry charged down a road in Greeneville unguarded by Morgan’s men. They swarmed the town and headed straight towards the William’s residence, which they immediately surrounded."

"According to remaining Union reports, General John Hunt Morgan was shot when he resisted capture."

Sophie (Lyons) Choice - Or Born Into A Life Of Crime

The notorious Sophie Lyons Burke, retired criminal turned philanthropist, was once considered an "Edison or Morgan or Rockefeller of her field." Sophie came to my attention while doing research on Judge Ira Jayne in the Edith Mae Cummings case because Sophie Lyons Burke's probate case was named in conjunction with Judge Jayne.

A book written by Mrs. Lyons Burke, entitled Why Crime Does Not Pay is online.

I had done most of my research when I found a November 2009 article about Sophie here, "From Rogue to Reformer." This article, in addition to being an entertaining account of Sophie's life, provided additional details about her family. Sophie's granddaughter, Esther Bower, was named, as was Esther's mother, Florence (see here in 1903 and here in 1917 for Florence's two marriages to Joseph Bauer/Bower). The article also mentioned that Sophie and her favorite child, Carleton*, were cremated and buried in Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit. [Note: Woodmere Cemetery was in the precinct where Jim worked most of his 25 years as a Detroit cop.]

*Carlton Mason [This one?]
Death date: 05 Mar 1922
Death place: Spokane, Spokane, Washington [not Seattle?]
Age at death: 44 years 11 months 1 day
Estimated birth year: 1878
Father's name: Edward Mason
Mother's name: Sophia Van Elken [Sophie's maiden name]
Collection: Washington Death Certificates, 1907-1960

This newspaper article (in the Prescott Evening Courier, dated 24 January 1929), regarding Sophie Lyons Burke's estate, mentioned Sophie's daughter, Madeline Brady (who was incompetent) and in the care of a guardian in an English hospital.

A brief bio and drawing of Sophie's husband, Ned Lyons, a renown criminal in his own right, can be found here. (There's also a drawing of their cohort, George Mason; was he the father of Sophie's son, Carlton Mason? Pure speculation on my part).

This article, "Queen of Crooks, mentions Sophie's "Paris" years where she was acquainted with Victor Hugo, George Sand and Guy de Maupassant. One of Sophie's daughters was an opera singer in Paris (Lottie?). Contemporary accounts (May 1889) of Sophie as Madame de Varney can be found here and here.

This paragraph from "The jewelers' circular" (26 July 1899) mentioned that William Burke, alias "Billy The Kid," was arrested in the company on the notorious Sophie Lyons, and that he had previously been arrested in Detroit on suspicion of pulling a "sneak job" at Wright Kay jewelers. Billy was turned over to the Pittsburgh police after his Detroit arrest where he got 2 1/2 years for robbery.

Sophie Lyons Burke was in court in Washtenaw County, Michigan; the court expenses (Oct. 1884) for J. W. Babbitt, Asst. Prosecuting Attorney and D. C. Griffin, justice, were listed here. This bio of Sophie (p. 206) stated that she was engaged in blackmail until 6 Feb 1883 when she was convicted at "Ann Harbor [sic]" (Ann Arbor, Washtenaw Co., Michigan) where she was convicted for larceny and sentenced to 3 years at the Detroit House of Corrections.

The "retired" Sophie was robbed in Detroit in 1922, according to this New York Times article printed 6 July 1922. Stolen items included diamonds given to Sophie by her son who had recently died in Seattle, according to the article [Carleton?].

A Rogue's Gallery can be found here, including a picture Sophie Lyons Burke and others mentioned in her book.

When In Savannah...

One sight to see in Savannah, Georgia, is Bonaventure Cemetery, made even more famous by the novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. While there, not only did we visit the graves of the famous, there was an unexpected genealogy angle as well. Trans- planted members of the New England Backus family (and their Georgia kin) were buried in Bonaventure. Jim took pictures of the Backus gravestones and I posted them at findagrave.com. For more information, a search can be done.

Henry Ritter Backus was born in Lindsley, New York, the oldest son of Ebenezer & Sarah (Lindsley) Backus. His Backus lineage: (Henry Ritter7, Ebenezer6, Delucena5, John4, John3, William2, William1). I am also a descendant of William1. He also lived in Binghamton, NY, and Athens, PA, before moving south to Wilmington, NC, eventually settling in Savannah, Georgia.

Buried near Henry Ritter Backus is his wife, Helen Jewett Backus, daughter, Annie Jewett Backus, son Henry Edward Backus (and his wife Alice Hardee) and daughter Elizabeth Welch (Backus) Mason.

The book, Biographical history of Westchester County, New York, pub. 1899, mentioned that Henry Ritter married Eliza Backus, daughter of Delucena Backus, and that Eliza was a descendant of Governor William Bradford (Mayflower). Apparently Henry Ritter Backus was named after his Aunt Eliza's husband. The book also stated that Delucena Backus married Electa Mallory. Delucena was the son of John Backus & Sybil Whiting and the grandson of John Backus & Mary Bingham. Then there was William Backus who married Elizabeth Pratt, and the next ancestor was William Backus who crossed over in the "Rainbow" and was first heard of in Saybrook, Connecticut in 1637.

The University of North Carolina houses a manuscript by Annie Jewett Backus

Manuscript by Annie J. Backus, tracing the descent of Mrs. Thomas Pinckney Waring's family, of Savannah, Ga., from the Backus family of Norwich, England, 1637-1908. Genealogical research includes character and family sketches, ancestoral anecdotes, and childhood recollections. Parent's marriage and courtship, mother's teaching school, and author's debut in society as well as encounters with Indians, condemned prisoners, and hurricanes are mentioned.

We also visited graves mentioned in the book by Berendt including songwriting legend Johnny Mercer, as well as poet Conrad Aiken and his parents.