A good
source of death information is a tombstone order, which is usually found with
claims against the estate of the decedent. Some counties have a few of these orders and other counties
have none, but maybe, just maybe, you
will be lucky and find one for your ancestor. Several years ago, I came across quite a few in Crittenden
County for burials in the 1850s and 1860s. Most can be found in my book, Crittenden
County Notes, published 1993.
One of the tombstone
orders found was for Elizabeth Newcom, the
wife of William Newcom. They came from North
Carolina and stopped in Tennessee before
continuing North to the Bellls Mines area near what is today the
Crittenden-Union County line. There are two known cemeteries in this area and one of them may be where Elizabeth and William Newcom are buried. They are the Rutherford Cemetery and the Black-Newcom Cemetery, across the road from each other on Highway 365 near the Tradewater River.
Below is the order
for a tombstone for Elizabeth Newcom, who appears on the 1850 Crittenden County
census with William Newcome [sic] as head of household.[1] He was
age 63 and Elizabeth was age 57. Her age
is slightly off on the census.
The
tombstone was ordered from M.A. Lawrence of Evansville, Indiana on 21 November
1857. This was more than four years after Elizabeth’s death. Order ed was one
set of Marble Grave Stones, the head stone
was about 4 feet high and 10
inches wide. The footstone was one-third the width of the head stone. Engraved
on the head stone was the following: Elizabeth
Newcom Born Mar. 3, 1791 Died July 21, 1853. Verse: “ Sleep Mother dear and take your
rest; God called you home he thought it
best; Twas hard indeed to part with
thee; But Christ's strong arm supported me”
The tombstone
was to be delivered in care of Lamb & Co at Caseyville as soon as
convenient at a cost of $20.38 payable 6 months from date. The post office where to it was to be
sent was Bells Mines, Crittenden County. The person ordering the tombstone was
Wm. D. Newcom.
This tombstone does
not exist today. Without this tombstone order we would not know the birth and
death dates for Elizabeth Newcom.
Click on tombstone order for an enlarged view.
[1]
1850 Crittenden County, Kentucky census, Dist. 2, Roll 197, p. 256A. Household
of William and Elizabeth Newcome.
Published 14 May 2020, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/
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