Homemade markers - Salem Cemetery

When we enter a cemetery, most of us naturally look at the tallest monument in the cemetery, or perhaps the most elaborate markers catch our eye. Salem Cemetery, in the northeastern part of Itawamba County, has the distinction of having the tallest monument in the county. When I visited there a few weeks ago with our dog Rupert and Don Dulaney, the tall Copeland monument certainly got my attention, but it was the large number of homemade markers that caught my eye.

The marker above appears to be a slab of slate with the initials "P H Hall" carved into it. The P could be an R however. Hall family descendants may have a better idea as to who this marker belongs to, but census records from 1930 indicate it could be Patty H. Hall, wife of Charlie M. Another possibility is the 76 year old Robert H. Hall, living next door to Charlie and Patty. Or the grave's occupant could have died much earlier than 1930.

The homemade marker below is a nice, solid concrete slab that has stood up well over the past 105 years, and there is enough information on the marker to determine that it belongs to Ruben R. Hubbard. In the 1900 census, a 47 year old R.R. Hubbard was living with his wife Sara J. and children, George, Martha, Mary, Wallis, Francis and 'Epil', in the Lowery-Copeland-Pleasanton precinct. Sadly, this family lost their husband and father just four years later. Note the carved inscription "In God We Trust." The phrase first appeared on the 1864 one-cent and two-cent coins but did not appear regularly on coins until 1908 following a major redesign of American coinage. What a nice touch to Ruben's marker.

Without family records, there is no way of knowing who the homemade marker below belongs to. The initials of "J.W." appear clearly, but there may be a third initial of "E" at the end. No other information is discernible on the marker.