Finding Your Folks: Update on Haywood Thornton

I wanted to follow up on the situation of bringing Haywood Thornton home from the Rock Island Cemetery in Illinois and give you another contact in case you are a descendant and want to get involved. The wheels are definitely turning on this project but they are turning very slowly. It may be a year or more before it is completed.

Since I have no knowledge of how these things work, I turned to another who does, Scott Gilbert who is commander of the LaFayette McLaws Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). Scott was involved with the retrieval of the body of William Thomas Overby a few years ago and was most helpful about answering my questions. Overby, you remember, was the Confederate hero who was hanged for refusing to divulge information about his unit. He now rests safely in his hometown of Newnan, thanks to efforts by several camps of the SCV. There is a book available on Overby written by our own Carolyn Cary. Copies may still be available.

Scott and I had a long telephone conversation earlier this week and he answered the main question I had, and that was "Who is going to foot the bill for this venture?" Just a few of the things I could think of off the top of my head were the cost of a new coffin, the cost to disinter the body in Illinois, transportation costs of getting the body from Illinois to Georgia (given today's prices, gas could get a little expensive), and the cost to reinter the body here, which included digging the grave and possibly paying for the plot.

Scott added that the services of an archaeologist might be needed to make sure all the remains were gathered. I am sure Haywood was buried in a plain wooden coffin which has since rotted to dust, leaving his remains in contact with the earth.

Scott also added that they may want the body to lie in state for a while after it gets here so that members of the community may pay their respects, as they did with Overby. That would have to be arranged and might involve a local funeral home.

Some physical work is handled by volunteers and costs are taken care of with fundraisers, Scott assured me. Some professionals even donate their services for free. It will all be handled. It will just take time. Scott said that, after talking with Diana, he estimated they were aiming for the spring of 2008.

While I haven't heard from very many people yet, I received a lovely e-mail from Suzanne Thornton Coker of Sandy Springs whose story I quoted in last week's column. Suzanne added some more information on the whereabouts of historical artifacts from the Thornton family and said that Haywood's letters sent home during the Civil War were housed at the Atlanta History Center. She added that Haywood spelled his name both "Heywood" and "Haywood."

Suzanne also added that Haywood's wife's grave is on the property on Kenwood Road, which belonged to her father, Charles B. Thornton. This property had been in the Thornton family since 1828, but it now belongs to Randy and Christine Allgood. The Thornton family has rights in perpetuity to access the graveyard. An educated guess would say that this is probably where Haywood will rest.

Suzanne mentioned that others from Fayette County were interred in the Rock Island Cemetery and wondered if they would be brought home too. One she named specifically was Jesse Ward whose death was reported by Haywood in a letter to his wife. Suzanne said she did a short genealogy of the Ward family for a friend.

I had mentioned another who was buried there, Wyatt Harper, and I'm sure there must have been others from Fayette. Men usually signed up in units with their neighbors and friends, and ended up fighting, being captured, and dying with them.

There is an excellent Web site at Rootsweb which lists all the Confederate dead at Rock Island, their military units, date of death and grave number. You can find it at: (http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilrockis/cemetery/confed.htm). Take off the parentheses before you paste that into your browser. I found Haywood Thornton and Jesse Ward who appeared to have belonged to the same unit, 2nd Georgia Cavalry. I also found Wyatt Harper who was in another unit. It would not be hard to go through the list and find all from one unit and, therefore, probably from the same town/area. Although there are hundreds, the list is alphabetical and easy to scroll through. Those of you who are dedicated know that genealogy is definitely not an instant gratification hobby. Accurate research takes time.

Several other people are working on this project, including Willene Davies Jackson who is collecting the names of those who are Haywood's direct descendants. If you would like to add your name to the list, call Willene at 770-460-8066.

To volunteer or just to get involved, call Scott Gilbert at home, 770-716-5344. Scott's e-mail is skgbama@bellsouth.net.

I will continue to update this project as information becomes available. In the meantime, I have a few more Byram and Tidwell stories up my sleeve, thanks to people who have continued to add information to these large families. Look for those in the coming weeks.

Stories about your ancestors who lived on Atlanta's south side are always welcome. Send stories to jkilgore@thecitizen.com or JodieK444@aol.com. Mail to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214. All letters and e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.