By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Paris, Tenn.—Prayers were spoken, and a wreath was laid at the solemn dedication of the new County Home Cemetery Monument in Paris Sunday afternoon.
The dedication represents months and months of work by the Henry County Cemetery Committee members, who identified over 50 of the former residents of the county home who had been buried there years ago. The cemetery is located adjacent to the National Guard Armory on County Home Road and some 25 people attended the dedication ceremony.
County Mayor Brent Greer said the initial impetus to remember the people buried in the cemetery came from the late Paris Fireman John McClure when he implored Greer that the people who had lived and died at the County Home needed to be remembered. “We did not get the opportunity before he passed away, but he was an important part of this,” Greer said.
Two other men—Reed Shepherd and Dillard Castlebury—also were integral. Greer noted that the two men took it upon themselves to clear the brush around the old cemetery and to place a cross to mark the old cemetery. “Their hearts just told them to do something for these souls,” Greer said.
In 2015, Greer formed the County Cemetery Committee and asked them to research the burials at the County Home.
After painstaking research, committee members were able to identify 58 persons who were buried in the cemetery (with three more being identified recently), Sheriff Monte Belew and a work crew from the jail cleared the space at the old cemetery grounds and Margie Barrows and David Travis of Henry County Monument handled placement of a monument at the site.
Only parts of a couple of markers remain, but over 25 sunken-in grave sites can still be seen in the old cemetery. With more clearing of the brush around the site, it is expected more will be evident. Monte Starks and his son are planning an Eagle Scout project in which grave markers will be placed at each site.
Susan Stewart and Stephanie Tayloe described the history of the County Home and the research performed to identify the people in the cemetery.
Stewart noted that the County Home was the first method of public assistance in the county, with the home being the final resting place for people with disabilities or illness or for the elderly. The county bought the land in 1873 from James D. Porter for $4,000 and information on the county home was hard to come by and had to be gleaned from old newspaper articles, McEvoy Funeral Home records, obituaries, death records and memories of people whose family had worked there.
Stewart said the committee was handicapped in its research because Tennessee death records did not cover all the years the county home was in existence. “There’s no telling how many people are buried here and we probably will never know,” she said.
Tayloe said, “The county home was truly the end of the road, but it also was a shelter in the storm for many people.”
Prayers were said by County Historian David Webb and Margie Barrows placed the wreath at the monument.
Photos: County Historian David Webb and County Archivist Stephanie Tayloe with the monument behind them; County Mayor Brent Greer speaks with Tayloe listening; Marge Barrows places the wreath. (Shannon McFarlin photos).
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