POOR HOUSE CEMETERY
aka ELKINS CEMETERY
(Henderson County, Tennessee)
From Henderson County, Tennessee Cemetery Inscriptions, R. H. Harris, Memphis, 1976, pp. 315. No copyright. The original is now in possession of the Clerk and Master, Henderson County Courthouse.
Fifth District
Researched by: Linda Hale
Location: 1/4 mile W. of Junction of Highway 22 & 22A, south one mile, turn left on Poor House Road owned by M. H. Stewart.
Submitted by:  David Donahue ddonahue@netease.net
MELTON, NANCY
Nov. 8, 1797-Mar. 21, 1872

MELTON, WILLIAM ERNEST
(Son of Dora & J. F.)

HOY, MILDRED
Apr. 10, 1787-Dec. 27, 1867

HOY, W. M.
Jan. 5, 1783-Mar. 5, 1856

BIRD, MARTHA E.
(Wife of William R.)
Died Oct. 22, 1849
Aged 18 yrs., 13 das.

ROGERS, JOHN J.
Apr. 11, 1811-Nov. 13, 1880

ELKINS, NANNIE S.
(Wife of D. L.)
July 31, 1862-Oct. 15, 1883

HART, NANCY
(Wife of A. R.)
Aug. 27, 1819-Oct. 26, 1856

MELTON, A. G.
Apr. 6, 1850-Apr. 25, 1892

MELTON, E. A.
Nov. 22, 1830-Mar. 26, 1864

MELTON, JOHN REED
(Son of D. E. & J. F.)
Sept. 26, 1898-Sept. 26, 1899

MELTON, LUDA ELENDER
(Dau. of Dora & J. F.)
Sept. 19, 1889-May 3, 1892

SHELDTON, WILLIAM
(Son of Mary Lou Massey)

2003 comment by David Donahue, host of the Henderson County Cemeteries web site:
This cemetery is clearly an antebellum cemetery, and it probably already existed on the property which much later was used for the poor house farm. Few, if any, of the individuals listed above would have been poor house residents.

 
Note:  Here is David's explanation for his conclusion.

"As happened in adjacent Madison County, this cemetery probably was on the property several decades before the poor house was established. The fact that families burying here are using carved markers in the antebellum period, when such markers did not become common in this part of Tennessee until the 1870s, suggests that the families using this cemetery were moderately well off or better. The people listed on the markers are unlikely to have been poor house residents."

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