Genealogical Research

Obie Hawks, Oct. 22, 1871, April 10, 1916

I was looking through my pictures of tombstones today when I ran across this one I took for a fellow researcher several years ago. Obie Hawks was buried in the Grey Hill Cemetery, which is located near downtown Commerce, Jackson County, Georgia. Apparently, he came from a fairly well-to-do family, as the stone itself stands (as best as I can recall) about four feet above the ground. And look at how intricately carved the blanket is at the top of the marker. Someone put a lot of time and effort into designing and carving that stone.

I’m always amazed at the different ways we humans mark the spots where our dead are buried. From the pyramids and mastabas of many ancient peoples, to the longbarrows of Neolithic Britain, to the intricately carved marker of Obie Hawks, each culture leaves its own imprint on a burial site for later generations to find and interpret. I often wander how correctly we have interpreted these sites, and how often not.