Giving Back

I haven't posted anything in awhile because I've been spending time documenting a local African American Cemetery, Morning Grove Missionary Baptist Cemetery in Cordova Tennessee.  As much as I enjoy researching our family sometimes it can be more gratifying researching and documenting the families of others.  I actually do that quite a bit and then enter the information on Findagrave or blog about it on my Graveyard Rabbit blog.  It's my small way of giving back and hopefully, making a contribution to the genealogy community at large.

Oldest Resident of Dresden Succumbs to Pneumonia, 1932

Agnes Marion Moran was one of the daughters of James Henderson Moran and Harriet Harris.  She was born in 1838 in Dresden, Tennessee.  She married Benjamin Dabney (B.D.) Irvine in 1856 and together they had twelve children.  She remained very close to her Moran relatives.  It was not unusual for John Williamson Moran's children to be living with the Irvine's.  Her husband, B.D. Irvine, even gave the Moran's a tract of land specifically designated for them to use as their own private cemetery.

B.D. Irvine and Agnes Marion Moran Irvine

She had many sorrows in her life including the death of Florence who died tragically from burns she received in a fire in their home. Her sons Thomas and John Irvine moved to Texas and became involved in a murder which Thomas committed, but Thomas fled and came back to Tennessee leaving his brother John to face the consequences.  After four years and four trials John was found innocent.  In 1918 Thomas was stabbed in the abdomen which resulted in his death.  His death certificate says it was homicide.  He may have fled the scene in Texas but justice of another kind caught up with him.

Agnes Moran Irvine
Age 94 years old
born October 7, 1838
died October 11, 1932

Transcription of obituary:

Mrs. B.D. Irvine Dies After Brief Illness
Oldest Resident of Dresden Succumbs to Pneumonia

Dresden, Tenn., Oct. 12 --(Special)--
Mrs. Agnes Irvine, 95, a revered figure in Dresden and the oldest resident of town, died Tuesday after a brief illness of pneumonia.  She was the widow of B.D. Irvine and a sister of the late J.W. Moran, being a representative of one of the most prominent connections in the county.

Mrs. Irvine was a daughter of James Henderson Moran and his wife, Harriet Harris Moran, who were prominent in the early affairs of Dresden.  She was a member of the Methodist Church, and very active in its work and about the home until the very end of her life. The funeral will be held Thursday afternoon.

Mrs. Irvine was the mother of twelve children, six of whom survive: J.A. Irvine; Mrs. Sophia Fergusen with whom she made her home, and R.L. Irvine, of Dresden; Moran Irvine of Rutherford; Forrest D. of Fort Worth Texas, and William Irvine of Atlanta.  She was an aunt of Mrs. James B. Ezzell of Nashville.

Parlor Picture, Formal Gown, Unknown Woman, turn of the century

We don't who the fashionably dressed woman is but we do know the setting.  This was taken in the front parlor of Moran Place in Dresden TN sometime around the turn of the century.