On the White Odd Fellows Cemetery on University Drive
On September 30, 2013, Ashley Mikle, a student in anthropology wrote the following about the white Odd Fellows Cemetery in Starkville. It was a research project she was assigned.
I noticed specifically the epitaph of Billie Nowlin, It reads, “Miss Billie loved State College and the people of Starkville” State College - Billie was secretary to Dr. Louis Wise, Vice President. The Billie Nowlin Conference Room in the Lloyd Ricks Watson Building on the campus of Mississippi State University was named in her honor on her retirement. Her father was in the ROTC and an award is given annually to a student enrolled in the US Army Reserve Officer, Master Sergeant George A. Nowlin Leadership Award. Starkville – Frances Langerfeld remembers Billie as an active member of First Baptist Church where she taught Sunday School and was very generous. She gave the Rails in the Front of the new church and she and Mrs. Langerfeld gave the wrought iron gates of the cemetery on Fellowship Street.
“The Old Fellows of Old Fellows Cemetery”
Cemeteries have gone through many changes throughout the years. Initially people would just bury their loved ones close to home in family plots. Before families could afford tombstones, they would mark the gravesite with rocks, wood, or stones. Public cemeteries did not really become popular until the 19th century. Around this time people began to find importance in memorializing their deceased family members. They began to actually get tombstones with the deceased person’s name, age, and death year on them. Tombstones began to get their own personality depending on what was affordable. Nowadays tombstones can tell so much about a person and the time period they lived in. The longevity differences between men and women, meanings of grave offerings, family plots patterns, and epitaph changes are just some of the few things you can determine from looking at the tombstones in a cemetery. I visited Old Fellows white cemetery in Starkville, Mississippi on September 21st and 27th to research the changes in tombstones. This cemetery was very well taken care of and had many beautiful tombstones.
There are many factors that have played a major part in the lifespan and longevity of men and women throughout the years. Many of the medicines that are available to people today had not yet been created. As more medicines and cures were discovered, the lifespan of men and women increased drastically. I evaluated ten deceased marriage plots that were born during 1860-1930. Of these ten plots, five wives outlived their husband and four husbands outlived their wives. The tenth plot, John Patterson (1897-1979) and Rosa Patterson (1901-1982), were one unique couple that actually lived the same amount of years. This research shows that during this time wives were just slightly outliving their husbands. Whoever died first in the marriage, the other would live at least 5-10 more years. Basically lifespans were improving overall which could have resulted from improved public health, nutrition, and medicine.
Throughout the cemetery the most common grave offering that was found was flowers. Various types of flowers were left at many of the tombstones in the Old Fellows Cemetery. Some flowers can have specific meanings that are left to communicate a peaceful message to the dead. The most common flowers that were left on the tombstones were lilies, forget-me-nots, and poppy flowers. Each one of these flowers can be left to send different messages. When forget- menots are left it signifies memories being remembered. If lilies are left, they can either represent purity or innocence. Poppy flowers represent eternal sleep. Leaving grave offerings can bring closure to families coping over the death of a loved one. Knowing that their deceased friends or family has went to a better place can bring to a coping a family out of their depression. Some people left real flowers on the grave sites that they had to come back and replace. Others chose the alternative route and just left plastic flowers so they would last for a longer period of time.
Family plots were very common throughout the cemetery. All of the family plots that I found were only one generation. Usually the family plot consisted of a mother and father tombstone with separate tombstones for the children.
Some family plots were more lavish than others. The plots range from small, flat, in-ground tombstones to large unconventional tombstones will all the family members listed on one tombstone together. The largest family plot that I found was of Largus Camp (1869-1949) and his family. The plot consisted of him, his wife and his daughter. The plot was at least 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The other family plots were all small in comparison. There were plots with more family members buried together but were not as lavish as the Camp plot. One thing that all of the family plots had in common was that the mother was
always listed as “wife of”. With plots with more than one female this was definitely a great way to tell who the parents of the family plot were.
Epitaphs can show so much character of the deceased. It can give you an idea of what kind of person they were. For some epitaphs are chosen by family members after they die and for others they are chosen many years before they die. This will be the only thing that really represents them after they die so it is best that they choose something that really shows the kind of person they were and want to be remembered as. There was definitely a difference in male and female epitaphs. Most of the males had long epitaphs while females only had epitaphs that said “wife of”, “mother of”, or “daughter of”. Over time, this
changed and females began to get much more appreciation. The plot of Billie Nowlin (1920-2000) stood out to me. Although it was just a basic small conventional-styled tombstone, she had one of the most unique epitaphs. Her epitaph read, “Miss Billie loved State College and the people of Starkville” This is very unique because it shows her love for Mississippi State University and for Starkville, Ms. Other plots had bible scriptures on them but again these were only the plots of men. One male scripture that stood out to me was that of “Papa” W.J. Richey (no birth date-died in 1897). His epitaph read “I am the Resurrection and the life. He that believith in me through he were dead. Yet shall he live.” This stood out to me because the dialect it was written
in. It seems like you would only be able to understand it if you were of that time period.
The cemetery is a not just a big area filled with dead people. It is basically a local representation of the history in that area. These names will never see the inside of history books but they do have a tombstone that represents how they lived and long they lived. Each tombstone, big or small still has a big impact on the history of that location. There have been so many changes in tombstones throughout the years. These tombstones show how the area of Starkville changed socially. Specifically females got more recognition over time other than just being a wife or a mother. They were actually recognized for the kind of person that they were.