SMYRNA CEMETERY
Coosa County, Alabama
Smyrna Cemetery is located in the northeast corner of Coosa County, AL, about 1.5 miles east of the city of Goodwater. The Smyrna Primitive Baptist Church was first organized August 29, 1835, in the Socapatoy Community of Coosa County and later relocated to its current location when Robert K. Blair deeded 40 acres to the Church and Cemetery on February 11, 1859. The cemetery was created and a new church building erected at this time. The area surrounding this site located between the city of Goodwater and the Tallapoosa County line came to be known as the Smyrna Community.
VARDAMAN FAMILY BURIAL GROUND AT SMYRNA CEMETERY
The Vardaman Family burial ground at Smyrna Cemetery consists of one four-grave plot (with only three graves used) and one two-grave plot situated next to each other. One is the main Vardaman plot containing the grave of Civil War veteran John F. Vardaman and his wife together with the grave of his mother-in-law, Susan Flynn.
To the left of this plot is a plot containing the graves of two of his children, daughter Adrian (Ada Bell) Gwin and son John W. A. Vardaman.
There is also a single grave just outside of the main plot for Benjamin E. Adair, one of John F. Vardaman’s nephews.
In addition, John F. Vardaman’s parents, Edwy
and Lucinda Vardaman, are interred, without markers, in an unidentified
location in this cemetery.
PHOTOS ABOVE
Panoramic view of Vardaman burial plots. See image dated July 2007. Note the difference between the picture taken in November 1986 and that taken in July 2007. Almost twenty years certainly makes a difference. Especially note on the 1986 image the two rock-cairn graves situated in the space between the two Vardaman grave plots which have disappeared by the time of the 2007 image. Were these the graves of Edwy and Lucinda Vardaman? No one knows.
Edwy Lyles Vardaman,
born February 2, 1804, in Jefferson County, GA – died July 25, 1879, in Clay
County, AL, son of Thomas and Annie (Vining) Vardaman, and his wife
Lucinda K. Mauk Vardaman,
born March 23, 1806, in Wilkes County, GA – died April 17, 1862, in Tallapoosa
County, AL, daughter of Mathias, Jr., and Frances (Lea) Mauk.
Note: Edwy L. and Lucinda (Mauk) Vardaman are known to be buried in Smyrna Cemetery although there are no markers to locate their graves. A small,
home-made memorial for them is placed at the southeast corner of the John F.
Vardaman plot. This marker, a small, square block of granite with an aluminum covering on which their names and dates have been etched can be seen just outside the lower, left corner of the main Vardaman plot. It can also barely be seen in the later image where it has sunk to ground level.
See Images dated November 1986 dated November 1987.
Also, after Lucinda’s death, 60-year old Edwy L. Vardaman married a second time to 17-year old
Martha Conway. There was no issue from this union. She lived on for many years after the death of her husband and is buried in the
Union Grove Cemetery in Chilton County, AL.
John F. Vardaman, 1835 – 1906.
This is John Forsythe Vardaman, CSA veteran, son of Edwy L. and Lucinda
(Mauk) Vardaman, born May 19, 1835 near Flat Shoals in Meriwether County, GA –
died July 17, 1906,at his home near Goodwater in Coosa County, AL, and his wife
Julia F. Vardaman, 1840 – 1931. John F. Vardaman was, Jack Vardaman's great-grandfather, a CSA veteran, Judge (Magistrate), school teacher, farmer and prominent citizen of Coosa County.
Julia Ann (Flynn) Vardaman, daughter of Benjamin Anderson and Susan (Watson) Flynn, born October 29, 1840, near Arbacoochee then in Randolph Co., AL (now in Cleburne Co.) – died November 22, 1931, at Alexander City in Tallapoosa Co., AL.
Susan Flynn, died July 3, 1902, in Coosa Co., AL, age 95 years.
Susan (Watson) Flynn, widow of Benjamin Anderson Flynn and mother of Julia Ann Flynn Vardaman, born in Georgia ca 1807 (based on her age of 95 years at the time of her death as recorded in John F. Vardaman’s family Bible and on her tombstone); however, this is inconsistent with her ages shown on various census records, which are themselves inconsistent. Her parents and county of birth are unknown. The 1900 census shows her birth date as January 1813 and age 87 which appears the most likely to be correct. She died in Coosa County, AL. Her husband apparently died as a relatively young man ca 1847 in Randolph Co., AL. His birth and death dates, place of birth, parents and place of burial are unknown.
See Image dated July 2007 for all three of the above grave stones.
Adrian Vardaman Gwin, 1877 Mother 1954, Telegrapher
This is Ada Belle “Adrian” Vardaman, widow of James Bassett Gwin and daughter of John F. and Julia (Flynn) Vardaman, born February 3, 1877 near Goodwater in Coosa Co., AL - died 26 February 1954 in New Orleans, LA.
See image dated July 2007.
Her husband, a railroad conductor, died many years earlier on October 25, 1921, in a terrible train wreck in Green County, AL. He is buried in the
Live Oak Cemetery at Selma (Dallas Co.), AL.
Judge John W. A. Vardaman, Oct. 19, 1868 – May 3, 1911
This is John William Anderson Vardaman, born October 19, 1868, at Fish Pond in Coosa Co., AL - died May 3, 1911 at Lafayette in Chambers Co., AL, son of John F. and Julia (Flynn) Vardaman. At the time of his death he was the Probate Judge of Chambers Co., AL, and a Mason (member of Solomon Lodge No. 74 of Lafayette, AL). He was unmarried but was engaged to Miss Diamond Grimmett
at the time of his death. See image dated July 2007.
Benjamin Edwy Adair, Dec 2, 1860 – Dec 4, 1932
This is John F. Vardaman’s nephew, the son of his sister, Mary Bruce (Vardaman) Adair and her husband Edward Martin Adair, born December 2, 1860, in Tallapoosa Co., AL, - died December 4, 1932 in Clay Co., AL. He was divorced at the time of his death. Note that he is named for his two grandfathers, Benjamin Adair (paternal) and Edwy Vardaman (maternal).
See image dated July 2007.
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