Being an Obsessive/Compulsive can be a right pain at times.
There is (was) a nearby cemetery listed in Find A Grave without a specific location. Maddeningly the single grave recorded in it also noted that there are additional graves on the site. But! There is no proof that the named person is actually buried there. Though the general supposition is that this man, his wife, and several children - one of who was murdered - are buried there.
Obsessive Gene Activated.
First, I had to locate the cemetery so that if nothing else the correct location could be added to Find A Grave. This alone was a mini-mystery. I had a general description coupled with a couple of photos of the site.
The general description led me to what seemed to be the correct street. Too many times, though, I find that a cemetery is far back on private property making for potentially awkward experience asking permission to traipse about someone's place looking for graves. Not everyone welcomes such intrusions so I REALLY try to do my advance work ahead of time. I like knowing what I am getting into before I get into it.
Having identified what seemed to be the correct street, I next tried to use the existing photos to triangulate the cemetery location by turning to Google Street View and compared the still photos to what showed in the Street View images. That entailed a lot of zooming in and out, changing view angles, moving up and down the street. None of this was made easier by the fact that the street in question is a cul-de-sac so the Google camera vehicle did not capture images from the full circle at the end of the street.
After more than a few minutes of squinting and twisting images around both in the computer and my mind, I determined that I had located the site. Now off to confirm.
What I found, though, was far more than I expected. Instead of a single grave there are what appear to be 8! 5 of these are domed or arched top concrete slabs, 3 of which are adult size and 2 clearly child sized.
The other 3 are stacked quartz and fieldstone piles roughly the size of a grave. One is adult sized and the other 2 child size.
None of these have any identifying details. No names. No dates.
The one memorial listed in Find A Grave states that the man died along with his wife and several children. Further, one daughter who survived her parents and siblings was subsequently murdered. All are believed to be buried here though there is no proof that any of them are.
So I had a couple of names and dates. Ashford Marion Norris 1824-1873 and his daughter, Victoria, who presumably died some time after him. Sure. Lots of data there. Easy-Peasy.
I started a family tree for Ashford Norris. There is an 1850 Census that Ancestry tries to hint is Ashford, but no. Nothing lines up.
The first real clues I find are a marriage record from 1853 and the 1860 and 1870 Censuses. And a substantial property holding in Dekalb County, Ga in the early 1870s
Based on those I build out a family:
Spouse - Elizabeth E Terrey 1828 - (presumably 1873 if the story is true)
Children:
Mary Ann 1848-1933
Matilda 1850 - Bef. 1870
Lavina - 1856 - 1916
Victoria - 1857 - 1879 (more on her later!)
Isabella 1860 - Bef. 1870
Toleda - 1862 - Bef. 1880
Ophelia 1863 - 1942
Felix 1867 - Bef. 1880
Marion 1868 - 1943
Now for some background and theory explanation. All the names come from the 1860 and 1870 US Census. In both of these the family is living in Morgan County, Ga. Yet the cemetery is in Dekalb County, Ga, about an hour and a half away by automobile today. Odd.
Isabella and Matilda appear only on the 1860 Census. In theory both could have married and left home before 1870. They both could have married in their late teens. If they did there is no readily sourced record of those marriages, nor do they pop up on any other records. Either way - married or dead - they were out of the household by 1870.
Whatever befell their parents, Mary Ann, Lavina, Ophelia, and Marion survived, grew to adulthood, married, and had families. Lavina was married by 1880 and Ophelia is living with her and her husband.
Victoria lived until 1880 when she made the news. And not in a good way.
Victoria was murdered. There is a surviving newspaper from Jackson, Mississippi dated May 19, 1880 with much of the story. In it we learn that Victoria was orphaned. She was living with a man (James Jolly) and his wife, doing housework. She was planning to marry one John Weaver that fall. The whole story is long and convoluted, but the gist of it is that the man in whose house she was living had a violent temperament and his wife was jealous of Victoria. She decided to leave and live with relatives near Rutledge, Ga (back in Morgan County!).
After much consternation Jolly consented for her to go to her kin in Rutledge. He and his neighbor, William Weaver (uncle to John Weaver whom Victoria was apparently planning to marry) took her by wagon to catch the train some 4 or 5 miles away. Apparently before reaching or boarding the train, William Weaver departed leaving Victoria with Jolly.
She was never seen alive again. Gossip had Victoria running off to Atlanta (about 12-15 miles away) or further to "live a life of shame". Time passed and talk died down. Based on the rest of the article, these events took place no later than 1879.
Some time later Jolly was indicted for cotton theft. Before he could be arrested he fled, abandoning his wife and child in Feb 1880. Neighbors noted that he had burned a brush pile in his front yard the day before he left. The ashes from that fire were searched and in them were found hinges, bands, and hardware from a travel trunk. This led to more questioning and another neighbor recalled Jolly returning from taking Victoria to the train and there being a trunk on the wagon. More examinations concluded that the trunk hardware matched that of Victoria's trunk.
To further damn Jolly, a Peddler with full pack had stopped at Jolly's place and had spent the night there. This Peddler, well known for keeping a regular scheduled route, was never seen again.
Boys, it looks like we have ourselves a murderer! The hunt was on!
Jolly was soon located and brought back in shackles. Once he was in custody there was real concern that there would be a lynching!
Jolly was either tormented by his killing Victoria or was laying the ground for some kind of defense. He is described as being tortured by his dreams. And he started confessing before leading authorities to Victoria's remains (skeletal by this point).
There was no doubt that Jolly killed her. The question was how? As to that, his story kept changing! Strangled her, she fell off the wagon and struck her head, etc.
He even tried to name William Weaver as an accomplice. That lasted until Weaver walked into Jolly's cell whereupon Jolly recanted that confession. Weaver was held and investigated but cleared as there was no evidence against him.
The only recurring theme in the confessions is that Jolly tried to "ravage" or "outrage" Victoria and she resisted him.
I have yet to learn Jolly's fate.
But Victoria *did* die in the same county as the cemetery in which her father and, presumed, family are thought to rest.
So let's look at what we know:
- Ashford owns property in Dekalb County in the early 1870s
- Three adults - Ashford and wife Elizabeth, and daughter Victoria.
- Two children - Toleda and Felix.
- All 5 confirmed or presumed dead prior to 1880.
- 4 of the 5 presumed to have died at the same time
- Cemetery in Dekalb County
- 5 obvious graves covered with identical arched concrete slabs.
- Three adult sized.
- Two child sized.
- Three possible graves, all with stacked stones
- One adult size
- Two child size
To add weight to the theory, these graves are arranged thus: Adult, Child, Adult, Child, then another Adult in a separate row from the other 4. As though it came later. You can see this in the last photo above.
I cannot prove anything. But I am now convinced that I have identified the 5 slab covered grave occupants. As to the others covered with stacked rocks? Damned if I can figure those out!
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