National Register of Historic Places - Official Listing
16 November 2020
https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/historic-commission/thc_national-reg_draftsseptember2020/TN_Montgomery%20County_Mt%20Olive%20Cemetery%20Watermarked.pdf
16 November 2020
https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/historic-commission/thc_national-reg_draftsseptember2020/TN_Montgomery%20County_Mt%20Olive%20Cemetery%20Watermarked.pdf
The Mt Olive Cemetery Master Records File
The Mt Olive Cemetery Master Records File provides Educational and Historical information on the citizens and Soldiers interred at Mt Olive Cemetery.
This is not a complete list of everyone interred at Mt Olive, however, it does represent the Society's current level of knowledge based on local, State, and National records.
We will update these Records as research efforts expand.
Society Members and visitors can access the Master Records Files at the link below.
Mt Olive Cemetery Records-Master Files - Updated March 2021
| MT. Olive Master Records May 2021.xlsx |
Finding Your Way Around Mt Olive
The Mt Olive Site Plan below will provide you a general orientation to the Cemetery's boundaries, and road networks. The Cemetery has been divided into 8 Zones. These Zones assist the Society and visitors in locating graves and headstones.
The Mt Olive Cemetery Records Master Files identifies the location of each resident using this Zoning convention.
The Mt Olive Site Plan below will provide you a general orientation to the Cemetery's boundaries, and road networks. The Cemetery has been divided into 8 Zones. These Zones assist the Society and visitors in locating graves and headstones.
The Mt Olive Cemetery Records Master Files identifies the location of each resident using this Zoning convention.
Historical Obituaries
The attached file provides a glimpse into our past. Here you will find a collection of obituaries from Clarksville's The Leaf Chronicle and The Nashville Globe. The Society thanks its member Mrs. Brenda Harper for her research on this project.
The attached file provides a glimpse into our past. Here you will find a collection of obituaries from Clarksville's The Leaf Chronicle and The Nashville Globe. The Society thanks its member Mrs. Brenda Harper for her research on this project.
| MT Olive Cemetery - Newspaper Obituaries |
Historical News Articles referencing Mt Olive Cemetery
| Clarksville Weekly Chronicle July 3rd 1880 |
Remembrance of the Month
In support of our Mission Statement, each month the Society reflects on the life of a permanent resident of the Cemetery. These Biographies provide a unique insight on the lives, service and sacrifices of those interred at Mt Olive.
We hope these Biographies provide an opportunity for our community to reconnect with our Nation's history and help the Society to celebrate and honor our fellow citizens' lives.
Biographies are published by the Society's Historian, Ms. Phyllis Smith
| Kate and Dorsey Thompson Biography.docx |
| Ellen Pennilton and William Dudley Bbiography.docx |
| Blondella Dunlap Biography.docx |
| Egbert Miller Biography.docx |
| Babe Cross Biography.docx |
| George and Lucy Vance Biography.docx |
| Clardy Family Biography.docx |
| Susan Hite Biography.docx |
| William Dudley Biography.docx |
| USCT Stephen and Irene Kimbrough Biography.docx |
| Barry and Kittie Gupton Biography.docx |
| USCT Thomas Campbell Biography.docx |
| USCT Cube Lyle Steele & Mary Eliza Steele Biography.docx |
| USCT Wilson Thomas Biography.docx |
| USCT Martin & Macie Means Biography.docx |
| USCT Alexander McNeal Biography.docx |
| Roderick and Margaret Faulkner Biography.docx |
| USCT Charles Griffey Biography.docx |
| USCT CPL Chesterfield Dabney - Biography.docx |
| USCT Shelby Clark-Biography of a Civil War Veteran.docx |
| Civilian - Jordan Barksdale Biography.docx |
| Leonard Mabry Biography.docx |
| USCT PVT Isaac Fields Biography.docx |
| Mary-Ann Carr Biography.docx |
| USCT Isaac Fields Biography.docx |
| Violet Allen Adams Biography.docx |
| Alexander Carr Biography.docx |
| USCT Moses Parrish Biography-Updated_may_2019.docx |
| Woodson Wheeler biography.docx |
Biography of the Month
Barry and Kittie Gupton Biography
Very little is known about Barry and Kittie Gupton before the war. The pension record gives little to no personal information on them or their lives. The first records we have on Barry are his military records which show that he joined Company D of the 16th USCT on February 18, 1864 in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was 33 years old and had been born in Christian County, Kentucky in 1831. He was 5 feet 8 inches in height with black hair and eyes and a black complexion. His occupation prior to the Army had been farming.
His service was unremarkable. He did not rise in rank above private and did not loose any of his equipment. On October 19, 1865, like so many other USCT troops, he was given a furlough which he spent in Clarksville. The government charged him $11.80 for transportation to Clarksville and then back to Chattanooga, Tennessee. He returned to the unit in November of 1865. On March 30 and 31, 1866 Barry was treated for a sprain. His record does not specify what part of the body the sprain was in. When he mustered out in Nashville on April 30, 1866, the government owed him $25.23 in pay.
As a member of the 16th USCT, the majority of his time in the Army was spent in Chattanooga on occupation duty. He was in Nashville, Tennessee with his unit for the Battle of Nashville in December of 1864 but did not take part in the battle since the 16th USCT was held in reserve.
After his discharge, Barry returned to Clarksville where on June 3, 1866, he married Kittie Hatcher. On November 19, 1866, George and Ben Pennington were passing the newlywed couple’s house when Ben started “abusing” Kittie. Barry ordered him to leave and to stop mistreating his family. Ben drew a pistol on Barry who snatched it from Ben’s hand. Barry went into the house with the pistol. Ben’s brother, George, followed and attempted to retrieve the gun. When George would not get out of his house, Barry hit him on the head with the pistol killing him. The killing was ruled justifiable homicide. This account was carried in the Clarksville Chronicle.
In the 1870 census, Barry listed his occupation as laborer and a personal estate of $15. Kattie’s occupation is listed as keeping house. His personal estate starts to get interesting after 1870. On March 23, 1871, Barry and Jeff McReynolds bought 4 lots in an auction and divided them between the two of them. On September 20, 1878, Barry bought 5 more lots at auction for $135.
The 1880 census lists Barry’s occupation as carpenter with Kittie listed as keeping house. Jo Ann Oldham is listed in their household as a 10-year-old granddaughter. This is very strange since all accounts state that Barry and Kittie had no children. This granddaughter might have been the product of a relationship that Barry had before the war.
On November 2, 1880, Barry bought the land that Jeff McReynolds kept from the first auction from Jeff’s wife for $105. On November 19, 1881, Barry transferred ownership of eight lots to Kittie.
Barry Gupton first applied for a pension December 13, 1890 and listed his address as 527 Ford Street. He stated that on the march from Nashville to Chattanooga he became exhausted in an effort to keep up with his company and suffered an affliction in his shoulders and breast from carrying his accouterments that affected him from that time on. Fellow soldiers who gave depositions in support of his application recalled that he had to put his gear in the company wagon. They remember him complaining of pain in his heart and shortness of breath. One of the soldiers who gave a deposition was Stephen Kimbrough who is buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery.
C.V. Roman a doctor living in Clarksville wrote a medical affidavit dated March 8, 1892 for Barry which stated five disabilities:
1. Articular and muscular rheumatism of the chest, shoulders, and knee joints that rendered him unfit to work in damp weather.
2. The heart was weak and circulation was feeble.
3. Atony of the bladder which caused frequent retention of or dribbling of urine.
4. Chronic cough with a decided tendency to asthma.
5. Total deafness in his left ear.
A report dated November 22, 1893 by a doctor who performed examinations for the pension office found that Barry was deaf in his left ear but it wasn’t service connected. An analysis of Barry’s urine failed to find any abnormalities. A light murmur in the aortic opening was found but all other heart valves sounded normal. The doctor saw stiffness in Barry’s movements but no other signs of chronic rheumatism. The verdict of the doctor was: “He is a robust looking man and still capable of performing manual labor.”
Needless to say, they rejected his application. He appealed and was rejected again. He appealed a third time and was finally given a pension of $6 a month for heart and bladder disease starting on November 3, 1893. It ended when he died on July 31, 1894. There is no death certificate, but from the chest pain and shortness of breath reported by everyone who gave a deposition, he probably died of heart disease.
One final thing. In one of the depositions it was stated that Barry was a member of the Order of the GAR. GAR stands for Grand Army of the Republic. This was a veteran’s group for former Union soldiers.
Kittie applied for a widow’s pension on July 15, 1895. All of her depositions deal with her property. When Barry died, he left her 11 lots with small cabins on them. Most of them were in the area of Kellogg Street (now known as 8th Street), Marion Street, and Ford Street. One of the lots was on Martin Street. Most of her statements on the properties are confusing because she was trying to make the case that she did not receive much income from them. She stated that she owned 16 lots with 14 tenement houses valued at $2,880. Two of the 16 lots were vacant lots. The taxable value of her husband’s estate was $2,500. She stated she paid $73 for three years on 12 tenement houses and $11 for three years on the house she lived in. After expenses she claimed that her income from the rent of these houses was $20.50 per month. The pension record is unclear about when she started receiving a pension but a note dated September 8, 1916 increased her pension to $20 per month.
The 1910 census lists Kittie living alone at 527 Marion Street with no occupation listed, but the 1911 Clarksville City Directory lists her as having the occupation of Laundress. In the 1920 census her house number changed from 527 to 825 Marion Street and no occupation listed.
Kittie died on March 10, 1923 of senility. She was 95 years old. All her property was left to her brother John Wesley Williams and his children. She directed that $100 be used for her funeral expenses. According to the estate accounts, S.A. Dabney was paid $309 for “one burial outfit”. This was probably the total expense for funeral, burial, and headstone. She and Barry are buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery under one of the most beautiful gravestones in the cemetery.
Six people had valid claim to her estate. Each one received $12.72 in cash from the estate and the real estate property was split between them. At the time of her death, Kittie was receiving $30 per month from her widow’s pension.
825 Marion Street exists as an address today. The property was appraised in 2019 at $76,100.
United States Colored Troops (USCT) Tribute
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The drawing above was made by one of the officers of Company G, USCT, named Campbell. Campbell kept a diary and was quite an artist. Society member Jill Hasting identified the house from the drawing as first built by Robert West Humphries and later became known as the Pettus House. Pettus Park and a parking lot across the street from the park are two possibilities for the site of the house. The house no longer exists.
PVT Isaac Fields
The grave site of PVT Isaac Fields was recently discovered during a Preservation and Restoration Project conducted in July 2017. Up until this time, local records made no mention of his burial at Mt Olive.
Private Fields' grave site and head stone were completely covered by a rich bed of perennial vines that blanket much of the cemetery. It was the hard work and persistence of a regular volunteer, CW4 (Retired US Army) Scott Loose, that made this discovery possible. We are grateful for his commitment to our mission and for his untiring devotion to seeing the restoration of the cemetery completed.
It's unknown just how long it had been since America heard the words "Private Isaac Fields" uttered by a fellow citizen and Army veteran. But on that day of discovery in July, when his name was called-out by Chief Loose, it was truly a moment of celebration for the Society and indeed our nation.
Rest in Peace Isaac Fields
The photo below shows PVT Isaac Fields' headstone and burial site.
Future restoration efforts will include the placement of appropriate Veteran identification markers.
The grave site of PVT Isaac Fields was recently discovered during a Preservation and Restoration Project conducted in July 2017. Up until this time, local records made no mention of his burial at Mt Olive.
Private Fields' grave site and head stone were completely covered by a rich bed of perennial vines that blanket much of the cemetery. It was the hard work and persistence of a regular volunteer, CW4 (Retired US Army) Scott Loose, that made this discovery possible. We are grateful for his commitment to our mission and for his untiring devotion to seeing the restoration of the cemetery completed.
It's unknown just how long it had been since America heard the words "Private Isaac Fields" uttered by a fellow citizen and Army veteran. But on that day of discovery in July, when his name was called-out by Chief Loose, it was truly a moment of celebration for the Society and indeed our nation.
Rest in Peace Isaac Fields
The photo below shows PVT Isaac Fields' headstone and burial site.
Future restoration efforts will include the placement of appropriate Veteran identification markers.
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