A Boy Dubbed Hub

A boy dubbed Hub.

Oh he was cute and ever so coy-

your all around American boy.

Always with boots on his feet and a contagious smile so sweet.

For a friend in need, he would walk a mile. In a group of folks, Hub was the one you hoped would stay around for a while.

The hope of a bright future with miles left to run.

Begging the question, why did you do this, why my dear son?

A family now forced to search for that sweet smile beneath the church yard sod. Yet to visit the cemetery with them one can’t help but recognize the power of a Mighty God.

For a Saviour was once buried leaving all whom believed in complete dismay. But hallelujah, the hope that was born when HE arose on the third day!

That, my friends, is the testimony of the entire Haynie family.

Through tremendous grief an entire family’s faith has been put on display. Closer than ever they persevere daily with an enormous void yet holding to a faith in Christ that even the darkest of days can’t destroy.

Watching a father, a sister, grandparents, friends, and all 16 cousins come together 7 months after Hub’s death to honor him took “special” to an entirely new level. I’ve never known it to take 20+ people to set a headstone but now I can tell you with great confidence those stones could not have been set had even one of those people not been there Sunday afternoon. They love hard and they love big.

Joelle

It is highly plausible. I'd even venture to say, it carries more weight than anything I've seen the critics produce.

Some have spent their lives studying William Faulkner and are still asking questions. Things like, why the narrative voice? Why did he spend his life writing yet only produced anything of value in 10-12 years. How did his imagination turn into such twisted tales? What was his great epiphany? After all, that's what Faulkner claimed occurred just before putting a pen to "Sound and Fury". He said, "The words just came to me."

My name is Amanda, and I might just be able to answer some of those questions.

Historical conservation and restoration is my profession. The vast majority of projects are in cemeteries.

I've always joked and said that I work under the watchful eye of Faulkner.

Having spent countless hours in the New Albany, Mississippi city cemetery, I can attest to the smell of liquor and the peer of Faulkner's beady eyes on a summer evening. He is a relentless soul hovering over all below as his more than life-size decal taking up a good deal of real estate on the near million-gallon water tank.

Quite the gamble for the city's tourism committee, considering Faulkner's appeal in his hometown is lack of luster.

Not long after the decal went up on the water tower, the Mississippi Department of Transportation dedicated a 16-mile stretch of road to William Faulkner.

That same road currently has more potholes than Faulkner ever thought about placing a punctuation. However, if you follow it long enough, it will take you right to Saint Peter's cemetery.

Nestled in the heart of Oxford, Mississippi is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the country. I've had the privilege to be a part of several restoration projects at St Peter's Cemetery.

I found it interesting that so many college kids would gather around Faulkner's gravesite making toasts and taking shots of liquor with the late author.

My recent discovery came much like Faulkner's epiphany prior to writing his first successful novel, it just came to me.

The setting was Section 2 St Peter's Cemetery. It was an overcast February day in North Mississippi. With the fact being, one simply can not drive across a cemetery, I parked and made several trips to and from the project I was working on that day.

Never having been skiddish, scared, or afraid while doing my job, the occupants and I have a agreement. They let me work and I let them rest.

That is until this day. You see, it was blatantly obvious something odd was going on every single time I walked in front of a particular stone.

The first incident that occured in front of one particular stone, was a dropped glove. The second was a five gallon bucket of water spilt in its’ entirety. The third and final straw was my bag of dremmel bits dumped right out before me. All three happening within minutes of one another.

As I knelt picking the bits up out of the water soaked soil I looked directly in front of me. And there it was, staring at me. My skin felt crawly as I knelt eye-to-eye with the most evil tombstone I had ever seen.

Standing one might never notice. It was in the shape of a cross. "In the arms of Jesus" was engraved across the top. Then it took a hard left turn. Midway of the cross was the All Seeing Eye. The Eye of Providence staring at me like I was the one with the problem.

It wasn't just any eye. It was the "All seeing eye" resting on a compass, and to that Freemason it was meant to send a message.

The All-Seeing Eye, so the Freemasons call it, is obsolete in cemeteries after the 1900's. The engraving of one on an individual's stone was few and far between prior to that time. The reason, oh there was a reason alright.

To the Freemason that emblem on a stone meant, I may be gone but God Sees All and you will pay for your misdeeds.

Needless to say, I gathered my drill bits and found another route to my project. Not to dare tread by the eye again.

By days end I was more curious than spooked. Who was this guy? Did he have descendants? Were they decent people? Had the blood line stopped with this gentleman?

I walked backed over to the evil eye to look at the name on the stone. I hadn't made it past the eye earlier to see whose honor it had been erected.

The last name was Sheehog. A name I had never heard of. We certainly had no Sheehogs in New Albany or Oxford.

My mind immediately went to Judy Sheehog. She was the only Sheehog I knew. She played the role of Faulkner’s fictional character when he told childrens’ ghost stories at Rowan Oak. Faulkner never wrote of Judith Sheehog.

However, his niece, Dean, wrote of her in a book of the stories called "The Ghost Of Rowan Oak".

Judith was a fictional character who apparently flung herself out a window at Rowan Oak over a man and it led to her demise.

I quickly got on my phone and looked up the name James Gowan Sheehog. I found him on a cemetery locating site but there nothing else.

That site told me his mother and father were buried next to him. I quickly put in the name Robert Sheehog.

Hmmm, would you look at that. Robert Sheehog was the wealthy plantation owner who built and first lived in what is now known as Rowan Oak.

There was very little on Robert Sheehog to be found. If he was liked well enough in Oxford to have an obituary, it could not be found. However, a clipping was found of the one written in the town from which he transplanted. They seemed to brag on his wealth.

Robert Sheehog, an Irish immigrant was he. Irish immigrants were more often than not considered dirty and diseased in the early 1800's. Now this may or may not have been the case for Sheehog. I do know he married “up” in South Carolina and his in-laws gave him the land in Mississippi to develop. So in turn he built the plantation home now known as Rowan Oak.

At Sheehog’s death in 1861 at the age of 59, he had many slaves and nearly 10,000 acres of land in Lafayette and surrounding counties.

It is said, he came home one day from being out at one of his plantations in a neighboring county and fell strangly ill.

It appears, but is not evident, that Robert Sheehog wasn't much for church either. At this point I was definitely picking up a Thomas Sutpen vibe.

Some sources say Mr. Sheehog had 10 children, others say 5. I can account for a 28 year old son and a 16 year old daughter that both died within the same week. Sources say they both died of pneumonia. I say pneumonia in August might be a stretch.

A daughter that lived to reach 60 and is buried in Nashville. Records indicate no children.

James Gowan, the one-eyed Freemason died at in 1869 at the age of 33.

It was beginning to look like I was right about this dynasty fading out.

They did have one son that died at the age of 54 and by all accounts moved to South Mississippi to possibly start a family of his own. Don't quote me on that. The records for that era in Mississippi are simply pitiful.

It is with good reason no one has ever tied Faulkner's work to the Sheehogs’. You see, on the face of it the Sheehog family had all died or left town prior to Faulkner ever being born. All of them except Joelle. She never went far.

I am convinced Joelle is the real story teller in Faulkner's 1929-1939 works. She could very well be the individual responsible for Faulkner's narrative voice.

Joelle was very much alive the first 31 years of Faulkner's life. I simply can't help but see him absorbing all she could tell him about the twist and turns of the Sheehog family. She may have even told him a bit about the animosity she held for her late father-in-law.

Now, again that is all assumption, but the fact is much like Rosa left the Hundred, Joelle left Rowan Oak. Joelle went to the neighboring town of Winona, Mississippi and both ladies would be in a state of a coma before eventually giving way to death.

The parallel between the Sheehogs and Falkners greatest accomplishment are evident and found page after page.

Accompany those strange similarities with things like Falkner constantly striving not to be traced by paper to his descendants. After all he did change the spelling of his last name while Joelle was alive. Falkner did make a request after she died. You see later in life he asked that his burial plot be re-located to a separate cemetery than his mother and father. The claim was Falkner demand for a made to be buried in that family plot. When the family refused, he said he wouldn’t be buried there either.

The fact that Falkner lived an entire life never advocated for individuals of color tells me that a beloved maid wasn’t the cause for final

Resting request. But rather risk run with sharing the same hill side as the Sheehog’s.

Joelle passed away in 1928. The interesting thing about that is, how it coincides with Faulkner's apparent, newfound freedom with writing that occurred in the late 1920's. The one he said happened when he "shut the door to publishers" and the story narratives simply came to him. All of that coincidently happened to him the same year as Joelle's death.

Faulkner dove into to the “Sound and the Fury”within six months of Joelle's death and had its final draft ready in October of 1929, just six months after first setting a pen to paper.

It is also fact that Faulkner did not marry until after the death of Joelle Sheehog. Some say he was waiting on his high school sweetheart. I say that was a mighty big feat for for a man to have struggled with infidelity right up til death.

It is strictly my opinion after a brief observation, that there is in fact a good reason Faulkner wrote all his life, yet only seemed to be productive for a span of 10-12 years. Had the Sheehog family not ended in demise so soon, perhaps he could have produced a fifth or sixth novel of substance. I also can't help but think it explains the narrative voice he began implanting heavily. He was simply writing as he had been told by Mrs. Joelle.

Many say that Faulkner was hard to read. I say, there was a reason for that as well. You see, Robert Frost said once in a conversation about the south and it production of seemingly good writers, "Well that may be, but nobody in the South can read their books".

Was the complexity in Faulkner's work intentional in order to prevent those close to home from reading them? Who knows, but again it is plausible.

Again my focus is in that of history and not literature. I'm in no way trying to conspire anything regarding Faulkner's work. I just felt that the Sheehogs story should be told.

The main take away I personally had from this one evening with the Sheehogs, do not tread near James Gowan Sheehog grave!

Perhaps Faulkner himself provided the summation of my speculation when he said, "The only thing that can alter a good writer is death."

Sheehog Headstone St Peter’s Cemetery

Sunday Epitaphs. A good little read.

Epitaph

I figure epitaphs make about as good a Sunday afternoon read as anything.

Epitaphs are to be personalized, poignant, and to the point. Short and sweet goes a long way when it comes to the writing on a headstone.

The possibilities are endless.

But here are just few.....that start with

A!

• A beautiful face will age and a perfect body will change, but a beautiful soul will always be a beautiful soul

• A beautiful memory lingers

• A beautiful life came to an end, she died as she lived, everyone’s friend

• A beautiful soul

• A beloved and capable wife and mother

• A beloved husband, dad and grandfather

• A bud from earth bloomed in Heaven

• A caring, sharing person

• A child is God’s precious jewel

• A citizen without reproach, a friend without pretense, a philanthropist without display, a Christian without hypocrisy

• A day of duty done, a day of rest begun

• A dear husband, father and grandfather

• A devoted son

• A devoted wife, mother and grandmother

• A godly man who served the Lord all his days

• A free spirit

• A friend indeed

• A friend to all

• A friend to many and sadly missed

• A friend you have to buy won’t be worth what you pay for him

• A gentle man and a gentleman

• A gentle man

• A godly man who served the Lord all his days

• A good and kind heart is the best of all qualities

• A good wife, affectionate mother and true friend

• A happy soul, that all the way to heaven hath a summer’s day

• A heart of gold stopped beating / Working hands at rest / God broke our hearts to prove to us / He only takes the best / Leaves and flowers may wither / The golden sun may set / But the hearts that loved you dearly / Are the ones that won’t forget

• A kinder, gentler woman you will never meet again

• A lady of rare understanding and of generous heart

• A life full of years of understanding

• A life like theirs has left a record sweet for memory to dwell upon

• A life may last for just a moment, but memory can make that moment last forever

• A life of beauty and service

• A life of deeds, not of years

• A life of giving through love, thought and deed

• A life so brief, a child so small, you had the power to touch us all

• A light from our household is gone, a voice we loved is stilled, a place is vacant in our hearts that never can be filled

• A little flower of love, that blossomed, but to die transplanted now above, to bloom with God on high

• A little flower, lent not given, to bud on earth and bloom in Heaven

• A little soul takes wings

• A little time on earth he spent till God for him His angels sent and then on time he closed his eyes to wake in glory in the skies

• A little while and you shall see me no longer; and again a little while and you shall see Me because I go to the Father (John 16:16)

• A love, constant and true

• A loved one is gone from our circle, on earth we will meet her no more. She has gone to her home in heaven and all her afflictions are over

• A loved one sleeping

• A loved one sleeping, gone but not forgotten

• A loving father, tender and kind, what a beautiful memory you left behind

• A loving husband (wife) and father (mother)

• A loving mother and a faithful friend

• A majestic memory

• A man (woman) of talent and courage

• A man (woman) of vision

• A man greatly beloved

• A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others

• A man of virtue kindness and modesty

• A memory to be ever with us

• A moment in our arms, a lifetime in our hearts

• A mother is a mother still; the holiest thing alive

• A mother’s love, like an imperishable sun, cannot go out

• A mother’s love grows by giving

• A person is a person, no matter how small

• A righteous woman remembered for a blessing

• A rose like her called to the angels

• A song is more lasting than the voice of the birds

• A special kind of love

• A star on earth and a star in Heaven

• A tender heart and generous spirit

• A tender mother a faithful friend

• A thousand words can’t bring you back, I know because I tried. And neither can a million tears, I know because I cried

• A tiny flower, lent not given, to bud on earth, and bloom in Heaven

• A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough

• A treasure on earth

• A woman of grace and dignity

• A woman of virtue, kindness and modesty

• A word of kindness is seldom spoken in vain, while witty sayings are as easily lost as the pearls slipping from a broken string

• A youth to who was given so much of earth so much of Heaven

• Abiding love never dies

• Abiding the day when we meet again in that infinity of time and space which men call heaven

• Absence doth join, and time doth settle

• Absent from the body, present with the Lord

• Absent in body, but present in spirit (1 Corinthians 5:3)

• After life’s cares and sorrows, His comfort, sweetness and peace

• After the night comes the morning, bidding all darkness to cease…After life’s cares and sorrows, His comfort, sweetness and peace

• Affliction for a long time I have, physicians skill in vain till Christ was pleased to give me last and rid me of my pain

• Ah youth! Forever dear, forever kind!

• All hope despair, that stands not on the Cross

• All that I am or ever hope to be I owe to my angel mother

• All things are possible to him who believes

• All things change but God remains

• All things change, creeds, and philosophies and outward systems but God remains!

• All things change…but God remains the same

• All things to the glory of God

• All things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8: 28)

• All things work together unto good

• All things you ask for in prayer, believing, you shall receive

• All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.

• Alone to thee, dear Lord, can we our well-beloved resign

• Along the cool sequestered vale of life they kept the noiseless tenor of their way

• Although she sleeps, her memory lives on

• Although your smile is gone forever and your hand I cannot touch, I still have so many memories of the one I loved so much. Your memory is my keepsake with which I’ll never part. God has you in His keeping, I have you in my heart

• Always a lady (gentleman)

• Always in our hearts

• Always in our thoughts, forever in our hearts

• Always in our thoughts

• Always kind and willing

• Always loving always loved

• Always remembered

• Amen

• An angel, in the Book of Life, wrote down my baby’s birth. Then whispered as he closed the book, too beautiful for Earth

• An angel on earth and an angel in Heaven

• An angel shining in Heaven

• An angel visited the green earth, and took a flower away

• An honest man, beloved in life, and regretted in death by all

• An inspiration to all

• An unforgettable person

• And a little child shall lead them

• And as the evening twilight fades away the sky is filled with stars, invisible by day

• And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest

• And He will take you up on eagle’s wings and hold you in the palm of his hand

• And I give unto them eternal rest

• And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

• And I will give you rest

• And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:3)

• And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make

• And let there be no sorrow; for remember when the sun goes down, it returns with a bright tomorrow. So, a toast to the past; a toast to the future…

• And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13)

• And now cometh eternal rest and blessed tranquility

• And rove where angels love to dwell. Where trees of life bear fruit of love

• And so make life, death and that vast forever one grand sweet song

• And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7)

• And they wake into the Light whose day shall never die in night

• And we remember you with love in our hearts

• And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God

• And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch (Mark 13:37)

• And when it is God’s holy will, may she be prepared to meet her God and friends in peace, and leave this world of care

• And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me. Shine until tomorrow, let it be

• And with the morn those angel faces smile which I have loved long since, and lost awhile

• Angels guard you forever

• Angel, you were born to fly!

• Artist

• As a family we are never apart loving memories keep you alive in our hearts

• As a wife-devoted, as a mother-affectionate, as a friend-our trust and love, in life-she exhibited all the graces of a Christian, in death-her redeemed spirit returned to God who gave it

• As a wife, she had no equal. As a mother, she had no superior

• As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Jos. 24:15)

• As I am now so you must be

• As long as I live you will live. As long as I  live you will be remembered. As long as I live you will be loved

• As long as we live, they too will live; for they are now a part of us; as we remember them (Jewish Prayer)

• As long as life and memory last I shall remember thee

• As the bird free of its cage seeks the heights, so the Christian soul in death flies home to God

• As we trust the sun will rise, so trust we the mystery will be explained

• As you are now so once was I

• As you danced in the light with joy, love lifted you. As you brushed against this world so gently, you lifted us

• Asked for so little and gave so very much

• Asleep in Christ Jesus

• Asleep in Jesus

• Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep, from which none ever wake to weep

• Asleep in Jesus, blessed thought

• Asleep, not dead

• At last until we meet again

• At peace

• At rest with God

• At rest

• At rest, an American soldier and defender of the Constitution

• At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them

• Awaiting the touch of a little hand, and the smile of a little face

Epitaphs that begin with B

• Bearing Burdens No More

• Broken No More

• Because He loved Me

• BIG Girls Don’t Cry

• Better Now

• Build on, and make thy castles high and fair, Rising and reaching upward to the skies

• Bright Lights Big City

• But gone to our Father’s house above

• But in the night of death hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing

• But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first (Matthew 19:30)

• But O for the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is still

• But O the heavy change, now thou art gone, Now thou art gone and never must return!

• But still I dream that somewhere there must be the spirit of a child that waits for me

• But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, walks o’er the dew of yon high eastward hill

• By cloudless starlight on he treads, And thinks no lamp so cheering As that light which Heaven sheds

• Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you (Psalm 55:22)

• Budded on Earth to bloom in Heaven

• Be a little kinder than you have to

• Be have

• Be where your feet are

• Be of good courage and He shall strengthen thine heart (Psalm 31:24)

• Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9)

• Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life (Revelation 2: 10)

• Beautiful as a bright shining star

• Beautiful isle of memory echoes of the past

• Beautiful, lovely, she was but given  A fair, but to earth, to bloom in Heaven

• Beauty & Creativity

• Beauty is truth, truth beauty-that is all ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know

• Because he (she) cared

• Because someone we love is in heaven, we feel heaven in our home

• Behind the dim unknown, standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own

• Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: Is there any thing too hard for me? (Jeremiah 33:27)

• Behold, he taketh away: who will hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou? (Job 9:12)

• Behold the Lamb Of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)

• Behold the Lord taketh away, who can hinder him (Job 9:12)

• Believe on Him to life everlasting. (I Timothy 1:16)

• Beloved (Name), inspiration and companion

• Beloved and dear in life…in death they are not divided (2 Samuel 1:23)

• Beloved by all who knew them (him, her)

• Beloved by God and man

• Beloved Dad

• Beloved father (mother), brother (sister), grandfather (grandmother) & Friend

• Beloved how we miss you

• Beloved Husband

• Beloved Husband, Father, Grandfather and Great-Grandfather

• Beloved In Life

• Beloved Mom

• Beloved Mother, Daughter and Sister

• Beloved Mother, Grandmother and Friend

• Beloved Mother, Your Orb Will Rise A Beautiful Star In Paradise

• Beloved Mother (Father)…. Our Guide And Counselor

• Beloved Of The Lord

• Beloved One, Farewell

• Beloved Son and Brother

• Beloved Son, Brother and Father

• Beloved Son, Brother and Friend

• Beloved soul of great pride and dignity

• Beloved Wife

• Beloved Wife, Aunt, Sister and Professor

Epitaphs that begin with C

•Can't you hear my shouts of praise. I see my Savior whom I've waited all my days!

•Chains No More!

•Courage I leave with you. For it is strength I have gained.

•Call back yesterday, bid time return!

•Call unto me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not

•Called back

•Called by one who loves him (her) dearly

•Called home by the Lord, to be remembered forever

•Calm on the bosom of thy God, fair spirit, rest thee now

•Calm on the listening ear of night come heaven’s melodious strains

•Cease father mother to complain, God lent and claimed his own again

•Cherish the memories

•Children are a precious gift of God

•Children are an heritage of the Lord (Psalm 127: 3)

•Children are the heritage of the Lord

•Children are the keys of paradise

•Children bring their own love with them when they come

•Children shine like the rays of sun

Christ is my hope

•Closed are the sweetest eyes from this world of pain, but trust in God to meet again

•Come home and rest

•Come Lord from the skies and command us to rise to the mansions of glory above

•Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28)

•Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. (Matthew 11:28)

•Come, Blessed Of My Father (Matthew 25:34)

•Conceived by the love of two died with the love of many

•Could I have this dance for the rest of my life

•Courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference