The following excerpt is from an article by Lawrence Chan, published in the April 18, 2014 edition of wuft.org:
It started with a baby and a cedar tree.
In 1856, James Tilatha Thomas, a cotton farmer and landowner, buried his 10-day-old daughter beneath a cedar tree.
Eight months later, his wife Elizabeth Jane Hall Thomas passed away. He buried her on the land, too. It’d be 21 years before Thomas would rejoin his family.
Thomas’ small family graveyard expanded into the Evergreen Cemetery, which was honored April 12 with a Florida Historical Marker. This will preserve the Gainesville cemetery’s condition as a cultural and historical landmark.
The marker is inscribed with the cemetery’s early history and the names of notable historical figures found there.
View the findagrave website page for the Evergreen Cemetery in Gainesville, Florida. 8,823 interments are listed.
