“Old State Prison Cemetery”, Milledgeville, Georgia
On a recent business trip to the Milledgeville, Georgia area I decided to do a little family history research. One of my family contacts having the unfortunate circumstance of being descended from an ancestor who was convicted, along with his wife, of murder in 1934. My contact had very little information about his paternal ancestry but he was able to supply me with enough information that I could find the people for whom he was searching. After an intense search of historical Georgia newspapers and other records I was able to pinpoint the names and location of the family members for whom he was searching. My search had led me to the Georgia State Penitentiary in Milledgeville, Georgia.
Therefore, armed with the information which I had previously located I decided to look for the cemetery in which his paternal grandfather was interred. His grandfather and grandmother having been sentenced to death and to life imprisonment respectively had been housed at the, Georgia State Penitentiary located at Milledgeville, Georgia. This prison is also commonly referred to as the “Old State Prison”.
While I had previously located death records for these two people I had not located their burial sites. My contacts grandfather was executed on February 11, 1935 at the prison. Since no one came to claim his remains, after his death by electrocution, he was interred in the prison cemetery. His grandmother was later moved, when the prison closed and was relocated to Reidsville, in Tattnall County, Georgia. She died there on August 28, 1942, at the age of 47. Her final resting place has not been located as of this date.
The Old State Prison, as it came to be called, operated from 1911 to 1937. The cemetery is located in a wooded area, under a power line right-of-way, off of Meeks Road. The graves are marked with a metal marker, similar to a car tag, containing the grave number only.
Note: The above information concerning the prison and prison cemetery is from the website, www.friendsofcems.org/Baldwin. When visiting their website click on the Cemeteries by name button, select I thru Q then click on Prison. This will take you to the Georgia State Penitentiary at Milledgeville page. Here you will find information about the prison, directions to the prison cemetery, and a list of names of the people who are buried there. The significance of this site should not be lost on the researcher or family historian. As such we are constantly seeking to identify, locate and define the lives of our ancestors. For those who have relatives who died at this prison, this cemetery list is an invaluable aid to their search. They will at least have the knowledge of knowing where their relatives are buried.
Phil H. Herrington
Follow Up:
On a return visit to the cemetery site, which had been located on an earlier visit, it was very discouraging to find that the cemetery has all but disappeared. The two photos below say all that needs to be said.
Phil H. Herrington
