GO-11:  NASHVILLE, DAVIDSON COUNTY, TN.  Swinging Bridge Road

 

In 2001, family descendants reported the destruction of the Michael Gleaves Cemetery to the Davidson County Cemetery Survey project.  This destruction was thought to have occurred during the time of World War I.  During 2001, Cemetery Surveyors located an overgrown cemetery, surrounded by a rock wall.  They were able to piece together broken pieces of stone and spell “Gleaves 17??”   This cemetery was heavily overgrown and could not be entered by Cemetery Survey volunteers. 

 

In the fall of 2004, Owen C. Gleaves and his sister Fran Gleaves Nichols reported to the Davidson County Cemetery Survey project that they had found the original site of the Michael Gleaves Cemetery.  This turned out to be the same cemetery visited by Cemetery Survey volunteers during 2001.  In March 2005, family members met at the cemetery. They  cleared the heavy growth from the inside the rock wall of the graveyard and also from the immediate outside area around the rock wall.  The volunteers involved in this project were Owen C. Gleaves, Fran Gleaves Nichols. George Wilkerson, James Lewis and Hilda Hagar Barnes.   Pieces of one tombstone were found and could be put together to form a legible inscription for Mary, wife of William Gleaves.   

 

1 TOMBSTONE WITH INSCRIPTION (broken into pieces) 

7 FIELDSTONES 

MANY BROKEN SLABS OF STONE

 

GLEAVES       Born: 1794       Died: 1877

Front Inscription:  In Mem(ory)/ Mar(y)/ Wif(e)/ Wm.Gleaves/ Born/ June 19 A. D. 1794/ Died/ Feb. 11 A.D. (18)77

 

Cemetery History

Kenneth C. Thomson, a descendant, sent a history of the cemetery and burials to the Cemetery Survey project during 2001.  The farm where the cemetery was located, was called “Hazelwood.”  William Gleaves, son of Michael, died in 1840, and the property, passed to his widow Mary Gleaves.  After the death of Mrs. William Gleaves (Mary “Polly” Ann Wilson Gleaves), the land became the property of her step-daughter, Mrs. Richard Ambrose Turner (Martha Ann Gleaves Turner)  and at her death to her son Junius Gleaves Turner (1839-1914).  Mrs. Clementia Hadley Turner, widow of Junius,  and her children sold the land to the U. S. Government for the Powder Plant during World War I.  Mr. Thomson reported that the slave graveyard was also located near the family cemetery.

 

List of probable burials in the Michael Gleaves Cemetery.  Kenneth C. Thomson.  2001

 

MICHAEL GLEAVES 

1754 – 1811

 

RACHEL GLEAVES, WIFE OF MICHAEL GLEAVES  

DIED SEPT. 17, 1835

 

WILLIAM GLEAVES, SON OF MICHAEL GLEAVES  

1789 – APRIL 13, 1840

 

ANN NELSON GLEAVES, 1ST WIFE OF WILLIAM GLEAVES  

1790 – 1813

 

MARY “POLLY” ANN WILSON GLEAVES, 2ND WIFE OF WILLIAM GLEAVES  

JUNE 19, 1794 – FEB. 11, 1877

 

MARTHA ANN GLEAVES DRAKE TURNER 

JUNE 5, 1813 – MAR. 31, 1885

 

ELI DRAKE, 1ST HUSBAND OF MARTHA ANN GLEAVES 

DIED 1832

 

RICHARD AMBROSE TURNER, 2ND HUSBAND OF MARTHA ANN GLEAVES

JUNE 25, 1810 – JULY 2, 1850

 

E. IRVING KELLEY TURNER, SON OF RICHARD TURNER

JAN. 16, 1850 – AUG. 31, 1852

 

GEORGE GLEAVES   (NO DATES)

 

End of List of probable Burials.  Provided by Kenneth C. Thomson. 2001

 

 

Historical Information

On December 22, 1999,  The Messenger,  ran article  entitled “Old Hickory Historic Cemetery to be Preserved,”  by Rauline Tedder.   There had been local concern about the future of the cemetery with the encroachment of nearby development.  At the time of the article, the property owners,  West Michigan Auto Auction,  had pledged to preserve the cemetery. 

 

 

UPDATE REPORT  MAY 14, 2005