Syfrett Cemetery
Cemetery = Syfrett Cemetery
Vicinity = Sopchoppy NW
Status = neglected
Community = white
Synonymous name(s) = Syfrett Creek Cemetery
GPS Location |
S-T-R Location |
Directions |
30°6’9.29” X84°34’30.07” |
SW¼ Sec 30, 4S,
3W |
80 yd W of FR 345 |
A knoll of old cropland in Apalachicola National
Forest just south of the south point of Bradwell Bay Wilderness features two
or more graves. The site evidently is that recorded by the 1940-41 veterans' graves registration as Syfrett Cemetery. Though quite near Forest Rd. 345, it
is hidden by vegetation and not visible from the road.
Jim A. Syfrett of LaVernia, Texas, prepared a brief
report on the graveyard in 2002. Some of its passages are:
The cemetery contains two-three grave sites, namely
that of Daniel Wester Syfrett, who was born in South Carolina about 1824 and
died in Wakulla County, Florida about 1890, his wife Versenoy Miller, who
was born in Early County Georgia about 1834 and died in Wakulla County, Florida
about 1885. Reportedly an unnamed infant is also buried there...
If the child reportedly buried there is one of
Daniel's and Versenoy's, the cemetery could have been started in the early
1850's. Otherwise it could have been started as late as the early to mid 1880's
when Versenoy died...
A nephew, now in his seventies, recently told
me that he remembers visiting the cemetery as a child with his parents and
at that time there was a "shed", i.e., "roof" over the grave sites. He said
that he had been told that Daniel had someone he knew in South Carolina come
down and build the "shed" and that it was put together without the use of
nails. According to him, this was later destroyed by loggers... The use of
the "shed" over the grave sites has been confirmed by a niece who also visited
the cemetery as a child. I understand from others that the use of a roof over
grave sites was not an uncommon thing in the 1800's/early 1900's.
...At one time the cemetery was enclosed by a rail
fence which was later replaced by a white picket fence.
When I first saw the cemetery, it was surrounded
by an old rusty field fence... The two adult grave sites were marked by a large
piece of stone, one at the head of each site. One site was also marked by
a homemade concrete marker. In addition to the stone, the other adult site
was marked with a concrete building block at both head and foot as well as
a wooden grave marker at the foot... The site of the child reportedly buried
there did not have any type marker raising the question "is there a child
buried there?" However, there is adequate room between the two adult sites
for the grave of a child or an adult for that matter.
In late 2000 and early 2001, my brother and I
put together a plan to re-fence the cemetery and add a headstone for our grandparents... In January 2002, we proceeded as planned and replaced the old fence and
posts with metal posts and chainlink fence. We added a gate and had a new
headstone set. The new stone is set between the two adult graves sites and
has both names and birth/death dates of each of our grandparents as best as
we could determine them. The marker also recognizes the un-named infant buried
there. We were not allowed to move the existing markers...
A 1999 memo to the historical society also covers
this site in some detail and gives a rather precise locating map (the 1940-41
veterans document evidently was mistaken in giving Land Section 19, a territory
of low flatwoods and ty-ty bays lying to the north; the graves are in Sec. 30).
Information given there as to persons buried at the site is from Syfrett descendant
Frank Revell (b.1931) of Sopchoppy. Site File 8Wa665 in the State of Florida
Division of Historical Resources also records this cemetery.
Name |
Birth |
Death |
Comments |
Syfrett, Daniel Webster |
1824 |
1890 |
h/o Versanoy Miller Syfrett; Pvt, Capt
Jones Co CSA |
Syfrett, Versanoy Miller |
1834 |
1885 |
w/o Daniel Webster Syfrett |
Unknown |
|
|
infant |
Date of site report narrative - February 2002
Surveyed by members of the WCHS,
February 2007
Some information taken from Register of Deceased Veterans 1940-41
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