FREEMAN CEMETERY
WEAKLEY COUNTY, TENNESSEE
CULBERTSON FAMILY
Cassandre Elizabeth Baldridge Griffith Culbertson
CASSANDRA ELIZABETH BALDRIDGE GRIFFITH CULBERTSON (1832-1905) was a great-granddaughter of Daniel Baldridge, a Revolutionary War soldier from Hillsborough, North Carolina, who, for his service in the war, had been deeded 640 acres of land in the Public Wells community about two miles from the location of Freeman Cemetery.
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Cass married Henry Griffith and bore eight children between 1853 and 1867. In 1855, her father, Andrew W. Baldridge, bequeathed his married daughter one bed and furniture, one cow and calf, and one horse, already in her possession. Henry Griffith, who died in 1867, and six of the children (who presumably died in infancy), are buried in an unknown location. Two Griffith children survived into adulthood and are buried beside their mother at Freeman Cemetery: SARAH ADELINE GRIFFITH (1862-1928) and JAMES HENRY GRIFFITH (1863-1932). Neither Sarah nor James married, but grandchildren from Cass's second marriage remembered them with great affection.
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Cass married Wesley Lewis Culbertson, and they had three sons before his death in 1877. He is buried in an unmarked grave off Nethery Road near Martin. Their first son, Robert (Bob), moved to Missouri. Their second son, Lewis (1874-1875) died in infancy. Their third son, CHARLES WESLEY CULBERTSON (1875-1919), and members of his family are buried in Freeman Cemetery.
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At the time of Wesley Lewis Culbertson's death, Cass was left with four children ages 16, 14, 7, and 2. She had lost two husbands and seven small children and had survived the Civil War years when Weakley County was beset with lawlessness, bushwhackers, and guerillas. One could speculate that she then returned to the Public Wells community where she lived out her life. In spite of the difficulties of widowhood and Reconstruction, she outlived her second husband by twenty-eight years and passed at the ripe age of 73.
Ida Elizabeth Jackson Culbertson with Edward Frank, Elbert, and Estella Culbertson, c. 1901.
Edward Frank, Elbert, and Estella Culbertson, c. 1903.
CHARLES WESLEY CULBERTSON (1875-1919) married IDA ELIZABETH JACKSON CULBERTSON (1873-1931) from Calloway County, Kentucky, in 1897. They had eight children, four of whom are buried in Freeman Cemetery:
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Edward Frank Culbertson (1898-1983)
Estella May Culbertson Nichols (1899-1973)
Elbert Culbertson (1901-1971)
Fred Culbertson (1905-1977)
Orbin Wesley Culbertson (1908-1971)
Lewis Biggs Culbertson (1911-1978)
Ruby Cassandra Culbertson House (1914-2001)
Charlie Mabel Culbertson Sadler (1916-1983)
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Charles Wesley worked at the Power House at the railroad tracks at Martin. He once took a mechanic's correspondence course to improve himself. He died in the 1919 influenza outbreak.
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Death of Splendid Citizen from the Dresden Enterprise and Sharon Tribune, January 17, 1919, p. 5.
Mr. Charlie Culbertson died Tuesday night at his home, the Geo. Dodd farm at Ralston, following a short illness of pneumonia. The deceased was about 46 years of age, and surviving him are his grief stricken wife and five or six children. Mr. Culberson was a clever, industrious, honorable man and well liked in the community. The sorrowing wife and children have the sympathy of the community. The remains were interred Wednesday at Bethany, where services were held.
Ruby Culbertson House, Estella Culbertson Nichols, Elbert Culbertson, Lewis Culbertson, 1951.
Culbertson brothers Fred, Elbert, and Lewis, 1950s.
Culbertson family, 1939. Back row: Estella Culbertson Nichols, Azalee and Elbert Culbertson, Lewis and Kathryn Culbertson, Joe Nichols (Estella's son), Mabel Culbertson Carroll (holding Dorothy Dean), Fred Carroll, Ruby Culbertson House (holding Kenneth Elbert House), John Benjamin House. Front row: Joyce Culbertson (Lewis's daughter), Elizabeth Nichols (Estella's daughter), Mary Nell House (Ruby's daughter), Betty Sue Stephens (Mabel's daughter).
Culbertson sisters Ruby Culbertson House and Estella Culbertson Nichols, 1940s.