Colonial Park Cemetery of Savannah, GA is one of the oldest cemeteries in the state and is the oldest in the city. It was previously known as the “Old Cemetery,” before it became a park and received burials for over a century, from 1750 through 1853. This means that the stones in this cemetery are anywhere from 170 to 273 years old!
Over time, the cemetery was transitioned from a burial ground to a public park space with various paths and benches weaving through the tombstones - and unfortunately in some cases, placed directly over them.
As Savannah is one of the most haunted cities in America, many gravitate towards her spookier locations. This, of course, includes Colonial Park which is conveniently located right in downtown at the corner of Abercorn Street and East Oglethorpe Avenue.
There are endless stories of shadow people, child spectres, grave vandalism during the Civil War, and even Death itself is said to roam the grounds. What about the people interred there though? While there are a few notable burials, including a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the stories of ordinary people buried here have long been forgotten.
I’m here to bring you four such stories, stories of people who do not get fancy plaques in historic cemeteries. Stories you wouldn’t hear on any historical tour, even though the guides pass by these graves so often.
The Broken Grave of Thomas Price, 1791-1827
“Sacred
To the Memory of
Thomas R. Price
a Native of Newark, N. Jersey
— — — — — — —
in the 35th year of his age”
I initially became interested in researching the stories of Colonial Park after frequently visiting the grave of Isabella Chadbourn. I had been spending so much time at her grave that I wanted to start looking into some of the people around her. This is what led me to the grave of Thomas Price.
Eternally resting next to Isabella is Thomas Price, whose grave has sadly been broken in half. I worried about not being able to find out much about him due to where the break is; the crack and subsequent repair run right through the date he died. Thanks to interment records, I was able to find that he died in February 1827; newspapers list his death as being on the 22nd.
According to records, he was a merchant from New Jersey and you can see on his stone that he was from Newark. He is listed as being a resident of Savannah, and the newspaper I previously mentioned has him being a resident of Savannah for 20 years. Records have him being 36 but his stone says 35; newspapers confirm he was 36. His cause of death was listed as being “fits,” which I believe was a term at the time used to describe seizures.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find much about Mr. Price’s family or if he ever married.
While there isn’t a lot out there on his family, those who knew him had a lot of amazing things to say about him:
Mary Ann Coburn, Mother, Wife & Daughter
“Sacred
To the Memory
of
Mary Ann,
wife of
Moses Coburn,
and daughter of
Capt. Peter & Rebecca Douville
She was born in Providence, RI
January 19, 1806,
and died in Savannah,
August 27, 1841”
Before she was “Mary Ann, wife of Moses Coburn,” she was Mary Ann Douville.
She was born January 19, 1806 to parents Peter and Rebecca in Providence, RI. She was the oldest of three children according to family tree records, but sadly was the only one to survive to adulthood. Her younger brother Henry lived from 1808-1809 and her younger sister Rebecca lived from 1810-1814. While Peter passed away in 1825, Rebecca sadly outlived all three of her children.
Mary Ann married Moses in 1829 when she was 23 and he was 30. The couple had three children together, all of whom were born in Savannah: Moses Douville (April 27, 1834), Helen Marr (October 2, 1836) and William Henry (September 12, 1838).
She was only 35 years old when she died on August 27, 1841. Sadly, according to records, Mary Ann’s cause of death was listed as being “child bed.” I couldn’t find any records for the baby, so it seems likely she died needing a C-section and the child was never delivered.
Moses was 7 years old, Helen was 4 years old and William was almost 3 years old when they lost their mother and youngest sibling.
The Shared Grave of Grace Belcher & James Belcher
“In Memory of
Mrs. Grace Belcher
wife of
Mr. James Belcher
who died January 14th
1793, aged 45 years
Also James Pryce Belcher
son of the above parent
who died Feb. 21st 1793
aged 4 years & 10 months”
This tombstone is shared by mother and son: Grace and James Belcher. This one has always stood out to me because I found the flowers carved into the top to be unique. They look like daisies to me and you don’t see that very often on older tombstones.
Grace passed away on January 14, 1793 when she was 45 years old, making this one of the oldest graves in the cemetery.
According to family tree records her maiden name was Hastings. Her marriage records seem to have some discrepancies, but this is what I believe happened:
William Carr married Grace HODGSON in 1758 and they had a daughter, Mary, in 1759. He then married Grace HASTINGS in 1768 and they had a daughter, Jane, in 1769.
According to family trees, William is listed as marrying our Grace here in Colonial Park twice: in 1758 & 1768. If they married in 1758 though, our Grace would have only been 10 years old. Further digging led to the mentioning of Grace Hodgson. It's likely that, due to the age of these records, they got crisscrossed.
In any case, our Grace married James’s father, James Sr, in Georgia on July 12, 1787. She was 39 when they married and he was 30. Little James was born in April of 1788; sadly, he passed away just over a month after his mother. He died on February 21, 1793 when he was only 4 years old.
I was able to find James Sr’s cause of death being listed as consumption in 1808; on these records he’s also listed as being a merchant. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a cause of death for Grace or little James, again likely due to the age of the records.
The Missing & Vandalized Grave of Christopher McDonald
“Sacred
To the memory of
Christopher McDonald
who died 1st March 1844
aged 42 years old
May his soul rest in peace
This stone is erected by his widow”
The story of Christopher McDonald’s grave is doubly sad: not only is his tombstone located on what’s known as “Orphans’ Wall,” but it was also vandalised to say he was 421 years old.
The vandalism likely took place during the Civil War as the cemetery was used as a camp for Union soldiers. They would use the vaults to keep warm, change the ages on the graves and surely knocked over a few of them as well.
Some of the stones were also likely relocated as the cemetery became a park.
Many of the crumbling and displaced stones ended up here, on what the book Savannah Shadows refers to as the “Orphans’ Wall.” These are stones of people buried in Colonial Park…somewhere. This feature of the cemetery is pointed out frequently on tours and has become a major stop for tourists.
So while we can locate Christopher’s headstone, we actually have no idea where in the cemetery he is buried. This is what we do know about him:
Christopher McDonald was born in Ireland in 1802. Not much is known about his parents; he had one sister, Ann, but not much information is available on her either. I was, however, able to find his naturalisation records which show him becoming a US citizen on January 30, 1832. Records also show that he was a shoemaker.
Five years later he married Ellenor Sullivan on April 22, 1837 when he was 35 and she was 33.
The couple had three children together: James William (1838-1878), Ellenora (1841-1842) & Jane Anne (1842-1925). Sadly, like his father, James would also only live to be 40 years old, though I couldn’t find his cause of death. Little Ellenora only lived to be 10 months old, with her cause of death being listed as “inflammatory bowels.”
Christopher died of consumption on March 1, 1844 at age 42 (though the death record has him being 40); James was only 6 years old and Jane Anne was 21 months old.
Ellenor never remarried, passing away in 1894 at age 83.
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