Surretts Cemetery Preservation

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Surretts Cemetery Preservation

Surretts Cemetery is located in Arkabutla, Mississippi. The first marked burials were in the year of 1853. Our purpose is monument restoration and preservation.

06/18/2026

George Washington Sowell was born June 5, 1933 in Mississippi. His parents were Robert Green Sowell and Laura Etter Thacker. They lived in Alcorn, Mississippi. According to Mississippi Census he lived in Beat 4, Alcorn, Mississippi in 1950 and 1960. I have found no connection to Arkabutla, Tate County or Desoto County, Mississippi. He died September 25, 2012 at the age of 79, and was buried in Surretts.

He had a son, Perry Dale Sowell, with Joy Lee Spencer. Perry died December 10, 2012 in Humphreys, Tennessee, at the age of 58, and is buried in McKwen, Humphreys, Tennessee.

No gravestone was ever placed to mark George's grave. We constructed a small gravestone to give him a more permanent marking than the temporary metal one left by the funeral home. If we had not done this George would be lost in time.

06/12/2026

Another historical restored. This monument was in three pieces, the slot base, bottom tablet and top of the tablet. Fortunately all three pieces were in good condition. We reset the slot base, mortared the bottom piece in the slot and epoxied the two pieces together. Cleaning is ongoing.

Samuel L. Farrow was born September 2, 1822, in Spartanburg, SC. He married Charlotte West in March 1847 in Marshall County, Mississippi. They were the parents of two daughters, Mary Bobbie Elizabeth Farrow Truman and Margaret Othello Farrow Futrell.

He lived in Desoto County Mississippi for about 10 years. He died March 18, 1884 at the age of 61 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. Charlotte died January 15, 1906 and is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Alba, Jasper, Missouri.

06/09/2026

George Augustus and Mary Bobbie Elizabeth Truman

This is a double gravestone. George was born December 24, 1837 in Mississippi. He married Mary Bobbie Elizabeth Farrow on January 21, 1869 in Desoto Mississippi. They were the parents of two daughters, Cattie George Truman and Willie Irene Truman.

George died October 12, 1871 at the age of 33. Bobbie was born April 4, 1848. She was the daughter of Samuel L. Farrow and Charlotte West Farrow. She died in October, 1877 at the age of 29.

This stone was in three pieces. The slot base, bottom of broken tablet and top of the tablet. We reset the slot base, mortared the bottom piece into the slot and epoxied the two pieces together. Since all pieces had been on the ground for some time, cleaning will be an ongoing process.

06/03/2026

Ann Eliza Ellis Wellons Meharg

Eliza was born March 19, 1837 in Halifax, North Carolina to Marmaduke and Mary Elizabeth Young Ellis. She married William Belma Wellons around July 30, 1871 in Desoto, Mississippi. They were the parents of three children, Licurgas, Charles A. and William Belma Jr. After the death of Mr. Wellons she married Eli Meharg December 4, 1888. He died 1891 and is buried in New Bethlehem Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Horn Lake, Mississippi.

Eliza's stone was a two piece gray granite set on two layers of unmortared brick laying on dirt. The two stone monument was leaning and had separated. Both stones were removed and a new bed of rock, sand and pea gravel was established. The base stone was reset and leveled. The top stone was reset, bonded and sealed to the base stone. The monument will be cleaned on our next work day.

05/15/2026

A FRIENDLY REMINDER: Surretts Cemetery does not have employees to pick up discarded flowers and debris left by visitors. They do have two trash cans at the front gate. Please place all your unwanted flowers in these cans when you leave. Your help in keeping our cemetery clean and neat is greatly appreciated

05/03/2026

We had two large Woodmen of the World tree-stump-shaped monuments precariously leaning and in danger of falling. Each one weighs over 1000 pounds. The base of one is broken. Hopefully we can repair it and reinstall. Stay tuned for updates.

04/24/2026

Beautiful week to work inf the cemetery. We had two stones on the ground, John C. and John A. Hudson. With the help of a probe, we found their slot bases completely buried in the ground. Both were in good condition and reusable. We reinstalled, leveled the bases and reattached the headstones to the slot base.

John Crane Hudson was born in Knox, Tennessee on 19 January 1795. He married Rachael Bradley March 11, 1817 in Shelby County, TN. They were the parents of 16 children, 7 sons and 9 daughters. Rachel died in 1841. He married Nancy Harris in 1842.

The only information I have found on John A. Is from Find A Grave. He was the son of A. T. and Elizabeth Hudson. He was six years old.

04/22/2026

Yesterday's work was setting two slots

01/30/2026

2025 YEAR END RECAP

We ended the year completing 27 monuments. Due to the rainy spring and other commitments, we did not get started until August. We completed 17 relatives and 10 historicals. Most of the relatives consisted of re-leveling and cleaning. The historicals required a bit more work. Several of them were in pieces and had to be dug out of the ground and rejoined.

Apart from the satisfaction of restoring and preserving the historical monuments, I have found a lot of family history that I was not aware of. I found my Great Grandmother's headstone (Margaret Strube Prater). I knew she was buried in Surretts but could find no headstone. With the help of a probe, a Christmas present from my daughter, I found it about 6 inches underground. She is back above ground and reset beside my Great Grandfather J C Prater. I have used that probe to find several buried pieces of broken stones and slot bases.

Another of my family that I was not aware of was the Williamson Powell family. Their daughter Mary Jane (Molly) married my Great Grandfather Samuel Y Lane. They have 6 children and 1 son-in-law (Robert S Phillips) buried in the family plot. Three of the boys, Rufus, Thomas and James, and son-in-law Robert Phillips, joined the Miss 42nd Infantry, CO B in the Civil War. Robert was wounded at Gettysburg and died 3 days later. Thomas was taken prisoner and later released. Rufus did make it home from the war. He married Margaret Baxter in 1850. Have not found much information on James. The entire Williamson family graves (with the exception of Thomas) have been restored. Thomas' headstone was broken. Have not found all of it. We have applied to the VA for a new monument.

Another side of this work is I have reconnected with a long lost cousin and found another that I did not know existed. We appreciate all of the support from people interested in Surretts Cemetery and looking forward to getting started in 2026

11/11/2025

Completed restoration of twin boys Daniel Webster and Henry Clay Robertson's monument. This is the first known documented grave in Surretts. According to their father's journal, Daniel and Henry were born October 16, 1853 and died several hours later.

Their monument was broken. We leveled the slot base, epoxied the two pieces back together and filled in cracks with a mixture of fine marble sand and epoxy. Cleaning is ongoing.

Their parents were Littleberry Tillman and Rhoda Elizabeth West Robertson. Mr Robertson moved to Marshall County Mississippi in 1840 from Limestone County Alabama. He married Rhoda in Hernando, Mississippi on March 6, 1849 and they made their home in Arkabutla. He was a farmer. When the Civil War broke out he joined the Home Guard. This Company abandoned and he joined the 2nd Mississippi Regment commanded by Capt O. F. West.

Upon returning from the Civil War he was elected Justice of the Peace and held that office for 12 years. When Tate County was created in 1873 the Robertsons moved to Senatobia. In 1874 he was elected Tax Collector for Tate County and worked in the Circuit and County Clerks office. The family moved to Gonzales Texas in 1876 and he died there in 1901.

Address

9852 Arkabutla Road
Coldwater, MS
38618

Website

https://cdm17313.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/frlib/id/5208

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