Information on the location and photos of the graves of John and Sarah Thompson Whitsett, grandparents of Sarah Childress Polk, wife of President James K. Polk - Hale County, Alabama

May 22, 2000, Mr. Joseph Whitsitt Strickland of Birmingham, Alabama writes:

"I am very pleased to report that I have made a visit to Hale County and have seen the graves of John and Sarah Whitsitt.  I had planned on being in a neighboring county on Thursday, May 18, so I contacted Ed Avery, who owned the land that contains the gravesite (and who brought the information forward regarding the graves), and I met him on that day. He and his wife Mary Ann were very gracious and were excited to be showing the cemetery to a member of the family.

"We drove down Highway 69 to a point just south of Havana, Hale County, AL and turned off at a gate, and then into a pasture.   There was a small grove of trees in the pasture, about 1/4 mile off of the road.  In the shade of these trees, there are four gravesites:  John and Sarah Whitsitt, and Mary and Josiah Perry.  John and Sarah's graves are marked by two large ground level stone markers. Both have been broken into several pieces over the years (and apparently shifted from their original positions).  I was able to roughly re-assemble the makers with the help of Mr. Avery, and, thankfully, all of the lettering is still legible.

"Mary and Josiah's graves had been marked by upright gravestones, but these had been broken off at some point and the makers themselves were moved to the cemetery at the Havana United Methodist Church a mile or so north of the original site.  The broken foundation (or foot) of these two stones still remains at the original site and these have been marked with a small strip of metal containing the names and death dates.

"Mr. Avery also showed me what he believed to be the original homesite of the Whitsitts, just north of the gravesite.  Both the home and the cemetery were then adjacent to the old "Huntsville Road," a major north/south road at that time.

"The graves were marked as follows:

John Whitsitt 
was born, 
the 8th of October 1743, 
and died, 
the 11th of August 1819

Sarah Whitsitt, 
was born, 
the 15th of January 1747, 
and died, 
the 31st of January 1831."

Mary Perry, died 1819
Josiah Perry, died 1831

"The grave markers need cleaning, repair and protection from further harm, and I will be contacting a Hale County descendant who the Averys referred me to.  Mr. Avery would be happy for the family to have a fence erected around the graves.  I'll look into this further, and if anyone has any questions, please send me an e-mail.

This was a very exciting find for all of us, and I look forward to learning more about the family and their descendants.  Best wishes.

Joseph Whitsitt Strickland, Birmingham, AL  jwstrick@bellsouth.net

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Map of the Havana area of Hale County, Alabama

Looking west from gravesite towards highway 69

Looking east from the highway towards the groove of trees containing the graves

Grave stones of John and Sarah Whitsitt

Close-up of John Whitsitt's grave stone

Partially enhanced image of Sarah's grave stone.
The lower half of the image could not be enhanced because of low contrast