| Sources |
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 9 Mar 2012.
Revolutionary War soldier gets fitting grave marker
by CURT HABRAKEN
Workers place the last tier of the new monument at the gravesite of Josiah Maples Sr. in Murphy's Chapel Cemetery on Pittman Center Road. Fifth-generation great-granddaughter Jewell Craig Freeman of Huntsville, Ala., and member of the Daughters of the American Revolution realized Freeman's connection to Maples when looking through a family genealogy book. Their research led them to the Sevier County cemetery where the grav stone was just that — a stone. Josiah Maples was in the Revolutionary War under George Washington in Virginia, and Freeman felt he deserved a better grave marker. That became a reality Friday afternoon.
- [S142] Newspaper Article, http://www.wbir.com/news/article/210118/2/Sevier-County-soldier-receives-decades-old-honor, 9 Mar 2012.
It was a day nearly 200 years in the making.
On Friday, as his descendants looked on, Josiah Maples Sr. received a long-awaited permanent tribute: A headstone.
"I am so excited, and I have been all week just in preparation for it and thinking on it, it's just wonderful," said Jewell Freeman, Maples' fifth great-granddaughter.
About five years ago, Freeman received a copy of A Maples Leaf, a book detailing the genealogy of her family. She traced her roots back to Josiah Maples Sr., who was born in 1746 in Virginia but moved to Sevier County around 1800.
There, he attended Bethel Baptist Church. And so did his son, who was referenced quite a few times in the church meeting minutes.
"Josiah Maples Jr. was apparently kind of a rascal - horse-racing, dancing at the corn-shuckings, and drinking a little of the local farm water," said Bob Murphy, a cemetery trustee. "At the church, they'd send good brothers to labor with him, they'd kick him out of church, he'd come back the next Sunday, confess all his sins, and they'd welcome him back with open arms."
The senior Maples lived out his final years in the area, and made his final resting place in Murphy's Cemetery, on land he once owned, just off Pittman Center Road. But when he died in 1820, a simple, unadorned rock was all that marked his grave.
In July 2008, Freeman first visited the grave-site, and while a foot-stone and war marker had been added, that simple stone was still there.
"I thought, oh my, he deserves better than that," Freeman said. "Anybody that fights in the Revolutionary War, or any war, they deserve more than a rock for a headstone."
And so Freeman worked to get a headstone made, finally placing the order last year.
But it wasn't until Friday that her plan was finally realized.
She and several of her family members traveled from Alabama to Sevier County to watch the large headstone eased into place.
It lists the dates of Maples' birth and death, along with several of his descendants.
"He's had that rock for a headstone for over 191 years, and it was just, it was time he had something a little bit more to honor him than the rock," Freeman said.
Along with family, local members of the Daughters of the American Revolution were on hand.
"It shows they love their ancestry, they love their family, they have a good heritage, and they want to show it, and I think it's great," said Helen Allen, a member of the local DAR chapter.
So now, nearly 200 years after his death, Josiah Maples Sr. has a permanent tribute that will last for generations to come.
- [S82] Supplement: In the Shadow of the Smokies, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, (2000), 32.
Age 71 d. 12 Nov 1820 (new marker) Knoxville Register 28 Nov 1920
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 8088233).
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