Title: Gray Cemetery Tombstone Records

Date/Date Range :   1852-1892

Extent: 0.5 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection of tombstone inscriptions was handwritten by Ina Fields Wayland (Mrs. Charles F.). It is made up of approximately 2100 cards with the tombstone inscriptions from the old Gray Cemetery.

Call number: MS-0475

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

This collection is property of the University of Tennessee Special Collections department.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Gray Cemetery Tombstone Records, MS-0475. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of one box.

Old Gray Cemetery is a 13.47 acre site bounded by Broadway, Tyson and Cooper streets. The Knoxville National Cemetery is adjacent to Old Gray Cemetery on its northern boundary. Gray Cemetery (as it was known before New Gray Cemetery was established in 1892) was incorporated by the Tennessee Legislature on February 9, 1850, with a board of seven trustees. Although the land was purchased in 1850, the cemetery was not dedicated until June 1, 1852, when the first 40 lots were sold at public auction. Old Gray is one of the oldest organized cemeteries in Knoxville, and the first in the city to be planned following the rural-cemetery movement. In 1854 the board of mayor and aldermen and the different churches of Knoxville were asked by the board of trustees of Gray Cemetery to procure grounds for the burial of their poor. This section is located near the south wall. In 1856 a portion of the grounds was set apart for those not wishing to buy a lot but only to make a single interment. That section in the northwest corner is often referred to as "Little Ireland," since many of the Irish Catholics who came to Knoxville for the building of the railroads are buried there. In 1856 a piece of ground was also set apart for the burial of "People of color" whose owners or friends were willing to pay for the ground together with the sexton's fee.

This collection of tombstone inscriptions was handwritten by Ina Fields Wayland (Mrs. Charles F.). It is made up of approximately 2100 cards with the tombstone inscriptions from the old Gray Cemetery.

• Cemeteries -- Tennessee -- Knoxville.
• Registers of birth, etc. -- Tennessee -- Knox County.
• Knox County (Tenn.) -- Genealogy.
• Burial records -- Tennessee -- Knoxville.