Who was this young man? A weathered, uneven stone gives only a few clues. As with so many tombstones in Union Campground Cemetery, the lettering has almost disappeared. The birth date is legible as December 10, 1921 (this should probably be 1821), but his death date is in question. The month of September emerges but the exact day of death could be the 9th and the year 1843, however, this is uncertain.
The Greene County Archives does not have a federal census for 1840 and a check of the 1850 census only reveals a James Davis, age 33, and married in Kentucky.
If the death date on the tombstone is 1853 instead of 1843, then this could possibly be J.E. Davis.
Below the lettering on his tombstone is this epitaph:
Remember as You Pass By
As You Now Are So Once
Was I, Now You Must Be
Prepared for Death, Follow
Me
In April 1997, as Dan Price (a member of our association) was looking over the photographs of tombstones in our cemetery, he said his mother used to sing a song as she passed tombstones in a cemetery. These were the words she sang:
Remember friend,
As you pass by,
As you now are,
So once was I.
As I now am,
You soon may be,Remember, Friend
Remember Me.
By Jean Gaffga Rayl 2012