Sparta Cemetery

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Green Holiday Warthen

1800 - 1882

Section B, Lot 54, Grave 4
-- See section's Lot Layout map

Inscription and Notes:


Gravestone spelled "Holiday", but the family usually spells it "Holliday."

Green Holliday Warthen

Green Holliday Warthen was born in Washington County, Georgia on May 9, 1800 and died in Hancock County on May 7, 1882. He was the third child of Elijah Warthen and his wife Nancy Warthen, nee Holliday, originally of Warren County. On June 11, 1828, in Hancock County, he married his first wife, Martha Thompson (born September 8, 1812, died April 25, 1851). To this marriage six children were born, namely: (1) Elijah T. Warthen (born April 21, 1830, a private in Sandersville Volunteer Company B, Regiment 28, killed in 1864 at Petersburg, Virginia) (2) Florence Warthen (born March. 1831, died October 24, 1913 in Gainesville, Florida); (3) Jackson I. Warthen (born February 22, 1834); (4) Nancy Holliday Warthen (born October 30, 1837 , died October 4, 1895); (5) Sarah Thompson Warthen; (6) William Burrows Warthen (born January 8, 1842, died October 25, 1851). After the death of his first wife he married Mrs. Catherine Garland Pearson by whom he had two children, namely, Richard Warthen (born September 18, 1856) and Stella Warthen (born October 7, 1859), wife of E. P. Hitchcock of Hancock County.

About 1843 Green Holliday Warthen and his family, including his mother-in-law Lustatia, moved to Florida, in the vicinity of what is now Gainesville. He and his mother-in-law each received “Permits to Settle Upon 160 acres of Unappropriate Public Land”. These permits were issued June 30, 1843 by the Land Office at Newnansville, East Florida, pursuant to the Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842 adopted by the United states Congress August 4, 1842. It is unknown how long they stayed in Florida, but they did return to Georgia. His oldest daughter may have remained in that area. As noted above, she died in Gainesville, Florida in 1913. His first wife Martha died in Hancock County on April 25, 1851. It is not known where she is buried, but it is probable that she was buried in the Bethel Baptist Church cemetery with her father.

Green Holliday Warthen's first wife, Martha Thompson, was the daughter of Benjamin Thompson, Jr., (Burke County NC 1758 - March 17, 1840) and his wife Lustatia. She was also a granddaughter of Benjamin Thompson, Sr. (Ireland 1725± - April 29, 1796). Benjamin Thompson, Sr. and Benjamin Thompson, Jr. were both Baptist ministers who organized many of the Baptist Churches in Hancock and Washington Counties. In 1784, after the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Thompson, Sr. and six of his sons who had served in the war were granted bounty lands in what was then Washington County, Georgia, on the certificate of service from Elijah Clark. Some of these lands became a part of Hancock County when Hancock County was established. Benjamin Thompson, Jr. served as the minister at Bethel Baptist Church and is buried in an unmarked grave in that church’s cemetery.

Source: Great-Great-Grandson Gordon Lee Dickens, Jr. whose knowledge is derived from (a) repute within the family; (b) Family records and records of family research conducted by his mother Fay G. Dickens and his sister Anne D. Davenport; (c) Unfinished Journey, by Anne D. Davenport; (d) The Warthen Family of Washington County, Georgia, by Mary-Helen Sears Foxx (1982); and (e) Federal Land Records Center, Suitland, Maryland.


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