Gone With The Wind

Tombstone of Major Allen Hurst

Pleasent View Cemetery in Union County Tennessee

     Back before Joel became a marathon runner he used to joke that he wanted his tombstone to say "Everything Tasted Better With Bacon."  That was the message he wanted to leave the world - that he went out because of his love of bacon.   My point in sharing that is to provide some additional evidence to support the idea that if used appropriately our tombstones provide us with one last opportunity to have our say, to set things right or maybe even advance our life's passion. Like bacon.

   The tombstone pictured here belongs to my great-great-great-great uncle, Major Allen Hurst.  The photo is a little hard to read but the inscription says 

Major Allen Hurst, CSA

Son of John and Elizabeth Thompson Hurst

March 4, 1810, Tazewell County Va - May 26, 1873

First Circuit Court Clerk of Union County

During Reconstruction days, robbed by the

carpetbaggers of 4,000 acres of land

60 years later, the TVA confiscated several thousand

acres of mineral land left to his grandchildren

GONE WITH THE WIND 

     There has been some speculation that Margaret Mitchell got the idea for the title of her now famous book from this very tombstone. Anything is possible I guess, although I think it's more likely that the Hursts (who commissioned this stone in 1935) and Mrs. Mitchell or her editors (who published her book in 1936) had read the same 19th century poem (No Sum Qualis something or other written by Ernest Dawson). That poem includes the line "I have forgot much, Cynara! Gone with the wind."  I read some of the rest of the poem and in my estimation that one line is the best part.

     As for the inscription on this tombstone, it seems like this is a family who feels they've been wronged.  It's not often that you find the words "robbed" and "confiscated" included as part of an epitaph. What's interesting is that this marker was placed on Allen Hurst's grave a full 82 years after he died by descendents who had to go through the process of having him and his wife, Lavina Sharp Hurst, moved from their original final resting place in Millers Cemetery to their new final resting place in Pleasent Grove Cemetery because the Tennessee Valley Authority built Norris Dam and flooded a large portion of Union County including their former final resting place.  Their solution was to inscribe their grievances on Allen Hurst's tombstone for everyone to see. That's one way to have the last word.