Anthony Clopton gave land for Clopton Cemetery in the 1830s. Covered with lush trees and flowing springs this land was ideal for “brush arbor” revivals. “Brush Arbor” revivals were the early spiritual refreshment of Tipton County.
The tranquil setting of this land disturbed by the Civil War. Consequently, over 500 volunteer Confederate soldiers from Tipton County trained here. During the war, the church was burned by Union forces. The cemetery also contains graves of both Southern soldiers and slaves.
Clopton Church was an early leader in education after the war. Several schools operated near this site until 1938.
Finally, known for its generous emergency relief to families, Clopton Church was a principal in “Tipton Cares” during the year of 1992. Tipton County remains a lighthouse and servant to the rapidly changing Tipton County.
BARBARA JUNE ABBOTT SHELLEY | 52, of Drummonds, Tenn., clerk for Abbott Jewelry, died Thursday at Baptist Memorial Hospital – Tipton in Covington, Tenn. Services will be at 2 p.m. today at Munford (Tenn.) Funeral Home with burial in Poplar Grove Cemetery in Drummonds. She leaves a daughter, Kimberly Ann Douglas, and a son, James D. Shelley, both of Atlanta; her parents, John and Reamonia Millican Abbot of Drummonds; a brother, Paul Abbott of Memphis, and five grandchildren.
[Barbara June Abbott Shelley; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 14 Dec 2003; Pg 29]
Janie Reamonia Rann
JANIE REAMONIA RANN, 17, of Drummonds, Tenn., clerk for Abbott Diamond Enterprises, died Thursday at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. Services will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Munford (Tenn.) Funeral Home with Burial in Poplar Grove Cemetery in Drummonds. She was a member of Fellowship Baptist Church. She leaves her great-grandparents who raised her, Reamonia and John Abbott of Drummonds; a half-brother, John Abbot Peak of Texas, and her grandmother, Barbara Shelley of Drummonds.
Lillian was born August 22, 1903, in Tipton County, Tennessee and died June 22, 1992, in Covington, Tennessee. She married William Austin Rhodes, May 25, 1924. William was born July 18, 1894, and died September 17, 1980. Lillian taught school in the schoolhouse at Bethel as a very young woman. Then she went to Memphis where she met and married Austin. They operated drug stores, sometimes one and sometimes two, in north Memphis most of their adult lives. One of the stores was on Leath Street very near Humes High School and the other was on Manassas Street. Rather late in life, they bought the old Smith family house and four acres from Lillian’s mother, Della, and moved back to Tipton County. They put in a hen house for laying hens and sold eggs until retirement. Austin and Lillian never had any children. They both are buried in the “New Part” of Bethel Cemetery.
[ from An Illustrated History of the People and Towns of Northeast Shelby County and South Central Tipton County, page 178]
Lillian Oreed Smith Rhodes Obituary
ATOKA – Lillian Smith Rhodes, 88, retired merchant, died Monday at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Tipton after a long illness. Services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Munford Funeral Home with burial in Bethel Cemetery. She was a member of Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Home Demonstration Club. Mrs. Rhodes, the widow of Austin Rhodes, leaves a sister, Carmen Smith of Memphis, and two brothers, A. T. Smith of Atoka and Richard Smith of Gautier, Miss.
[Rhodes, Lillian Smith; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 24 Jun 1992; Pg 11]
Delayed birth certificate Lillian Oreed Smith
Lillian Oreed Smith and W A Rhodes Marriage License
Lillian Oreed Smith Rhodes
Richard Arnold Smith
Richard was born on June 29, 1912, and died in Pascagoula, Mississippi on June 3, 1994. He married Zelma Wright on October 19, 1940. Richard attended college at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. I do not know if he got a degree or not. After college, he went to work for Continental Gin Company as a sales engineer in Birmingham. He and Zelma lived there for a long time. He finally did transfer to Memphis and lived there for several years. During his years with Continental Gin Company, he traveled a lot, even to India for several months to install a cotton gin there. After a long career with Continental, they bought a small tourist court in Pascagoula and moved down there to operate it. This facility consisted of several individual cottages scattered through a pine grove. They did most of the work themselves, just hiring people to supplement in areas that they could not see after twenty-four hours per day. Most of their clientele were extended stay types who worked on the shrimp boats that fished out of the Pascagoula harbor and construction workers who were there for several months at a time. Of course, they did do some overnight business, too. Later in life, when the work became too difficult, they sold the tourist court and retired to Dolphin Island where they lived until Richard died. It is assumed that both Richard and Zelma are buried in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
[An Illustrated History of the People and Towns of Northeast Shelby County and South Central Tipton County]
Iva Electa was born April 20, 1901, and died December 24, 1991, in Savannah, Hardin County, Tennessee. She married Lenvil Gordon Beaver on March 30, 1925. He died February 21, 1949. They lived in the community that was named after his family, Beaver, or sometimes referred to as Beaver Town. There was a store and cotton gin, both of which he owned. They lived in a house that sat across the road from the store. They had five children: Lenvil Oneda, Iva Shirley, Steve, Carmen Theo, and Lemuel Gordon Beaver. Gordon and Iva Electa are buried in Ravencroft Cemetery in Tipton County, Tennessee.
[An Illustrated History of the People and Towns of Northeast Shelby County and South Central Tipton County, page 178]
After the death of Gordon in 1949, Iva Electa married Jesse Ray Blakey on 21 Aug 1970. Both the bride and the groom were 69 years of age.
Iva Electa passed away on 24 Dec 1991. Her obit is below:
BRIGHTON – Electa Smith Beaver Blakey, 90, former teacher, died Tuesday at Hardin County General Hospital in Savannah. Services will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Munford Funeral Home with burial in Ravenscroft Cemetery. She was a member of Beaver Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday School and the Women’s Bible Class. Mrs. Blakey, the widow of Gordon Beaver and J. R. Blakey, leaves three daughters, Lenvil Leadbetter of Savannah, Shirley Dyer of Clinton, Ill., and Carmen Harshfield of Somerville; a son, Gordon ‘Lem’ Beaver Jr. of Brighton; two sisters, Carmen Smith of Memphis and Lillian Rhodes of Savannah; two brothers, A. T. Smith of Atoka and Richard Smith of Gauthier, Miss., 15 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Electa Smith Beaver Blakey; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, TN; 26 Dec 1991; Pg 29
Gordon and Electa Beaver’s Headstone in Ravenscroft Cemetery
Delayed Birth Record Iva Electa Smith
Electa Smith marriage to Lenvil Gordon Beaver
Electa Smith Beaver Marriage to Jesse Ray Blakey
Carmen Theo Smith
Carmen was born on 24 Oct 1898 in Tipton County, Tennessee. After graduating high school, Carmen moved to Memphis where she was a bookkeeper and secretary for William G. Smith. William owned a refrigerator business. They soon fell in love and where married on 24 Jun 1927. William had three children from a previous marriage, and he and Carmen did not have any children. They lived on E. Cherry Circle in Memphis. According to Wayne Smith, their house was very nice and sat on about two acres of land. Carmen died on 6 Feb 2000 in Shelby County, Tennessee. Both William and Carmen are buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.
Obituary for Carmen Theo Smith
Carmen T. Smith, 101, of Bartlett, retired bookkeeper for Smith’s Refrigeration Co., died of heart failure Sunday at Ave Maria Nursing Home. Services will be at 1 p.m. today at Memorial Park Funeral Home with burial in Memorial Park. She was a choir member at Broadmoor Baptist Church, taught Sunday school, and was a charter member at Sunset Baptist Church. Mrs. Smith, the widow of William G. Smith, leaves a brother, A. T. Smith of Atoka, Tenn. The family requests that any memorials be sent to Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Churchin Atoka.
Carmen T Smith; The Commercial Appeal; Memphis, Tenn; 8 Feb 2000; Pg 14
Delayed Birth Certificate
1910 US Census
1920 US Census
1940 US Census
1950 US Census
Allie Perry Smith
Allie was born about 1865 and died on 10 Aug 1911. Allie worked as a clerk in a store in Randolph, Tennessee. He never married.
There is an old rumor that Allie was shot and killed. The suspect, a jealous husband, but no one was ever charged with the crime. It seems, although an interesting story, this cannot be true as his death certificate states he died of Typhoid Fever.
Fannie Smith
Fannie was born in 1867. She married John W Reeves (1862-1945) on 7 Feb 1889 in Tipton County, Tenn. The couple had two children: Baudine and Finis Henry Uric. The Reeves family was instrumental in the growth of business and church affairs in Atoka. John was a merchant for many years and he was very active in the civic projects of the town. They were members of the Methodist Church, where Fannie taught Sunday school. Their son, Finis, born 6 Aug 1895, was confined to a wheelchair because of a spinal injury he received as a child. He died on 28 Jan 1924, at the at of 29. Fannie, John and Finis are buried in Bethel Cemetery. Baudine, who was born 19 Nov 1893, married James C Smith (1891-1981) on 3 Sep 1916 in Tipton County, Tenn. Baudine died in Dec of 1981 and is buried in Bethel Cemetery.
William Richard Smith
William was born February 16, 1863, and died 22 Oct 1900. He married Lula Victoria Aycock. The couple farmed between Tipton and Bethel on land they had purchased. William and Lula had two daughters, Dorcas Smith and Gladys Smith, and one son, William R Smith who was born 16 Feb 1901, and died 25 Feb 1902. William and Lula are buried in Bethel Cemetery in unmarked graves. Their son, William, is buried in part “C” of the cemetery. They are probably buried in that vicinity.
After William’s death, Lula married Walter Lyles. Walter had a child from a previous marriage named Helen. Walter and Lula did not have children.
Edward Scott Smith
Edward was born 1860 and died in 1932. He married Laura McCormick who was born 1859 and died in 1945. They lived in Shelby County near the Tipton County line just south of Bethel Road. They farmed, but the land was very poor and they did not do very well. After their children were grown, Ed and Laura moved into a house located on Tipton Road between Tipton and Munford. They are buried in the “C” section of Bethel Cemetery. The children of Edward and Laura McCormick were daughter Myrtle and twins Roger B. and Rodney.
John Alexander Smith
John Alexander married Jarusha Dorcas Walker Oct. 28, 1959 in Tipton County, Tennessee. She was the daughter of John and Frances Walker. Jarusha was born July 20, 1842, and died April 24, 1917. John and Jarusha are buried in the “B” section of Bethel Cemetery.
Arthur Theophilus Smith said that he always heard that John and Jarusha did not own the house and property where they were living when John died. This property was located in Shelby County between Tracy Road and Mudville Road. Today the road is known as Mulberry Road. Somehow, Jarusha managed to raise seven children and purchase a portion of the property, at least the house and maybe some land. The children of John A. and Jarusha Walker Smith were: Edward Scott, William Richard, Allie, Fannie, Auther Theophilus, Wyatt Andrew and Johnny LeAndrew.
