RALPH STOVALL FAMILY CEMETERY - GPS coordinates 32.15918, -90.29104
Located: On a hill about ten miles south of Jackson, MS, on US Highway 51, at least 100 yards from the road, and no longer visible from that point. The cemetery is totally abandoned, and will probably disappear from urban encroachment (S24T4NR1W).
Recorded: By Mary Collins Landin, on 25 Jun 1983
According to family records, the widow of a Revolutionary War soldier, Josiah Stovall, and his children and grandchildren, are buried here. Josiah died in Georgia in 1798, leaving his wife and 17 children who moved to Hinds County, MS. The cemetery is located in what used to be the yard of one of his sons, Ralph Stovall.
Stovall, Mary Hicks, wife of Josiah b. VA 20 Nov 1751 d. 12 Dec 1845
http://msgw.org/hinds/cem_ralph_stovall_fam.html

Mary "Polly" Hicks married Josiah Stovall circa 1768, likely in the area of Granville County, North Carolina where Josiah's parents were by 1754. Her father-in-law John Stovall, on 19 August 1772, bequeathed "to son Josiah & his heirs one parcel of land on both sides of Grassy Creek ". Granville County, North Carolina Deed Book K, pp. 91-92.

While some believe Mary was the daughter of Robert Hicks who died in Granville, NC, and wife Sarah, I have NOT found any prime source record connecting them. Robert Hicks left his will in 1788 Granville, NC & there was no mention of a Mary Polly Hicks or Mary Polly Stovall. Plus I have not found any deeds there connecting this Robert Hicks to Josiah Stovall, husband of Mary Hicks.

According to a report by the late certified genealogist, William H. Dumont, F.N.G.S., C.G. in 1968, "There has been some confusion as to the names and number of children of Josiah and Mary Stovall. The following list has been prepared based on official court records. These records include the Will of Josiah Stovall and a deed from Lincoln County, Georgia, and several court records from Mississippi. These report 17 children.

That there were 17 children and not some other number is confirmed by the funeral eulogy by Rev. Lewis B. Holloway for Mrs. Mary Hicks Stovall in December 1845. He stated that she was the mother of 10 sons and 7 daughters. Of these 6 sons and 3 daughters died before their mother. From the records, it is known Drury, Josiah, William, John, Rebecca, Sarah, Elizabeth and Pricilla were alive in 1845, while David, Ralph, Gilbert, Charles, Lewis, Thomas, Mary, Anne and Lucy had died before that year."
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Eulogy
by Rev. Lewis B. Holloway

"Died, at Mrs. Tatum's, her daughter, near Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, on Friday, December 12th, 1845, Mrs. Mary Hicks Stovall, widow of Josiah Stovall formerly of Georgia, in the ninety-sixth year of her age. Mrs. Stovall has been a member of the Baptist Church for about seventy-eight years, and a widow nearly fifty years.

She has raised seventeen children to have families--ten sons and seven daughters; the remainder of her children are still living. From the best calculation that has been made, there are nearly six hundred persons whose descent can be traced to Mrs. Stovall. She has often been heard to say that she has a good hope in the future destiny of all her children that have died; and that all that are living now are members, we believe, of the Baptist Church.

Mrs. Stovall was no ordinary Christian. When left a widow with a house full of children, and but scanty means of supporting them she learned to put her trust in God, and that trust was not a momentary or occasional trust. It was an abiding confidence in the superintending care and special favor of God to His children, that He would be indeed, a "husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless." She experienced, in an eminent degree, the blessed truth of that most gracious promise, she raised the children under God, a credit to themselves and a blessing to their mother.

It has not been an uncommon thing with her for years past, to commence praising God for his kindness to her, and continuing in that state, calling on her friends present to help her. The cause of God and the good of souls lay near her heart, and out of an abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, but in such a way as not to give offence. She would often send word to her near friends, whom she could not personally address, to prepare to meet her in heaven, as she knew her time in this world could not be much longer. When the time for her departure came, she expired almost without a struggle, and her soul now rests with her Redeemer.

"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, Yea, saith the spirit, for they rest from their labors and their works do follow them."

"'Tis finished, 'Tis done! the spirit is fled,
Our sister is is gone, the Christian is dead;
The Christian is living in Jesus' love,
And gladly receiving a kingdom above."

[Eulogy taken from the book "Moving on : the Stovalls"
by G. Spencer Beasley, pages 175-176.]
Research by Gloria J. Tune, 5th g. granddaughter

Rest in peace our "Iron Lady"

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She came to Marion County, Mississippi, as a widow in about 1815 with some of her family. Later she settled in the Spring Ridge community, near Mississippi Springs, in Hinds County. She died at the home of her daughter Elizabeth Tatum near Jackson. [Provided by Christopher Beard.]