Bones Under Thistledome

Joined
Jan 13, 2013
I found this site through Google and was quite impressed. I want to first say most are probably more Civil War historians than I, but I have done the research with this house. It did belong to Chalmers until his death and his wife sold it to E.B. Horn in 1898 for 600 dollars. It is one of the rare Antebellum homes that has the Cistern inside the house. There have been only 5 owners of the house and I am the 5th. The bones are carbon dated back to over 150 years and we are still finding more and trying to piece together the bodies of each child. They were all children. The father and mother are buried in HillCrest Cemetery in Holly Springs and there are two infant girls buried there also. General Chalmers is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. I am hoping to get some of my Memphis business partners to sponsor seperate grave sites in the family plot to give each child a natural burial. Please visit and like us on Facebook. We have just recieved our Historic Landmark and we are trying to restore the house and property back to normal. The story is I was reinforcing the floors under the housr and sort of boxed myself in and had to remove a small amount of dirt when I uncovered the femur bones of the first infant. As the detectives arrived we uncovered more than 150 bones beneath the home. It is big news here and it is helping get the word out of this wonderful house. We have become members of Collierville Historic Membership because of Chalmers. If you would like to share more stories or give more info on Chalmers I would like to hear them. From what I can tell he followed SHermer everywhere through the war.
 
Thank you for posting! Welcome! :smile:

Wonderful information. There are really more than one set of bones? I've never heard of burials like this before. Was it a common practice to put a cistern inside the house? I had read that Chalmers lost the house - but I see he did get to keep it until his death. It's a really beautiful structure! :thumbsup:
 
Like we were brought to your story thistledome, you were brought to our little band of enthusiasts. So welcome:smile coffee:

Don't' be intimidated by the expertise of some of the contributors here. yes they certainly know their histories, especially all things ACW. But as you see from my location, not all are here to teach, more like myself are here to learn. We are a very diverse bunch.

As for the bones.

Burials in a cellar floor, concealed under floorboards, with no marker or commemoration. Tend to set off alarm bells for me. There is no doubt a thorough investigation taking place. Please keep us updated with any developments.
 
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