Profiles from a tour of the Old Baptist Church Cemetery In Monroe, Georgia

Conducted, Written and provided courtesy Nowell Briscoe ( nowellbriscoe@bellsouth.net )

LUCY ANN JOHNSTON - THOMAS GILES - JACKSON BROWN GILES

We come next to grave No. 14, that of Lucy Ann Johnston, the wife or consort of Dr. David Johnston, one of Monroe’s first doctors back in 1820.  He purchased a town lot in 1821. If Dr. Johnston was buried here next to his wife, any indications of his grave have long been erased.  Lucy Johnston died on March 11, 1832 in her 32nd year.

        Thomas Giles grave is No. 15 on our tour.  He was one of Monroe’s early ordinaries, serving from 1872 to 1889. One of his greatest accomplishments was in seeing the completion of the present courthouse, a dream made true from years of thrift and careful planning. When the courthouse was finished many of the townsfolk referred to it as “Judge Giles’s Courthouse”.  He also laid into the cornerstone of the new courthouse, the specifications of the county’s first courthouse along with a copy of Monroe’s first newspaper, The Southern Witness, and Georgia Treasury Notes and the Constitution of the Confederate States of America. Two of Judge Giles’s brothers, Alonzo Church and Jackson B. Giles, were killed during action in the Civil War.  

Giles was one of Monroe’s strongest and staunchest supporters in his belief of the city’s growth and prosperity.  As evidence of this belief, he bequeathed land and funds for use by the Fifth District A & M School near Monroe.  He also provided educational funding to aid the local boys in attending school. The Giles Educational fund had by the late 60’s provided help for over 50 students totaling almost $50,000. He was, in 1884, named chairman of the committee to build a new jailhouse.  In the area where the CVS Pharmacy is now, there was a small street named “Giles Place” which connected Wayne and Alcova Street, with the old Giles home place facing Giles Place.  The  street was closed in when the drug store was built and the house was moved to another area. Thomas Giles died in Monroe on January 23, 1917.

         Next to Thomas Giles is grave No. 16, his father, Jackson Brown Giles, who came to Monroe and became one of the cities early shoemakers or cobblers.  Jackson B. Giles was buried here after his death during the Civil War on July 2, 1863. Alonzo was killed in action on June 27, 1863 and is also buried here among his relatives. Jackson Brown Giles died suddenly on January 1, 1870, his 77th birthday, of a stroke while sitting in front of Calvin G. Nowell’s store visiting with friends.