Davis-Hollingsworth Cemetery : Gulf Park Estates - East Ocean Springs

 

LOCATION: Gulf Park Estates Subdivision (Red Bluff area) in the SE/4 of Section 34, T7S-R8W, Jackson County, Mississippi.

 

DIRECTIONS: From the intersection of Bienville Boulevard (US Highway 90) and Washington Avenue at Ocean Springs go SE 6.75 miles on US 90 to Mississippi Highway 57 at Fontainebleau.  Turn right (South) onto Mississippi Highway 57 and go .50 miles to the Old Spanish Trail (Old US 90).  Go West (right) 2.20 miles to Beach View Drive at the entrance to Gulf Park Estates.  Turn left (South) and go .35 miles to Blueberry Drive.  At Blueberry go West (right) for .35 miles to North 1^st Street.  Turn left and go .10 miles to Red Bluff Drive.  At Red Bluff Drive go west (right) for approximately .10 miles to Red Bluff Court (on the right).  STOP.  The Davis-Hollingsworth Cemetery is in the wooded lot directly across the road from the Red Bluff Court street sign.  Take a left (South) on to the dirt road ahead and locate the cemetery in the woods on the left (East).

 

HISTORY: The Davis-Hollingsworth Family Cemetery resulted from Samuel Davis (1769-1831?) who was born in North Carolina.  Samuel Davis and his family came to Jackson County, Mississippi from Burke County, Georgia in 1812.  They had a passport signed by the Territorial Governor to insure their safe passage through the area west of the Creek Indian nation.  Samuel Davis served with a regiment of soldiers from Jackson County and fought under General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.  His sons, George Davis (1802-1853?) and Samuel Davis II (1804-1879), were born in Georgia.  On February 7, 1829, George D. Davis and Samuel Davis II purchased Section 34, T7S-R8W for $300 from Pierre Ladnier (Jackson County, Ms. Land Deed Book 4, pp. 620-621).

 The Samuel Davis Family settled here on the east bank of a natural stream, Bayou Val de Terre.  For their occupancy, it was later called Davis Bayou.  At this site, the Davis Family engaged in farming and shipbuilding for a livelihood.  In time, the descendants of this pioneer family became successful in business and politics in the Ocean Springs area.  Many of the Davis children remained in the region and married into other pioneer families such as: Bilbo, Bland, Bradford, Friar, Gottsche, Maxwell, and Weider.

The Tiderwater Baptist Church, the first on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, was organized in September 1832 by Elder George Davis at the Davis homestead.  Samuel Davis II (1804-1879) married Elvira Ann Ward (1821-1901) about 1839.  This union produced ten children:  Harriet A. Davis Bilbo (1840-1898), George W. Davis (1842-1914), Sarah Ann Davis (1844-?), Abram James Davis (1849-1921), Eleanor Davis (1851-1938), Henry Simeon Davis (1853-1917), Sherwood E. Davis, Elias S. Davis (1859-1925), Belle Davis, and Elvira E. Davis (1854-1881).

 

Hollingsworth Family

In September 1880, John M. Hollingsworth began acquiring land east of Ocean Springs along the east bank of Davis Bayou, which in the days of Pierre Ladner who owned this area in the 1820s, was called, Bayou Val de Terre. 

             Mr. Hollingsworth bought over one thousand acres from the Heirs of Samuel Davis, George W. Davis et al, in Section 34, Section 35, and Section 36 of T7S-R8W.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 11, p. 112-114)

It is very probable that Hollingsworth moved to these lands after the death of his son, Wyatt, in 1877.  The Biloxi Herald of December 19, 1891, states that Colonel Hollingsworth had a farm here four miles east of Ocean Springs.

It is interesting to note that Samuel Davis (1804-1879) was also born at Georgia. 

Could he and John M. Hollingsworth been childhood acquaintances?  The Davis Family Cemetery is located in the SE/4 of Section 34, T7S-R8W.  It later became known as the Hollingsworth Cemetery when this family began to bury their loved ones here.  John M. Hollingsworth's remains were probably among the earliest of his family to have been interred in what properly should be called the Davis-Hollingsworth Family Cemetery. 

This statement is corroborated when his son, Captain Phil Hollingsworth (1854-1914), expired on March 11, 1914, The Ocean Springs News announced that, "the remains being laid to rest in a private burying ground on the Hollingsworth place, where the other members of the family are interred".

    

 

REGISTER

 

Davis Family

In memory of W.M. Bilbo

Born Dec. 14, 1821

Died Oct. 8, 1899

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

 

 

In memory of Hairret (sic Harriet) A. Bilbo

Born August 14, 1840

Died December 12, 1898

Mother thou hast from us flown

To the heavens far above

We to the greet this stone

Consecrated by our love.

 

? red

In the memory

 Children L.R. & ? Davis

 

In Loving Memory of Samuel Davis

Born July 23, 1804

Died 1879

 

Wife Elvira Ward

Buried in Evergreen Cemetery

Ocean Springs, Mississippi

November 22, 1821

June 14, 1901

 

Hollingsworth Family(all unmarked)

Ada L. Hollingsworth 1843 to 7-3-1919)

John M. Hollingsworth (1814-1891)

Euphemia C. Hollingsworth (1815-1902)

Phillip Hollingsworth (1852-1914)

John H. Tillinghast (1869-1924)

Elizabeth Hollingsworth (1848-1910+)

 

Bilbo Family(all unmarked)

Samuel Bilbo

Laura Havens Bilbo.

    

 

REFERENCES:

 

Ray L. Bellande, Cemeteries Near Ocean Springs, Jackson County, Mississippi, (Bellande: Ocean Springs-1992)

 

Cyril E. Cain, Four Centuries on the Pascagoula, Volume II,  (The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1983), pp. 165-167.

 

Regina Hines, Ocean Springs, 1892, (2nd Edition), (Lewis Printing Services: Pascagoula, Mississippi-1991), p. 15.

 

The History of Jackson County, Mississippi, "William Bradford", (Jackson County Genealogical Society:  Pascagoula - 1989), p. 140.

 

Personal communication:

J.K. Lemon-March-1991

John Oran Tillinghast-

Elton L. Powell-Bay Minette, Alabama-May 1996

 

Surveyed by Ray L. Bellande

March 8, 1991