This cemetery was inventoried and transcribed by Timothy N. West and Rebecca Ellis on 29 May 2022.
From the intersection of Highway 27 (Scott Highway) and Highway 63 (Baker Highway), travel south on Highway 27 for 6.3 miles. Turn left on to road that takes you to the cemetery in about 0.1 miles Theresa McCoy originally inventoried this cemetery on 3 Oct 2004. Sacred Ground – The Scott County Cemetery Project – Baptist Memorial Cemetery
ROBBINS – On the end of a short ridge that separates Brimstone Road from the old Robbins Brick Yard is the Baptist Memorial Cemetery, one of two primary burial grounds from the days when this was one of Scott County’s largest towns. Baptist Memorial is about the same size – in terms of the number of burials there; it is much larger in terms of physical size – as the nearby Robbins Cemetery. The Robbins Cemetery, however, is much older, dating back to the late 19th century when the railroad first came through and Robbins was in its heyday. By contrast, Baptist Memorial is a relatively new cemetery, having started in the 1940s – some 60 years after its counterpart in the heart of “town,” such as it used to be. In fact, among the many names that Baptist Memorial has been known as through the years, it was once known as the “New Robbins Cemetery” for just this reason. When Robert Bailey transcribed Baptist Memorial for his 1994 cemetery book, Cemeteries of Scott County, Tennessee, he called it Brickyard Cemetery. It was also commonly known as the Robbins Memorial Cemetery. And, as Tim West notes on his website, it has also been known as the Oak Ridge Cemetery – not for the city that is an hour’s drive to the south, but for the predominant hardwood tree found on this short ridge that divides Brimstone Road from the Brick Yard. Of all the names, Baptist Memorial is the one that stuck. Many of those buried here were members of First Baptist Church of Robbins. BeginningsThere are records that date Baptist Memorial to the turn of the 20th century, when a 31-year-old man named John Lowe was buried here. A few years later, a 33-year-old Clara Daugherty was purportedly buried at the cemetery. However, neither Lowe nor Daugherty have an identifiable stone at the cemetery, and neither Bailey nor West included them in their respective transcriptions of the cemetery. That’s not to say that they aren’t buried here. There are several unmarked graves at the cemetery, and they may well be among those graves. However, the cemetery appears to have started in 1944, when William Francis Barnett was buried here. He suffered from heart disease and died at age 61 of pneumonia. Barnett married Oma Voiles in 1906. She would also be buried at Baptist Memorial when she died in 1980 at age 93. The Voiles family was a prominent one in the Robbins area in the early 20th century. Oma was the daughter of John Boring Voiles and Serena Kennedy. Her father is buried at Kilbeck Cemetery on Black Creek, as is one of her brothers, William Grady Voiles. Another brother, Wiley Franklin Voiles, is also said to be buried at the cemetery, along with his wife, Annie Atterson. Their graves are not marked, and they weren’t included in the cemetery transcriptions of either Bailey or West. An interesting footnote: When Oma Barnett died in 1980, her obituary noted that she was buried at the Voiles-Human Cemetery in Robbins. That cemetery was Baptist Memorial, adding another to the long list of names that it has been called through the years. Several other members of the Barnett family would be buried at the cemetery through the years, beginning with infant Martin Carlis Barnett in 1947. He was the son of John Barnett and Etta Overton. John Barnett, the father of little Martin Barnett, is not the same John Barnett who is buried at Baptist Memorial. That was John Marion Barnett, who lived nearby on Ridge Road. He died in 1957 and is buried in an unmarked grave. His wife was Pearl Owens. She later remarried and moved to Kentucky, though it isn’t clear where she was buried. The John Barnett who was the father of baby Martin is Johnny Howard Barnett, the son of Martin Harrison Barnett. John H. and Etta Overton Barnett eventually left Scott County for Indiana. Martin Harrison Barnett was buried between baby Martin Barnett and William Barnett when he died at age 61 in 1955. His wife, Susanna – or Suzanie – Owens was buried at the cemetery in 1967. A note that should be inserted here: Bailey’s transcription of Baptist Memorial listed a Susanna Barnett and an Annie Barnett. There is no stone to be located for Susanna Barnett. In the same line of graves with William Barnett, baby Martin Barnett and Martin Harrison Barnett is the stone of Annie Barnett, died 1967. Census records indicate that she went by the name “Anna,” and her stone is next to Martin Harrison Barnett’s. Therefore, Susanna Barnett and Annie Barnett appear to be the same person. William Francis Barnett, Martin Harrison Barnett and John Marion Barnett were brothers, the sons of Sylvester “Vest” Barnett and Milly Strunk. The Barnett family was originally from the Somerset area of Kentucky but had moved to Scott County by 1900. It is not clear where either Vest or Milly are buried. Martin Harrison and John Marion lived near each other on Ridge Road, and both worked as kiln firemen at the Brick Yard. Their brother William settled down closer to his wife’s family. There were also two sisters in the Barnett family: Florence and Viola. Florence married a Smith man and moved to Chattanooga, where she died in 1924 at the age of 35. Viola married Robert Duke and moved to West Tennessee. Elsewhere in Robbins Memorial, 71-year-old Harley Francis Barnett was buried in 1959, also in an unmarked grave. His connection to the rest of the Barnetts buried there, if there is one, is unknown. The Cemetery GrowsJust one year after William Francis Barnett was buried on the ridge above the Brick Yard, Mountville Jeffers was buried there. The 76-year-old Jeffers was a veteran of the Spanish-American War, the son of Civil War veteran Blackborn Jeffers and Elizabeth Bowling of the Winona area. Jeffers married Lurana Chambers in 1889. When she died just 10 years later, he married Julia Long. This would later tie into the Boles family prominent in this part of Robbins and also a part of the cemetery. The Boles FamilyIn 1945, an infant named Rose Boles – the daughter of James Herbert Boles and Hazel Hughett – was said to be buried at Baptist Memorial. She isn’t included in other cemetery transcriptions, and if she’s buried there, her grave isn’t marked. Her parents were buried at Black Creek Crossroads Cemetery. However, she has other family members buried at Baptist Memorial. The Boles family still owns property and lives on nearby Ridge Road today. George Boles is the Transportation Supervisor for the Scott County School System, and a chimney sweep. Darrell Boles followed their father into the appliance repair industry and is an assistant baseball coach at Scott High School. The Boles family in Robbins dates back to Abraham Lincoln Boles. There’s good reason that he was named for the famous U.S. president: His father, Robert Boles, was a Union soldier during the Civil War. So was his grandfather, John Boles, who served with Tinker Dave Beaty’s outfit during the war (and once represented Scott County as a member of the State Senate after the war). The Boles family was from Fentress and Pickett counties. Robert Boles lived on the headwaters of the Obey River. His father, John, lived in what is known as Bolestown in Pickett County. John married Matilda Beaty, who was a sister to Tinker Dave Beaty. Abraham Lincoln Boles was one of at least 15 children. He wasn’t the only one named for a U.S. president. He had a brother named James Buchanan, and another brother named Ulysses Grant. So, what brought A. L. Boles to Scott County? Perhaps love. He married Parthena Pemberton, the daughter of Timothy Pemberton and Lydia Clementine McCartt of Robbins. A. L. and Parthena had five children: Annie, Hillery Hobart, George Washington, James Herbert and Leonadus Theodore. It was James Herbert’s daughter, Rose, who is said to have been buried at Baptist Memorial in 1945. Parthena was buried at the cemetery in 1951, and Hillery Hobart was buried there when he died later the same year. He was a World War II veteran and died at the age of 53. He married Bessie Jeffers, the daughter of Mountville Jeffers and Julia Long. They had one child together: Frances Opal, who later moved to Michigan. Leonadus, known as “Teddy”, was buried at the cemetery in 1960. Like his brother, Hillery, he was a World War II veteran. Abraham Lincoln, Parthena, Hillery and Leonadus all share a large stone on the west side of Baptist Memorial. George Boles married Audrey Mae Goad in 1928. They had several children, the oldest being daughter JoAnn. She married Elgin businessman Ray Shoemaker and was the oldest member of First Baptist Church of Robbins when she died at age 89 in 2019. Audrey Boles died in 1972, and George died in 1979. Both were buried at Baptist Memorial. Other children of George and Audrey included George Washington Jr., who served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars and wound up in Miami, and John Curtis Boles, who moved to Indiana. The last surviving child of George and Audrey Boles is William Howard Boles Sr., who married Betty Medling and continues to live on Ridge Road in Robbins today. The Voiles FamilyIt was mentioned earlier in this story that Baptist Memorial Cemetery was once called Voiles-Human Cemetery. Several members of the Voiles family were buried at the cemetery through the years, including Oma Voiles Barnett, who married William Frances Barnett, the first person buried at the cemetery. The first member of the family to be buried at the cemetery is said to be Wiley Franklin Voiles in 1959. As mentioned previously, he and his wife, Annie Atterson, are said to be buried in unmarked graves at the cemetery. Baby Lee Voiles was buried at the cemetery in 1962. He is also buried in an unmarked grave, though there is a funeral home marker. He was the son of Arthur Voiles and Josephine Dishman. His mother would later be buried at the cemetery in 1977. (His father is buried at Carson Memorial Park in Oneida.) Arthur Voiles was the son of John Elijah Voiles and Margaret Hicks. John Voiles was buried at Baptist Memorial in 1964. A David Voiles was also buried at the cemetery in 1964, with a grave identified only by a funeral home marker. Baby Martha Voiles was buried at the cemetery in 1966. Charlie Voiles was buried at the cemetery in 1968. His wife, Mary Etta Goodman, was later buried there, as was their daughter, Alma Hassler, and her husband, Cooper Charles. The Human FamilyDaniel Jefferson Human was buried at Baptist Memorial in 1959. He was the son of James Human and Catherine Taylor and died of a heart attack at the age of just 49. His wife, Elsie Clark, was buried at the cemetery in 1993. They also had a son, Harold Gene Human, who was buried at the cemetery in 1982. Harold Gene Human was married to Vera Sue Smithers, who was a long-time cook at Robbins Elementary School. Following his death, she remarried to Vietnam War veteran and bus driver Bob Bowling, and they lived just below the cemetery. She was buried at the cemetery when she died in 1999. Bob Bowling was buried at the cemetery when he died on Nov. 23, 2023. The Cope FamilyThere is probably no better-known resident of Scott County buried at Baptist Memorial than former County Judge Verda “Buddy” Cope Jr., who died in 2018 at age 81. Cope has the distinction of being the longest-serving county judge in Scott County’s history, having served 16 years in that capacity. He is also Scott County’s last county judge; the title changed to county executive beginning with his successor, Dwight Murphy. Later, Cope served in an appointed capacity as Scott County Circuit Court Clerk. Like so many others at Baptist Memorial, Cope was a lifelong member of the First Baptist Church in Robbins. He served as a deacon at the church for more than half a century. Cope was the son of Verda Cope Sr. and Geneva West, who are both buried at Baptist Memorial. Geneva’s parents, William West and Julia Ann Goad, were both buried at the cemetery, as well. Geneva had a sister, Abbie, who is buried at the cemetery, along with her husband, Levi Smither. The Raines FamilyThe most common name you’ll find at Baptist Memorial is that of the Raines family that has lived in Robbins for many years. The Raines family dates back to William Emerson Raines, known as Emery, who moved from Wayne County, Ky. to Robbins. He was buried at Love Chapel, a little further south. Emery Raines first married Malinda York. Following her death, he married Martha Jane Atterson. It was Martha Jane’s sister, Epsy Ann Atterson, who married Wiley Franklin Voiles and was buried at Baptist Memorial in 1966. But before she married Wiley, she was married to Emitt Emerson Raines, who was Emery Raines’ son and one of 13 children. Emitt Raines and his brother, Thomas, were among the first generation of Raines to be buried at Baptist Memorial. Thomas died in 1951, and Emitt in 1954. Thomas married Bethada Bryant, and they had six children. Emitt had four children. The first member of the family to be buried at Baptist Memorial was newborn Judy Raines in 1946. She was the daughter of Lonnie and Frances Smith Raines, and the granddaughter of Emitt Raines. Both her parents would later be buried at the cemetery, as well. Three years later, one-year-old William Alfred Raines was buried at the cemetery. He was the son of Harry O. Raines Sr. and Neltha Raines, and a grandson of Thomas Raines. His 20-year-old brother, Freddie Lee, was buried at the cemetery in 1967. Mary Raines was buried at the cemetery in 1955, and Kinzy Raines in 1956. These were likely the siblings of Emitt and Thomas Raines. Etter Raines, who was Neltha’s father, was buried there in 1960. The Hughett FamilyAnother name commonly found at Baptist Memorial is Hughett, and it was within this family that the cemetery’s greatest tragedy occurred. It was in 1950 that Brimstone Road resident Harold Hughett died at the age of just 36, following a lengthy illness. He was the son of Jeremiah “Jerry” Hughett and Elizabeth Newport. Jerry and Elizabeth lived in Robbins, but are buried at the Newport Cemetery in Huntsville, along with other members of Elizabeth’s family. The Hughett family in Scott County dates back to Harold’s grandfather, Jim Hughett, who married into the Phillips family at Bull Creek and is buried at the Phillips Cemetery there. Once Jerry Hughett moved to Robbins, the family became firmly established there. He and Elizabeth had several children. Then, after Elizabeth’s death in 1928, he married Earline Reagan, and they had more children. Jerry Hughett had a total of at least 15 children. The last surviving children of Jerry Hughett are Roscoe Hughett, Woodrow Hughett, Jewell Byrd, and Naomi Sexton. Although Jerry Hughett had many children, Harold was one of only two of them to be buried at Baptist Memorial. However, Harold has several children buried there. Three of Harold’s younger children, 11-year-old Barbara JoAnn, 11-year-old William Ray (known as Billy), and two-year-old Janice, died on Nov. 13, 1950, just two months after Harold’s death. Their deaths were the result of a tragic house fire. They were all buried at Baptist Memorial. Harold’s wife, Pauline, was buried at the cemetery when she died in 2011 at age 91. She remarried to World War II veteran Warren Reed following Harold’s death. One of Harold’s and Pauline’s sons, Paul David, was buried at the cemetery in 2017. He had a son buried there in 1972. Meanwhile, another Hughett child was buried at Baptist Memorial in 1953. Six-year-old Charles Ray Hughett died in early December that year after falling ill with a sore throat and swelling of the voice box and being rushed from the family’s home at the Glenmary coal camp to Harriman Hospital.. He was the son of Charlie Hughett and Grace Griffith. Charlie was the son of Jerry, and a brother to Howard. Young Charles’ parents, Charlie and Grace, were later buried at the cemetery, as well. A separate Hughett family includes Lou Mel Guffey, who died in 1955, her son Kenneth, who died in 1959, and her husband, Alvin, who died in 1971. The three of them are buried side-by-side-by-side in the cemetery. Later, in 1973, Nellie Mae Marsh Hughett was buried at the cemetery. She was the wife of Alvin’s brother, Earley Hughett. Alvin and Earley were the sons of William Johnson Hughett and Luvania Griffith. The Cemetery TodayToday there are more than 270 people buried at Baptist Memorial Cemetery, with room for more. The cemetery is frequently maintained and well-kept. The most recent person buried there was Shirley Ruth Phillips Griffith, who died in December at age 86. She was a long-time teacher in Scott County. Her parents, Burse Norrod and Lillian Goad Phillips, are both buried at the cemetery, as well. Besides Shirley Griffith and Bob Bowling, another burial in 2023 was Gary Junior Terry, a U.S. Army veteran who died at age 59 in June 2023. His father, Estel Junior Terry, is also buried at the cemetery. (Source: The Independent Herald, 11 Jul 2024, p16-22)
This page was created by Timothy N. West and its contents copyrighted © 1996-2026 by him. All rights reserved.
