Miles Allen – Tombstone Inscriptions

Allen, Miles
Section 28.8
ID # 281092

Miles Allen
Wilson Co.

Nineteen Penitentiary inmates died of Cholera during the June 1833 Epidemic in Nashville. They were buried at Nashville City Cemetery. In 2016 wooden markers were placed at the cemetery for these Cholera victims.

Fred Zahn of the Metropolitan Historical Commission was responsible for the carving of the inscriptions on the 19 wooden markers and locating where to place them at the Nashville City Cemetery. To read about his work on the project, click here.

To read the account of John Hill, a contemporary of these men and survivor of his time in the penitentiary, click here.

For more information, and to see a listing of the inmates’ names & counties of residence prior to incarceration, please see the following newspaper article in the Nashville Republican and State Gazette, Friday, July 5, 1833.

Charles A. Sherill has given permission to quote from Tennessee Convicts: Records of the State Penitentiary, Vol. I. 1831-1850, by Charles & Tomye M. Sherrill, published 1997:

Pages 165-166
“Name: Miles Allen, age 45, born in North Carolina, occupation: laborer. Convicted of larceny by a court in Wilson County, and sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in the Penitentiary. Received May 5, 1831 and discharged June 17, 1833. Notes: died of cholera. Number in ledger 86: 8.”

Research Report August 2017


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