John Yates – Tombstone Inscriptions

Yates, John
Section 28.8
ID # 281110

John Yates
Marion 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:

Page 176
“Name: John Yates, age 34, born in North Carolina, occupation: waggon maker. Convicted of Ass[ault] w/ intent to murder by a court in Marion County, and sentenced to 3 years in the Penitentiary. Received Apr. 18, 1833 and discharged June 10, 1833. Notes: died of cholera. Number in ledger 86:90.”

Research Report August 2017


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