Kesterson/Hesterson, Hazard
Section 28.8
ID # 281101

Hazard Kesterson/Hesterson
Anderson 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 64
“Hazard Hesterson was received into the Penitentiary 8 March 1833. Grey hair, hazel eyes, fair complexion, 52 years of age. Born in Amherst Co., Virginia, and brought up in Augusta Co., Virginia. He has a wife and 10 children, seven of which and his wife reside in Anderson Co., Tenn. He has two children married and living in Virginia, a daughter and son. The daughter married James LeMar. He has two brothers in Virginia, Benjamin and Willis, residing near Augusta and one in Anderson Co., Tenn., Sylvanus Hesterson. He has a scar on the top of the left knee, caused by a cut from an axe, and one on the ancle bone of the right foot. He has generally followed farming. Was found guilty of petit larceny at the Circuit Court of Anderson County and sentenced to one years confinement in the Jail and Penitentiary House of the State of Tennessee. Hazard Hesterson died of Cholera June 16, 1833. [Ledger 45, p. 85]”

Research Report August 2017