Lowndes County, Mississippi Friendship Cemetery

Written in 1979 .......

Friendship Cemetery was founded May 30, 1849 on a five acre parcel owned and operated by the Union Lodge No. 35 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1957, when the Odd Fellows deeded the cemetery to the City of Columbus, it had expanded to its present fifty-five acres. The first recorded burial here was of Mary Elizabeth Sinclair who died July 16, 1849. There are several tombstones bearing earlier dates, but are of persons moved to Friendship from other cemeteries. With the exception of the Civil War years and a period between 1900 and 1918, the records have been fairly well kept and preserved; however, there are many persons buried without gravestones, for others the ravages of time have erased their markers.

Over the past two years many broken and discarded gravestones have been repaired and replaced. On page 335 is a list of names taken from these markers which had not been recorded in the burial books, making it impossible to place them on their proper graves. It has been our endeavor to correlate the information gathered from the tombstones with that recorded in the burial books.

During the Civil War years two portions of the cemetery were set aside for the burial of confederate soldiers. The outline in the burial book indicates the number of confederate dead to be 2, 194; however, in 1934 1,260 marble markers were installed and only 47 of those were inscribed with names. In 1976, with the discovery of an older record book, the names, units and grave numbers of an additional 298 soldiers and one nurse were revealed.

These were added to our known list of confederate dead, and their markers are now installed. The remainder of the markers bear the inscription of "Unknown Confederate Soldier." In many cases there are discrepancies between the dates on the gravestones and in the burial books. The birth and death dates have been taken from the markers when available, but, if there is a variance of more than a few days, the date from the marker is noted in parentheses.

Both Confederate and Union soldiers who died in the 1862 Battle of Shiloh are buried in Friendship Cemetery at 14th Avenue and Fourth Street.

Friendship Cemetery in Columbus, has been called "Where Flowers Healed A Nation"? On April 25, 1866 the ladies of Columbus, Mississippi decided to decorate both Confederate and Union soldiers' graves with garlands and bouquets of beautiful flowers. As a direct result of this kind gesture, Americans celebrate what has come to be called MEMORIAL DAY each year.

Photo of Weeping Angel in Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, MS.

Another angle of Weeping Angel.

If you have information on your relative/ancestor who is buried in Friendship Cemetery, the city cemetery in Columbus, Mississippi, please send that to me and I will get it posted for you on this website. Email

Friendship Cemetery, Book One, transcribed and donated by Ruth Ann Faris.
Friendship Cemetery Book Two, transcribed by Kay Koonce, Ruth Ann Faris, C.L. Herrick.
Miscellaneous Inscriptions from Friendship Cemetery, provided by Warren Locke, Debra Locke, and Ruth Ann Faris and many Lowndes List subscribers.
William E. Baldwin, this is an off-site link, to the http://www.findagrave.com/ website.
Stephen D. Lee, this is an off-site link, to the http://www.findagrave.com/ website.
Jacob Sharp, this is an off-site link, to the http://www.findagrave.com/ website.

Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved
Wednesday, 10-Sep-2008 18:01:38 MST
Lowndes, Mississippi Genealogy & History Network
http://lowndesmsgenealogy.org

Hosted by , , and , Co-County Directors.
MSGHN State Director: Everette Carr
MSGHN Asst. State Director: Tammy Howard-Westmoreland
MSGHN Webmaster: Bill White