Tombstone Tuesday: Jessie Taylor Aiken

Photo by Brian Zoldak, used with permission

Jessie Taylor Aiken

Jessie was my paternal grandmother, Annie (Aiken) Broadfoot's sister and my great aunt. I had no idea where she was buried until I found out from family that she was also buried in River Bend Cemetery.

My friend, Brian Zoldak, had no trouble locating the plot. It was very close to where my paternal grandparents are buried.

Jessie was named for Jessie Taylor [1808-1879], wife of Alexander Aiken and for her father,  David Aiken's sister, Jessie Taylor Aiken [b. 1864]. Naming conventions like this can really help one be sure that you are researching the right women in a family.

I think my grandmother and this sister were quite close since for a time, they both lived on the same street (Bowling Lane in Bradford).  Jessie's daughter, Bertha, who my dad called "Cousin Freckles", died in 2011.  The late Virgil Veal, whose wife Ann is a Aiken descendant, gave me a lot of help sorting out my Aiken family. With Virgil and Ann, I wouldn't know where my great grandparents are buried. I would never have found them as they are buried in Georgia. They retired there and loved it.