Here are the answers to the “easy” version of the 2022 Spring Scramble scavenger hunt:
1.Robinson
Mary Olive Robinson married Dr. Price Emerson Murray. Together, they are buried in the Original Six Acres – the oldest section of Oakland cemetery.
2. K
Dr. Benjamin Franklin Bomar was elected the second mayor of Atlanta and served in 1849. He is one of 28 Atlanta mayors to be buried at Oakland. His daughter, Amarylis Bomar, married Charles Henry Killian. The two families share a lot.
3. Spartanburg District, S.C.
Elizabeth Dial was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on October 25, 1804. She married Benjamin Thrower. Together, the couple had at least 12 children. Elizabeth died on June 28, 1866.
4. Olympic Rings
Maynard Jackson was the first African American Mayor of Atlanta and the first African American to serve as a mayor of a major Southern city. A new 14.5-foot, 14-ton monument was dedicated in 2017 (his original marker sits behind the monument). The obelisk reflects Mayor Jackson’s legacy of helping to transform Atlanta into a major city with international significance. Four hand-carved bronze discs represent varying aspects of Jackson’s legacy: the city of Atlanta; the scales of justice; the Atlanta airport, which was renamed Hartsfield-Jackson after his death; and the Olympic rings. Mayor Jackson was instrumental in bringing the 1996 Summer Olympic Games to Atlanta.
5. World War I
During World War I, Roderick Harris was an instructor for the Student Army Training Corps at Howard University and at the Candidate Officer’s Infantry School in Fort Pike, Arkansas. Harris was working as an automobile salesman in 1953 when he and two other African American men, Austin T. Walden and Miles G. Amos, won a court battle to be allowed the right to qualify for election to the City Executive Committee. The City Executive Committee managed the elections for the city of Atlanta. Harris lost the race to Amos. Walden ran unopposed. This was the first time since the election of William Finch (buried nearby) that African Americans in Atlanta had run for a city office and won.
6. Edythe Thomas Wimbish
Black-owned funeral homes had a tradition of including small cement headstones that were meant to be temporary as part of their burial packages. That is why Edythe Wimbish Thomas has two grave markers!
7. Fred B. Palmer, Loring Brainard Palmer, Charles William Powell
Dr. Fred B. Palmer was a white physician who fell in love with Julia Hays, an African American woman. The two married and had a son, Loring Brainard Palmer. Dr. Loring Palmer graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school. He became a noted surgeon and civil rights activist. Loring married Rosa Harris, a nurse at the Fair Haven Hospital. Rosa’s sister, Sadye, married surgeon Dr. Charles William Powell. In 1927, the Powells established the William A. Harris Memorial Hospital on Hunter Street, named for the Harris sisters’ father. The hospital opened with 15 beds and was the only private hospital for African Americans in Atlanta at the time. Following her husband’s death, Sadye Harris Powell became the superintendent of the Harris Memorial Hospital.
8. Norris
Frances Josephine Norris lived to be 73 years old.
9. Sarah Grant Slaton
Married to Governor John Slaton, Sarah Grant Slaton was the First Lady of Georgia from 1911 through 1915.
10. McKeldin
James Reese McKeldin married Bessie Draper in December 1901. The couple had two children, Bessie and James. Their two families are buried side by side.
11. 1871
Homer Hall married Allie Eugene Collier. They are interred in the Hall vault with their daughter, Jeanne C. Hall.
12. 1920
Born in 1861, Mary Merritt married William Dorsey in 1883. She died September 12, 1920.
Thanks for participating and for supporting Historic Oakland Foundation.