10/10/2026
This takes us down to Morgan County to visit the Ponder family cemetery. The most prominent gravestones in this cemetery belong to husband and wife George and Sarah Ponder.
George Ponder married Sarah Stallings on October 30, 1840. Sarah bore three children in 1852, 1858 and 1859, none of whom survived infancy. Her last baby lived long enough to be given a name, Ophelia.
They lived in a home originally built for George's father, John, around 1850. By 1860, George owned hundreds of acres of land that was worked and maintained by the black laborers whom he enslaved. That same year, the schedule 2 census of enslaved inhabitants recorded 50 individuals under George's name ranging in age between 2 and 80.
By 1870, David, Mariah, Augustus and Fannie Turner - a black family - were listed in census records along with George and Sarah. It is possible that the Turners were previously enslaved by the Ponders and became employed by them post-emancipation. David is listed as a farm laborer while Mariah, Augustus and Fannie are all listed as domestic servants.
Sarah died in 1891 and George followed her in 1896. Their matching gravestones have several distinct features that have deeper meanings within funerary art and symbolism including ivy leaves, the three-circle trinity and columns.
Ivy's enduring nature cements itself into a common feature in cemetery iconography. It is representative of attachment, faithfulness and the idea of the soul enduring long after the physical body has departed.
When you find three interlocking rings or circles what you've discovered is a very old symbol and one that has many different meanings. Within Christian tradition, as is most found within cemeteries in the South, it primarily represents the holy trinity and the eternal nature of God.
While broken columns carry their own symbolic meaning, unbroken ones as seen here represent a life well lived or that someone had been a pillar of strength for their family or for the community as a whole.
Thanks to Jennifer Keene .cemetery for collaborating with us on this post! Her photo of these gravestones is currently on display at the HAWC.
