A very small family graveyard known as the Goodpasture cemetery located on East Cedar Street in Livingston is listed on Ancestry as having only thirteen graves. Some of the graves do not have any type of memorial markers, while others that do have are broken and lie resting near other monuments. Among those buried in that cemetery is a doctor who once practiced medicine in Livingston. Another grave is the final resting place of someone who grew up in what was referred to as the “historic village of Hilham,” and was one of 14 children. His name was Winburn W. Goodpasture, someone who served as a Chancellor and Circuit Judge in this area. Here is what was written about Judge Goodpasture in the June 15, 1907, issue of the Nashville American:

“Livingston, Tenn. – Judge Winburn W. Goodpasture of this place has been critically ill for several days, and his family is much alarmed over his condition. He is 78 years old, and is one of the best known lawyers and jurists of Tennessee. He has served with distinguished ability both this Chancery division and Judicial circuit as Chancellor and Circuit Judge, and has the reputation of being one of the best learned jurist of the state. He has lived in this county practically all his long life. No man among us is better known, and none was more generally and warmly loved. He is the personification of the highest, purest, and noblest manhood, and his loss to this community would be irreparable. We but voice the prayerful sentiment of this entire section of the state when we express the hope of his early and complete recovery.”

Judge Goodpasture died on June 19, 1907, at the age of 78. Here is his obituary: “At six o’clock Wednesday morning, June 19, Judge Winborne W. Goodpasture, Overton County’s most distinguished citizen, quietly and peacefully obeyed the beacon of the angel of death, and his soul returned to God who gave it. His son, Elmo C. Goodpasture, his two daughters, Mrs. C.M. (Ala May) Hensley, of Birmingham, Alabama, and Mrs. W.G. (Margaret L.) Currie, of Ada, Oklahoma, and other relatives and friends, were with him when the end came. He retained his natural buoyance and good cheer until the last, and on the day preceding his death, expressed the opinion that he would soon recover. His burial took place at five o’clock Wednesday evening at the family cemetery, and was attended by a vast concourse of people who sorrowfully paid their last respects to the honored dead. The funeral services were conducted by Rev. W.H. Gilbert, pastor of the Southern Methodist church, assisted by Revs. Gutherie and Wilson. Judge Winborne W. Goodpasture was born and reared near the historic village of Hilham, this county. He was born October 20, 1828, and at the time of his death, was in his seventy-ninth year. He was a son of John and Margery Bryan Goodpasture, and was the youngest of a family of fourteen children, seven boys and seven girls, all of whom lived to have families of their own. In 1854, he married Miss Martha Capps, a daughter of a prominent merchant of this place, and for more than fifty years, they lived happily together, his wife having died two years ago.”

Judge Goodpasture’s death was also written about in a newspaper in Ada, Oklahoma, where his daughter, Mrs. W.G. (Margaret L.) Currie, lived. Here is a portion of that newspaper article: “… He had been in very feeble health for some time but not until recently were fears entertained of his death. Judge Goodpasture … could properly be termed the most prominent and popular man in all Overton county. He had for years been prominently connected with the political history of Tennessee, and numbered his personal friends by the thousands.”

Judge Goodpasture’s wife, Martha Ann Capps Goodpasture, died two years before her husband passed away. Her obituary taken from a newspaper clippings reads as follows: “Mrs. M.A. Goodpasture, who died at this place on Sunday night, was buried yesterday afternoon, Rev. Geo. R. Allen officiating. The death of Mrs. Goodpasture (nee Capps) removes the last of that notable family. When Mrs. Goodpasture was only 8 years of age, her father, Doak H. Capps, took her on her first visit to Nashville, making the trip overland, it being before the days of steam railways in the upper country, stopping at the Hermitage to see General Jackson whose personal appearance Mrs. Goodpasture remembered well to her last illness. Her grandfather, Mr. Daugherty, was a soldier under Old Hickory at New Orleans, and she remembered General Jackson asking her father in regard to her grandfather’s health. John A. Capps, one of her brothers, died here in 1888, and another brother, A.F. Capps, died at Arlington, Texas, two or three years ago. Mrs. Goodpasture was married to Judge W.W. Goodpasture in 1854, and on January 17 last they celebrated their golden wedding receiving many very costly and valuable presents.”

Ancestry includes this about the death of Mrs. Goodpasture: “On last Monday night, at eight o’clock, death removed from our midst one of the best known and most highly respected women in the community, Mrs. Martha Ann, wife of W.W. Goodpasture. She was a converted Christian woman, a true and faithful wife and devoted mother. She has gone to her reward. For twenty years, she has been afflicted and suffered much, and during the past seven years, she had been a constant care to her faithful companion whose patient watchfulness and tender devotion we have never seen surpassed. She bore her affliction with patience and submission, and in the crucible of suffering God refined and purified the gold until the image of the Father could clearly be seen in her daily life. She realized the end was near and frequently spoke to her husband about it, giving him the full assurance that she was ready to go. We laid her to rest in the family graveyard where she awaits the resurrection of the just. A husband, two daughters, and a son survive her. We extend to them our prayers and sympathy.”

Others buried in the Goodpasture Cemetery include Melville Boozer “Doctor” Capps who practiced medicine in Overton County. He was born on July 4, 1858, and died on May 17, 1921, at the age of 62. He is buried in an unmarked grave next to his wife, Margaret Elizabeth Roberts Capps and their newborn child who was never given a name. He died ten years after his wife, and although she has a marker, he does not. Melville Boozer “Doctor” Capps was the son of John Alvin Capps and wife Verlinda “Linnie” Cullom Capps, and was a grandson of Doak H. Capps and wife Lucinda R. Daugherty Capps.

One of Melvin Boozer Capps and Margaret Elizabeth Roberts Capps’ sons, J. Doak Capps, was also a doctor who practiced medicine in Livingston more than 50 years. J. Doak Capps was married to Helen Ruth Eastland, the daughter of Joseph G. Eastland and wife Julia Eastland of Livingston. Their children were John Doak Capps, Jr.; Joe Melville Capps; Betty Amo Capps; and William Elbert Capps. The 1930 census shows this family living in a house on Roberts Street in Livingston valued at $10,000.00. Joe Melville Capps became a neurosurgeon and practiced in Nashville. He was on the staff at several Nashville hospitals, and he served as assistant professor of neurosurgery at Vanderbilt Medical College until his untimely death when he was only in his late 20’s.

John Alvin Capps has a large marker that is approximately five feet tall. His wife, Verlinda L. Cullom Capps has no marker. Doak H. Capps died in 1862. His wife, Lucinda R. Daugherty Capps, died in 1867. She was the daughter of Cornelius R. Daugherty and Nancy Hundley Daugherty. Lucinda’s marker is broken, and lies nearby. Doak H. Capps and wife Lucinda’s children listed on the 1880 census include the following: Ellis Capps Kendall, a married but widowed daughter who had two children living in the home as well. Additional children were Melville Boozer Capps; Clifton C. Capps; Alva L. Capps; Ridley D. Capps; Winborne Capps; and Lafayette B. Capps.

Like all cemeteries, very interesting history can often be learned through research about those who have once lived in local communities and towns and what they’ve done with their lives. This cemetery certainly has some amazing history connected not only to our 7th President, Andrew Jackson, but to Judge Goodpasture who was described as “one of the best known lawyers and jurists of Tennessee,” and who was also said to have “numbered his personal friends by the thousands.” It seems this cemetery would be ideal for the placement of an historic marker that are often provided through the Tennessee Historical Commission. According to their website, this commission, since it’s inception in 1948, has erected nearly 2,000 markers. Surely this cemetery qualifies for this type of recognition. Perhaps the local Overton County Bar Association might take on the project of looking into the possibility of obtaining an appropriate marker for this cemetery.