Tippins Family - Sanderson, FL
N 30° 12.234 W 082° 15.226
17R E 379320 N 3342043
This headstone, located in South Prong Cemetery in Sanderson, Florida, USA, marks the graves of four members of the Tippins Family who were killed in 1838 during an Indian uprising.
Waymark Code: WMRY4R
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 08/21/2016
Views: 3
The marker reads:
In Memory of the Tippins
Family Who Died Circa 1838
During an Indian Uprising
John Joshua Underwood Tippins
1814 - 1838
Nancy Mizell Tippins
1814 - 1838
Dau. of David Mizell
Married 1835
Children
Infant 6 Mos.
Infant 15-27 Mos.
The following information about the Tippin Family is from the Find A Grave website:
"Florida Pioneer who died with his family ca 1838 during an Indian uprising.
"It is again my painful duty to inform you of a most shocking Indian massacre - I mean the murder of Mr. John Tippins and family.
"Mr Tippins was bringing his wife and children out of Florida to see her parents, and when within a few miles of her father's house, was fallen in with about seven Indians, between 10 o'clock, A.M. and 12 o'clock.
"Mr. Tippens was shot from his horse, the Indians then made an easy capture of his helpless family and vented their savage spleen by beating them on the heads with their tomahawks.
"Mrs. Tippins lived (senseless) about forty hours, but did not speak; her skull was smashed in many places by the tomahawk. She died in the arms of her father, Mr. David Mizell.
"Her children are not yet dead, although the skull of each is fractured in many places by the tomahawks.
"This melancholy occasion took place in this county last Monday not far from Ocean Pond".
A nearby resident, Mrs. Elisha Green, discovered the bloody scene. She left an eyewitness account saying that Mr. Tippens "died on the spot where he fell, shot from his horse". His full name was John Joshua Underwood Tippens.
His wife, Nancy Tippens, was scalped, and left to bleed to death. Their three children were "chopped in their heads with tomahawks and slung to the ground".
The next morning, Mrs. Green found Nancy. Tippens and a three year old girl, Cornelia still clinging to life. Nancy Tippens died soon after she was discovered. But the three-year-old Cornelia survived; she lived till 1926 dying at the age of 88. Not having a coffin, Mrs. Green buried the dead man, his wife and the other two children in the body of their wagon. The place where they are buried is now called South Prong Cemetery; it was the Green family burial ground. Legend has it that a standing wagon wheel marked the grove. That wagon wheel has long since disappeared. So there you have it. That is the latest news from from 173 years ago.
Published in the 2009 diary "Dirty Old Man goes to the Dogs", by John W. Cowart."