The Routons Of Henry County, TN

His wife, Martha, went along with him to help.

Toward the end of the epidemic, they both came

down with the yellow fever and died.  His death

was on March 13, 1879; her death was a few days

later on March 22.  They were remembered by the Paris community with reverence and great respect.

 

This couple left children who were taken in by other Routon families.  Mary Catherine Haymes

Routon took Grace to raise.  Grace Routon became a school teacher who married Ollie Watkins.  Unable to have children of their own, they visited a Nashville orphanage and met a boy and girl who were brother and sister.  They took the little girl to

adopt but five miles outside Nashville, Ollie and Grace turned the buggy around and returned to the orphanage to take in the little boy, too.

 

Grace Routon Watkins and husband, Ollie Watkins, are buried in Spring Hill Cemetery.

​

 

 

DR. PHILIP QUINCY ROUTON

BORN 1832 – DIED 1879

 

SARAH WIMBISH ROUTON

BORN 1839 – DIED 1879

 

“Blessed are the merciful for they shall

obtain mercy”

Matthew – Chapter 5 – Verse 7

 

July 2, 2010

Spring Hill Cemetery

        Paris, Tennessee

 

Dedication Remarks by Fred Booth

of Alexandria, Virginia (Routon and

       Wimbish Descendent)

 

Prayer of Remembrance by

John B. Routon of Milan,

Tennessee (Routon and Wimbish

Descendent)

 

​

The Great Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 struck

New Orleans and moved up the Mississippi to

Memphis causing 5,000 confirmed deaths there and gradually moved up the Mississippi River Valley to Paris, Tennessee.  Other western Tennessee cities hard hit were Milan, Collierville, Brownsville, Martin, and LaGrange.

 

Dr. Philip Quincy Routon with his wife, Sarah

Wimbish Routon, acting as his nurse, treated

the Yellow Fever victims in Paris and died within

days of each other in March, 1879.

 

Because of the economic struggles faced by so many in the post-reconstruction South, the family could not afford a stone marker in 1897 for their graves.

 

This couple’s graves lay unmarked for over 130 years from the time of their death. 

 

Routon family members purchased the memorial stone in September, 2009, to commemorate these

dedicated caregivers.

 

​

 

The stone marker reads: 

 ROUTON

 

Dr. Philip Quincy                           Sarah Wimbish

  1832-1879                                            1839 -1879

 

  Died fighting the Yellow Fever

   “Blessed are the Merciful”

 

This dedication ceremony was scheduled the day before the third Routon Family Reunion held in

Paris.  This couple represents one of three Routon-

Wimbish marriages.  The other two are the marriage of John Henry Routon and Martha Hunt

Wimbish (sister of Sarah Wimbish Routon) who are also buried in Spring Hill Cemetery and the marriage of Joseph Senter Routon and Minnie Greer Wimbish, both buried in Bevil Cemetery. 

 

Dr. Philip Routon was born in 1832 in Henry County, Tennessee, the son of Philip and Mary

Fuqua Routon.  Philip was a twin of John Henry

Routon.  His older brother, Aaron Routon,

was a physician practicing in Camden, Tennessee.

 

During the Yellow Fever Epidemic, Dr. Philip

Routon went day and night to attend the sick.