Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In this episode of Adventures Into History, we travel into the woods of Monroe County, Georgia to find a cemetery that has been lost to one family for generations. I’m joined by Donna Searcy Wood, whose ancestors are buried here at the Thweatt-Searcy Cemetery, the old burial ground for the Thweatt plantation.
For Donna, this is a moment she has waited years for - her first time ever visiting the graves of her own ancestors, including her 4x great-grandfather, Dr. James Peterson Thweatt, a surgeon and veteran of the War of 1812. His story leads us into a much larger picture of the early 1800s: frontier Georgia, the War of 1812, the rise and fall of plantation culture, the Civil War, the Reconstruction depression, and even the Spanish-American War that later generations lived through.
Together, we walk among the graves of the Thweatt and Searcy families, exploring the lives of:
Dr. James Thweatt (1793-1867), War of 1812 surgeon
Frances Flanders Moore Thweatt (1794-1878)
Camilla James Thweatt Searcy (1816–1885)
Lieut. James Thweatt Searcy (1834-1916)
Dr. Daniel Bartlett Searcy (1809-1885)
and many infants and children whose short lives remind us of the hardships of the 19th century.
This cemetery holds unanswered questions. Several graves here are unmarked, and their identities are unknown. In this video, Donna and I piece together clues, old records, and family stories to try to solve the mystery of who lies in these forgotten rests.
This is a buried chapter of Georgia’s past… and today, a descendant finally brings it back into the light.
In this episode of Adventures Into History, we travel into the woods of Monroe County, Georgia to find a cemetery that has been lost to one family for generations. I’m joined by Donna Searcy Wood, whose ancestors are buried here at the Thweatt-Searcy Cemetery, the old burial ground for the Thweatt plantation.
For Donna, this is a moment she has waited years for - her first time ever visiting the graves of her own ancestors, including her 4x great-grandfather, Dr. James Peterson Thweatt, a surgeon and veteran of the War of 1812. His story leads us into a much larger picture of the early 1800s: frontier Georgia, the War of 1812, the rise and fall of plantation culture, the Civil War, the Reconstruction depression, and even the Spanish-American War that later generations lived through.
Together, we walk among the graves of the Thweatt and Searcy families, exploring the lives of:
Dr. James Thweatt (1793-1867), War of 1812 surgeon
Frances Flanders Moore Thweatt (1794-1878)
Camilla James Thweatt Searcy (1816–1885)
Lieut. James Thweatt Searcy (1834-1916)
Dr. Daniel Bartlett Searcy (1809-1885)
and many infants and children whose short lives remind us of the hardships of the 19th century.
This cemetery holds unanswered questions. Several graves here are unmarked, and their identities are unknown. In this video, Donna and I piece together clues, old records, and family stories to try to solve the mystery of who lies in these forgotten rests.
This is a buried chapter of Georgia’s past… and today, a descendant finally brings it back into the light.
