Submitted by
Rebekah Sheats
For more than one hundred and fifty years, Roseland Cemetery has marked the final resting place of many Jefferson County and Monticello residents. Each silent marker within its bounds stands as a perpetual witness of a life fulfilled, an era ended, and a hope in the future.
Roseland also serves as a repository of history. The thousands of headstones and memorials within her gates offer us a fascinating window into the past. If stones could speak, what stories might these quiet markers tell us?
Entering through Roseland’s gates, one encounters memorials and markers large and small. Simple headstones, tall memorials, and unmarked stone markers sit side by side in the cemetery’s long rows. After walking a few yards past the main gate, the passerby is greeted with the following inscription from an old grave marker:
Remember reader, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you shall be;
Prepare for death, and come with me.
Section A of Roseland Cemetery includes grave markers dating well back into the 1800s. Some of the names now sound strange and unfamiliar. Others mark the resting place of Monticello citizens long ago passed to their final reward but whose memories are still cherished and preserved to this day.
Walking down the rows of Section A, a timeworn stone comes into view. It marks the resting place of George Choice Bishop, 1852-1929. Dead for almost a hundred years, George’s grave marker offers us a glimpse into a bygone age of Monticello history.
Born and raised in Aucilla, George married Jennie Braswell in 1876. He started out life as a farmer. Then he tried his hand at the turpentine business and operated a sawmill. Shortly after his marriage (and while he was still in his twenties), he went into business for himself by opening a general store in Aucilla. His business did well and gave him the ability to care for his growing family of four sons and four daughters.
In 1901, George moved his family to Monticello and opened a store in that town. Under the name of G. C. Bishop and Son, he purchased the Monticello Telephone Exchange, which he owned and operated for many years. This was the first telephone line in town. It soon became a thriving business as residents began to realize the convenience and ease of telephone communication. Annie Arndt, one of George’s nieces, became the switchboard operator for the telephone company. She held this position for decades, and her voice soon became arguably the most well-known voice in town as residents were greeted with her “What number, please?” at the start of every call.
During telephone’s infancy, George’s company offered excellent and exceptional services to Monticello folk. Though she served as switchboard operator, Annie never limited herself to connecting calls. She was happy to serve her clients in more active (and sometimes more helpful) ways.
The telephone company was housed on the second floor of the long building located on the corner of Dogwood and Cherry Streets. Large glass windows offered Annie an unimpeded view of the surrounding city streets. From her vantage point on the second story, she could see portions of Dogwood and Cherry as well as a large strip of East Washington Street. Below her facing south was Simmons drugstore and soda fountain, one of the most popular hangouts in town.
Annie put her elevated position to good use. When Josephine Pate (now Dodie Anderson) was attending school in the 1930s, she called the switchboard operator and asked to be connected to her mother. Dodie recalled, “I tried to call home to talk to Mother, but Miss Annie told me, ‘Your mother’s not home right now. I just saw her go into the drugstore. Would you like me to ring her down there?’”
Besides owning the telephone company, George Bishop served as a director of the newly created Farmers and Merchants Bank. He also operated a livery stable which in 1909 was commended for being so “up-to-date.”
A devout churchgoer, George became a model businessman and a spiritual role model for many in the community. In the 1920s the Monticello News noted that he exerted a strong influence on the affairs of the city and county.
At seventy-six years of age, George Bishop began experiencing health issues and consulted a doctor. He was informed that his malady was incurable. George therefore began disposing of his businesses and preparing his family for his decease. He sold the Monticello Telephone Company and divided his property among his children.
The doctors didn’t give George long to live, but he surprised them (and himself). In God’s mercy, he was spared several months longer than anyone dared hope. It was recorded of him that “all through the waiting and suffering, he was cheerful and in good spirits.”
Finally, on Wednesday, April 24, 1929, George Choice Bishop passed away at the home of his son. With his family gathered around his bedside, he left this world and entered eternity. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).
A lifelong resident of Jefferson County, George’s remains were interred in Roseland Cemetery.
As I ponder the life and influence of a single man, I realize that his is only one of thousands within Roseland’s gates. How many stories are left to tell? How many lives are waiting to be recorded?
And as I turn from George Bishop’s grave, I wonder, “What will they say of me when I am gone?” May we live our lives in such a way that it can be said of us as it was said of him:
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: . . . that they may rest from their Labors; and their works do follow them” (Revelation 14:13).
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