Pollie Barnett's Grave
Pollie Barnett
The grave of Pollie Barnett is unique. The tombstone is like no other seen around here. On the top is a life-size replica of her cat, her only true friend. Pollie’s grave is located in Fairview Cemetery, which is north of Linton on Fairview Road.
Pollie Barnett was born near Solsberry, Indiana, on September 23, 1836. She married John Sexton, and three years later they had a daughter. They named their daughter Sylvia. She had large blue eyes and beautiful blonde hair. When Sylvia turned fourteen, her father passed away. Two months later Sylvia disappeared. It was then that Pollie dropped her last name of Sexton and took back her maiden name of Barnett.
Pollie was determined to find her daughter. She searched the hills, fields, and hollers for Sylvia. Pollie took along with her very few things. One of the items she selected was her black cat. They roamed all over Brown County for one month. She returned home tired, hungry, and thin.
A few months later she decided to start looking again. With a pack on her back along with her cat, she searched the fields and hollers in Jackson County from October to May. During the time she was gone, she ate berries and nuts and lived in the wild. When she returned in May of that year, she started a garden. From her garden she canned food. She shot wild game such as deer, squirrels, rabbits, and made sausage. She worked for ten years at a general store near Bloomington.
One day she told her brother-in-law she was leaving in search of Sylvia again. This time she would search Johnson, Morgan, Montgomery, Owen, and Greene Counties. With the little money she had hidden in her sack or shoe, she left once again. To earn money along the way, she picked fruits and berries and sold them to the townspeople as she went through the towns.
Pollie died on February 27, 1900. She never located her missing daughter. The inscription on her stone is as follows:
Here Pollie Barnett is at rest,
From deepest grief and toilsome quest,
Her cat, her only friend,
Remained with her until life’s end.
This information was used with permission from the Linton-Stockton School Corporation.
Pictures can be found in our photogallery.
