303. Bagdad Family's Lonely Grave 1903

Amid the tombstones of the Lower Pine Barren Cemetery in Escambia County stands a lonely grave of a young 12-year old girl. Located off Highway 29 and Pine Barren Creek, the grave site has no parents or siblings around it although the plot looks like someone had that in mind. So my curiosity was peaked as to the fate of this young girl and why she was so alone. As it turns out she was Clara Rosalee Sweeting, the daughter of William Welch Sweeting (1852–1928) and Frances Jane Pooley (1850–1917). Her father was born in England in 1852 and naturalized in America in 1887. Her mother was the daughter of a Milton clerk by the name of Archibald Kerney Pooley. Her parents were married in 1872 in Milton where most of their family resided. In the meantime, William supported his family as early as 1880 as a Milton school teacher although he would occupy several jobs over his lifetime.

In fact, William left Bagdad in c1884 to take a position as a lumber inspector, perhaps for his Bagdad employer, in the community of Pine Barren in Escambia County. Pine Barren was a bustling lumber town much like Molino and Bluff Springs down the road. William and Frances packed up their belongings plus their seven children and headed for their new home near Escambia River. For several years, everything was idyllic for the young family. Their oldest daughter Adeline Elizabeth had married a fine young man with a great job with plenty of potential. Her new husband was Alexander Galt Brown, the assistant post master of Pensacola. But on New Year's Day of 1903, the Sweeting's life came crashing down!

That day William's youngest daughter, Clara Rosalee, was walking through the woods with her girlfriends about a mile from their Pine Barren home. Little did they know that 14-year old Paul Lambert was about 180 yards away playing with what he thought was a "toy" rifle. How it came about is unknown, but Paul inadvertently pulled the trigger thus discharging the weapon. Thirteen-year old Clara never knew what hit her. The bullet entered her left side striking her in the heart and killing her instantly without a sound. The playmates all ran in different directions seeking help from their parents. The first on the scene were Clara's parents who carried their baby home. A justice was summoned from Cottage Hill and subsequently declared the death an accident. A white casket was purchased and Clara was dressed in a pure white dress by her mother and sisters. On January 2nd, she was buried in the Lower Pine Barren Cemetery, next to Pine Barren Creek. The size of the lot looks like perhaps they planned on others joining her, but alas she's lays alone in peace.

By 1910, the family had moved to 806 Cordova Street in Pensacola where William was now a railroad inspector. That same year, Willian and Frances Jane would lose their oldest daughter Adeline Elizabeth. Only two years later in 1912 they lost their son William A. from typhoid fever and buried him in Bagdad Cemetery. By 1917, the family was back in Bagdad where Frances Jane passed away and was buried near her son and mother Lydia Hammac Pooley in the Bagdad Cemetery. By 1920, the elderly William W. had moved in with his son in law John H. Taylor and daughter Frances Cassandra and at 1301 East LaRua Street, Pensacola. He would pass away in 1928 and joined his wife and son.

But whatever happened to the young boy who accidentally shot young Clara? The only boy of that age and place at the time was Robert Paul Lambert, born October 27, 1889 in McDavid, Florida. He was the son of Criah H. and Mary L. Lambert who supported his family as a sawyer at one of the local sawmills. A sawyer in those days was the person who fed the logs through the giant circular blades, thus producing lumber.