Francis Marion Whatley was born on September 21, 1839, and died on April 22, 1903. He first married Matilda Thompson, who lived from 1842 to 1877 and died at 35 years of age, and later married Emma E. Radney, who lived from 1861 to 1941. He had 14 children, four of whom died as infants. An industrious man, he was a farmer and owned a general store, cotton gin, and warehouse. He served in the military and was a prisoner of war. He was a leader in his community and established a school, church, and cemetery. About 1899 he built a one-room schoolhouse adjacent to this site, and among its teachers and principals were his daughters Jessie, Ida, and Clara; its closing date is unknown, but it was operating in 1923. A member of the Mount Olive Primitive Baptist Church congregation, he donated land for a church due west on a hill across the road from this site within view of his home, and the church was built in 1905 as an outgrowth of Mount Olive; a baptismal pool supplied by a flowing stream was built north of this site. The church closed in 1935, and its records were returned to Mount Olive. The cemetery was established in 1900 on Whatley land at the death of Opheli, youngest beloved child of F.M. and Emma Whatley, and this burial site was chosen in her memory next to Whatley School and in sight of the family home; it became the final resting place for many relatives and neighbors.