This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.alabama.counties.coosa/4114.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: In the book "A History of Wetumpka" by Elizabeth Porter, 1957, page 27 reads the following three sentences... "During the year 1839 Wetumpka had been chosen as the site for the State Penitentiary." "The cornerstone was laid March 14, 1840, by the Masons who were escorted by the Borderers, a military company." "Dr. Burrows was the warden in 1858; he was killed by a convict in 1862."