We have visited this interesting cemetery several times and thought it was time to give it a face lift. This cemetery probably had not been cleaned in several years. Kudos to Alvin Derby, Gene Bradshaw, and myself for taking this interesting cemetery under our wings to care for it. Indeed, several graves had not even been uncovered in decades! This first picture is of a monument that belongs to William Friend Wilson, one of the few graves that carry this unique monument in the U.S.
William Friend Wilson Monument
This next stone belongs to John Thomas Phelan. This stone probably had been buried for over 100 years. In fact, it was buried so long that descendants could not find it and put in a replacement stone.
John Thomas Phelan
John Thomas Phelan, Standing Tall
The next few pics are of some very interesting stones found in the cemetery. Hope you enjoy them!
Jacob Winkler
William Pheland
Gabbert Children Base
Gladys & Frank Gabbert on base
Regarding the William Pheland stone, this one had been buried for some time. And we had walked over where it was lying a number of times. The Gabbert base was very interesting. We had found the foot stones for Gladys and Frank Gabbert and we know the mother, Elizabeth, is buried there as well. However, there was no stone for any one of those. Later, as we were researching and search for two other Wilson burials nearby here, the owner of the property where this graveyard is located had the stone of Gladys & Frank Gabbert on his porch. His son had been walking in the woods and found it buried. Somebody had tried to carry it off and got tired and buried it there. Perhaps they had intended on returning and could not locate the stone again. We placed it back in the cemetery. We are still trying to locate the stone for Elizabeth Gabbert.
We are still trying to find the stone for John Wilson who died in 1846. We found his foot stone and believe he is buried next to where Matilda Wilson is buried. But we cannot locate his head stone. We started excavating the area and this is what we found.
Burial Site of John Wilson
You can clearly identify the foot stone and the base stone without the head stone. The base stone was discovered about 4 inches under the ground. This base had been buried a long, long time. The large stone next to the site that is visible in the photo may have been the field stone marker that originally identified the burial. Directly behind the foot stone is another field stone marker identifying the foot of the grave.
When we discovered this cemetery, it was overgrown and hard to get across due to all the briers and brambles. But as the following pictures will attest, we (Alvin Derby, Gene Bradshaw, and myself) have made quite a difference to this cemetery.
We hope you have enjoyed this brief but fascinating visit to the Wilson Family Graveyard. If you have any information on this cemetery, please leave a comment.
I have such admiration for anyone who works on old abandoned cemeteries - you have done a fine thing, and a fine job! Interesting stories turn up, too, eg. the Gabbert children's stone.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating post and wonderful pictures. I have put a link to your blog over on mine, Beneath Thy Feet.
ReplyDeleteI also run a weekly link up, Cemetery sunday. Hope to see you there.
Beneath Thy Feet
There is a family graveyard in an isolated area in the Mark Twain Forest in Missouri. However, it is run down and I could only find a couple of headstones. I live in Ohio so it's difficult to get down there that often to clean up the place. Do you have any suggestions for help? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHenry J. "Hank" Inman
I salute you guys for your hard work and dedication. When those folks passed away, their families and maybe some friends spent their hard earned money for a monument. The didn't want to forget that person; they wanted them to be remembered. Because of the work you have done, these people will be remembered again. I think there is a special place in Heaven (Paradise, Nirvana, or whatever) for those who do this sort of thing. Are you going to put them in findagrave.com and give a copy to your local genealogical/ historical group? Thank you for doing this; while knowing there would be no financial reward - just appreciation.
ReplyDelete