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I will add the email that we will be using for all our cemetery survey work when we set it up but I had something to share now and wanted to put it in a new thread. It has been 3 hours since the event I’m about to relate but I’m still shaking and very emotional ……… never had anything make me feel this way……. such joy it is overwhelming.
Quoting what I wrote on Dreaminghawk thread >>>>> Becky and I are now spending most of our time surveying the 100s of private family cemeteries and getting the info on line. In fact, we were out in the woods this afternoon trying to locate the lost Malone cemetery. My mom went there to pick flowers over 60 years ago but it was overgrown then. It is less than 1/2 mile from my house>>>>>>>
Becky and I spent this morning wading through the waist high kudzu searching the area that my uncle pointed out and WE FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! …….but it is not the Malone cemetery. We found remnants of the wire fence first ….then stones ( at least 20 or 30……. then a base of a tombstone …….. then in the thick kudzu, I tripped over what I thought was another stone but pushing the kudzu aside I saw it was a tombstone and base….the tombstone was laying against the base and when I brushed the leafmold and crud off the face of the slab my head started swimming and my body started rushing and I started crying uncontrollably with joy.
The stone said :::: Susan S. / wife of Groves Meadows / 1838 / 1898 / Loving mother and faithful friend /
My gggrandmother…….. and the identical base in line with her is undoubtedly Groves Meadows, my gggrandfather.
I publicly claim this cemetery and the land it is on and promise to see to it’s maintainence…….. the ancestors were lost but now they are found. They will not be forgotten again. Thanks be to the spirits that guide us. Amen
I’m so happy for you. That’s great news.
BTW, I hear a small herd of sheep can demolish acres of kudzu in no time. After a bit they kill it entirely. I saw something about a lady who herds sheep that are kept for this reason. I believe this is in New England.
Linda, how did you know my mind had been on kudzu eradication all afternoon as I perform my chores? LOLOL and me being an old goat…… trickster has fun with me….. but I’m usually a good sport …….
No poison whatsoever……… goats or sheep..ok……….. hand tools and a lot of pulling in the cem proper……… maybe a bushhog well away from defined perimeter…… enlist the aid of friends and family…….. is everyone aware that in the state of NC, with landowner’s permission, the DOT will provide access to cemetery? They will furnish roadpipe, and gravel, installed.
Forest says>>>> Congrats!
I know how that feels. >>>>
Finding the same generation of Satterfield at Surl felt really good…. Discovering that the parents of his Moore wife were also there and started the church felt good.
But nothing like this…… the Meadows line is special. …and this is the original family cemetery from the original homestead.
peace
Ken
That feeling of joy of finding your ancestors was very overwhelming to say the least….it was worth the tramping through the kudzu and falling down the rabbit hole….LOL. And why we didn’t think about them being right there..basically, in your own backyard….guess they just weren’t ready to be found until now…and yes, they will never be lost again.
Becky and I returned to the site this evening. (We took tobacco and sage and our seashell with us) We stuck sticks with ribbons of cloth in the 2 holes we stepped in previously. We’re talking large groundhog holes just about marking 2 of the corners……. we systematically located the probable lines and spacing from the scattered stones we had found before. Best we can tell, there are 5 rows of 8 if all rows are full. We found another marble slab but first, the corrected info on Susan’s stone… sorry we were so excited that we didn’t write anything down when we made the discovery. Today we did……. Susan S. / wife of / Groves Meadows / Mar 10, 1838 / Aug 23, 1898 / A Tender Mother / A Faithful Friend /
the new stone we found …… Grose Thomas / Newton / Apr 3, 1890 / June 16, 1890 / Gone So Soon /
firstborn of my ggrandparents, James Thomas Newton and Sula Clement Meadows who married Apr 10, 1889. They have 3 more buried at Bethany church
The e-mail we will be using for our cemetery work is
our main purpose at present is to survey church and private cemeteries in the flat river area of Person and Durham cos NC.
On the “Old Cemeteries” thread are links to sites for these and surrounding counties. If you have certain individuals who you think may have died in this area, we will try to look for them as we survey. If you know where they are, we will try to go to the cemetery and take a digital picture of the tombstone and send it to you. Or guide you there if you wish to visit your ancestor personally. Eventually we will get it all on-line but it is being done in “spare” time by a couple of very busy people.
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