Tombstone Tuesday - December 16, 2008

Photograph taken by Judith Richards Shubert
Buena Vista Cemetery, Shelby County, Texas
Copyright 2001

Hood County Texas: C.S.A. Veterans & Southern Cross of Honor Symbol

Recently I was able to locate gravestones of thirteen Civil War veterans buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Hood County, near Tolar, Texas. According to the Hood County Texas Genealogical Society website there are at least fifteen brave men laid to rest in this north Texas cemetery.

Terry Thornton of The Association of Graveyard Rabbits asked me to be on the lookout for the use of the Southern Cross of Honor symbol as he is interested in how various members of the United Confederate Veterans used that symbol in our Texas cemeteries. Terry's post, "Grave Marker Symbols: The Southern Cross of Honor and UCV ," gives a brief description and examples of the Southern Cross of Honor symbol often found on grave markers in the United States.

I was surprised to find so many at Mount Pleasant did not have their Civil War service memorialized with the Confederate Southern Cross. There were some, but the majority of the number I picture here had no mention of their service at all. There are at least two others listed at the Hood County Texas Genealogical Society, researched by Virginia Hale, that I have not located as yet. When and if I do, I will update this post.

BELT

William H. Belt

PVT CO C 24 TENN INF
Confederate States Army
1829 - 1904

W. H. Belt also is found on the hand carved limestone marker pictured below.

W. H. & S. H. Belt
Father and Son
Gone but not forgotten.
(If there were dates or other information on the marker, it was unreadable.)

CASEY

Aaron A. Casey
CO I
19 MISS. INF
C. S. A.

EDDLEMAN

David Eddleman
CO. C
10 TEX. INF.
(Born 03/10/1845 - Died 08/22/1918)

GIFFORD

Levi Gifford
Born Apr. 9, 1839
Died Nov. 1, 1916

Martha Gifford
Born Jan. 2, 1841
Died Nov. 25, 1916
"Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal."

There is a Freemason symbol at the top of grave marker but no indication of his Civil War service.

HARGROVE

J. H. Hargrove
July 18, 1847
Apr. 27, 1932
"At Rest"

KINSON

E. A. Kinson
Born
July 4, 1835
Died
June 7, 1922
"Gone to rest."

LEWIS

Z. Lewis
Born
Nov. 28, 1843
Died
Mar. 27, 1916
Aged 72 yrs. 4 mo., 4 days
"Remember as you pass by, that you must die as well as I."

MITCHELL

J. S. Mitchell
Jan. 20, 1833
Feb. 7, 1905

McINROE

James D. McInroe
Feb. 8, 1847
Nov. 6, 1917

PERRY

F. M. Perry
Born
Dec. 15, 1839
Died
Mar. 5, 1916

"Dearest darling, do not weep
When in the lonely grave I sleep."

SNIDER

E. H. Snider
PVT.
31 VA. INF. C. S. A.
Aug. 24, 1841 - Nov. 24, 1917

SWAIM

T. J. Swaim
Nov. 17, 1844
Nov. 25, 1922
"Gone but not forgotten."

(Freemason symbol at top of marker.)

TIDWELL

Dallas Tidwell
CO. A
GOOD'S TEX. CAV.
C. S. A.
June 13, 1845
Jan. 3, 1913

Sources:
Hood County Texas Genealogical Society
Terry Thornton's Graveyard Rabbit of the Hill Country
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Tolar, Hood County, Texas

All photographs taken by Judith Richards Shubert
of these Confederate States of America (C. S. A.) veterans
at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Tolar, Hood Co., Texas Copyright 2008

Tombstone Tuesday - December 9, 2008

PVT
CHARLES M P HAMPTON

CO F
5 ALA CAV
CSA

JULY 9, 1837
NOV 9, 1909

Gravestone with a Southern Cross of Honor above Pvt. Hampton's name. Grave located in the Ramsey Historical Cemetery in Erath County, Texas, between the towns of Stephenville and Lingleville on FM 8.


Photograph taken by Judith Richards Shubert November 27, 2008
Ramsey Historical Cemetery, Erath County near Lingleville, Texas
Copyright 2008

Tradition of Scraping the Earth / Rocks Placed on Graves

The traditions found in the burial customs in rural Southern cemeteries are varied. There is a crossover of ethnic and religious backgrounds found often in the same cemetery. Customs such as “scraping” the earth is still found in many Texas cemeteries, but many that I have visited have only two or three sections or graves that are treated in this manner, or none at all. Since I have become a member of the Graveyard Rabbit Association and have begun to earnestly research the practices and traditions of this area, I realize that there are many things I have overlooked in my visits to graveyards of my childhood. I had not even noticed, except perhaps in my sub-conscience, that there were a lot of graves that were cared for differently than the others.

The tradition of removing all grass from the cemetery and leaving only the bare earth is falling by the wayside in many Texas cemeteries. The tradition speaks to the respect family members have for the deceased. But whether it is the fact that now there is oftentimes one person paid to take care of the cemetery or it simply takes too much of the family’s time to keep the grass off of the grave, our cemeteries are changing.

Another custom that seems to go along with the “scraping” of graveyards is the one of adding rocks, pebbles, ornaments, glass shards, and other items to a loved one’s grave.

In the little cemetery beside my childhood home in Lingleville, Texas I found only five or six graves that were covered with rock and none that were racked or scraped. But the rocks were placed there to keep out the encroaching grass, I’m sure.

In the picture above you can see two family plots that have white rock and gravel covering the graves. A close-up is in the next picture. Notice the angel statues that are lovingly placed there.

I will now be more observant and record with my camera the graves that are cared for in this manner.

In “Texas Graveyards, A Cultural Legacy,” Terry G. Jordan states that “rarely does one encounter scraping outside the Gulf states and South Atlantic coastal plains” and that it is unknown or very rare that you find it in North Carolina and Middle Tennessee.

According to Mr. Jordan the origins of most of our traditions in Southern Folk cemeteries are too ancient to even be in our memory. But he believes archival evidence points to the West African slave coast. There were bare-earth cemeteries found there that were nearly the same as those you find here in the South. He also states that the "barren" graveyard could have spread to Texas through Moorish Spain and Mexico as the majority of traditional Mexican cemeteries are without grass.

All photographs taken by Judy Richards Shubert
at West End Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas Copyright 2008

Sources: Texas Graveyards, Terry G. Jordan, 1982 by the University of Texas Press
Accessed from North Richland Hills Public Library, December 2008

Digging for Family Roots

I decided to republish a post that I first placed on my Genealogy Traces blog back in April. I wanted it to appear on my Graveyard Rabbit. Hope you enjoy it.

My uncle was a diligent record-keeper and he was very eager for me to help him locate the burial place of his great-grandfather. He knew he was in Texas and had the names of a few places where he thought he might have lived at the end of his life, so we started "digging" a little deeper looking for that elusive clue.

About ten years ago I started searching for a way to safely store the genealogy information that he and others in my family had been collecting over the years. I not only needed a way to store it but a way to quickly calculate relationships and print family group pages and reports. I decided to invest in Family Tree Maker. I say invest because since then I have purchased one update after another. But I feel it was money well spent. Since my first introduction to the Family Tree Maker format my list of names has doubled, tripled, even quadrupled.

My uncle had names and dates as far back as 1817 and he knew that his great-grandfather Stone was born in Missouri. He also had all of his great-grandfather's brothers and sisters' names and years of birth. So we had a great starting point. I cannot say enough about the Internet and how it has helped me in my genealogy research over the years. I was thrilled when I found this family online at the USGenWeb Project in Galena, Stone County, Missouri. Stone County was named for Great-grandfather Stone's father, William Tilford Stone.

An excerpt from "History of Stone County Missouri" published by Stone County Historical Society 1989, pages 645-647:

The William T. Stone Family

Stone County, Missouri, can look back with pride on the pioneer whose name it bears. Old records show that William T. Stone was a native of Maryland. He left that state at the age of seventeen, migrating to Virginia. Here he lived for a time, and moved to Tennessee where on 15 March 1811, he married Martha Hailey: b. 15 March 1791, Tennessee; d. 16 July 1878, Galena, Missouri; buried Galena, Missouri Cemetery. 11 children.

In 1833 the family left Tennessee and moved to Polk County (now Christian County), Missouri. Shortly after this he moved his family into a wilderness frontier, took up residence on a farm where the town of Galena now stands. He entered upon the government land, which was then located in what was known as Taney County, Missouri. Two additions to the family were born here bringing the total to eleven children. William T. Stone died on March 31, 1846, and was buried in the Galena Cemetery.

When Stone County was organized in 1851 (from a part of Taney County), it was named in his honor. Old records state that he was a man of much importance in his day, well and favorable known throughout the Southwest. He held a number of prominent offices of trust, was a successful tiller of the soil throughout his lifetime, and always supported the Democratic Party (now Republican), being of the Jacksonian type. He was the first representative from the county.

He had served under General Jackson throughout the War of 1812 and was with him at the famous Battle of New Orleans. His death at Galena brought deep regrets by all who knew him. He had been a noted Nimrod of his day, killed numerous bears and deer, and killed one bear in Galena.

My Uncle's Excitement

My uncle was so excited when I found this information. The aforementioned book gave the names of William Tilford Stone's children and my uncle's great-grandfather's name was included! He was thrilled.

I ordered the book from the Stone County Historical Society and presented it to him that summer. He read that book over and over. My uncle was a Deacon in the Church of Christ and it was very natural for him to study a subject until he could teach a group of folks everything he knew about it. He and I spent many hours that summer and several years afterwards learning about and researching his "family roots."

My uncle died a few years ago and I now am the keeper of the "History of Stone County, Missouri." I will one day give all of my research done on his side of my family to one of his grandchildren. He has eight grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Two or three have expressed their desire to continue their beloved grandfather's interests and pursuit of the fascinating story of their ancestry.

If you have not searched for your ancestors you would be amazed at what you can learn by just "surfing" the net!

You remember that we were trying to find where my uncle's great - grandfather is buried? Well, while at the Usgenweb.com website I placed a query on the discussion board for Stone County. I was pretty excited when I got an email from a young man who claimed to be the great-grandnephew of my uncle's great-grandfather. He had a letter written by his grandmother that included all sorts of names and dates that backed up facts that we knew to be true. His grandmother's maiden name was Stone.

He wanted to meet my uncle and so we planned a visit to my uncle and aunt's on the weekend when the University of Oklahoma played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. They said they always tried to attend the game. So that year we all met one another and shared stories and pictures. They even brought a video of some of the Stones at family picnics.

From their information we learned that my uncle's great-grandfather Stone was buried in Malakoff, Henderson County, Texas. We were very excited to learn this but didn't have the name of the cemetery. One day after our meeting with these distant cousins, my husband and I drove my uncle and aunt to Malakoff to see if we could find his grave. Although we went to several cemeteries we weren't able to locate his headstone, but we spent a wonderful day that fall roaming the countryside and snooping around the cemeteries. I feel sure Great-grandpa Stone is there. One day I'll find him. I promised I would.


All photographs taken by Judy Richards Shubert
Malakoff, Henderson Co., Texas

Last Will of Mr. Farmer - Lingleville, Texas

West End Cemetery

A lot of the childhood memories I have took place near the small, neatly manicured cemetery of West End in the tiny, dairy community of Lingleville in Erath County, Texas. When my father remarried after having been left with three small daughters to raise with the help of my mother’s immediate family, we spent half of our time in the little frame and rock house that resides beside this still used cemetery which is so typical of the ones you find in this part of my home state.

We spent many hours “visiting” the dead, carefully tiptoeing past the headstones, and depending on the time of day or night, marking our escape route with wary eye as we dared one another to go to the far end at the top of the hill. As we grew to adulthood we enjoyed watching our children enjoy the same fascination with our childhood playground.

I don’t remember any of us being disrespectful. It was a natural thing to do – walking and playing in the cemetery. Every visit to the “home place” is punctuated with time taking a leisurely walk, traveling the same path we once took as children. And now the grandchildren are the ones running from stone to stone, reading the inscriptions and calling out to one another to hurry.

This Thanksgiving as my sisters and I joined the grandchildren in the afternoon we saw a memorial we had not noticed. How we missed it before is a mystery. We read it and laughed as we remembered the gentleman whose life it spoke of. I will not share the names and dates on the gravestone since one of them is not deceased, but I wanted to share the epitaph with you here.

LAST WILL OF MR. FARMER

I leave:
To my wife, my overdraft at the bank – maybe she can explain it.

To my banker, my soul – he has the mortgage on it anyway.

To my neighbor, my clown suit – he’ll need it if he continues to farm as he has in the past.

To the ASCS, my grain bin – I was planning to let them take it next year anyway.

To the county agent, 50 bushels of corn to see if he can hit the market – I never could.

To the junk man, all my machinery – he’s had his eye on it for years.

To my undertaker, a special request – I want six implement and fertilizer dealers for my pallbearers, they are used to carrying me.

To the weatherman, rain and sleet and snow for the funeral, please – no sense in having good weather now.

To the grave digger – don’t bother, the hole I’m in should be big enough.

All photographs taken by Judy Richards Shubert
at West End Cemetery, Lingleville, Erath Co., Texas Copyright 2008

Genealogy Traces: Country Churches and Cemeteries in North Carolina

Genealogy Traces: Country Churches and Cemeteries in North Carolina