I have found a few CSA vets Richard Brown is one of them...who deserve some recognition for their service...I'm not one of those "the South is gonna rise again'ers" but its part of the rich history of this area -- SC was the first state to withdraw from the Union the first shot fired that started the Civil War and 618,000 Yanks and Johnny Rebs died---just imagine if the South had won...you'd have to show your passport to cross into Mississippi! My town, Camden, was the site of a Revolutionary War battle and occupation by the British Red Coats in 1780-81.
My Very first "assignment" was the hardest!! It turned out I had to become a dectective and that is something I've always fancied that I would love to do. So I was looking for the Jones Family Cemetery--
It was listed but no photos had been posted of the graveyard or the headstones--so that was my goal to get the shots!
Mom came along for the ride to the next town over, Kershaw. The graveyard was listed as 2 miles east of town on Hwy 151. So we drove up and back and up and back ----no graveyard!!
Meanwhile I stopped at a church asked the minister he didnt know but he told me to stop at the brick house on top of the hill about 3 miles back...and I did, and I knocked and knocked no answer...So back to town we went with lunch on our minds and I asked this elderly man who was paying his tab at the counter of the Only Lunch Spot in town--if he knew of it...NO he didnt but he just saw one of the Jones's over at the car wash (Small town life) and if I hurry I could catch him he was sure to know..SO I did..but I just missed him-- he is over at the garage I was told and if I hurry I could catch him--so I did..and once there I caught him--His first question was "How did you know I was here?..." ahhhhh once again-- in a small town everyone knows what you are up to!!
SO he made a phone call...to his daddy--he told me the grave yard is behind the "old home place" back in the woods and it was agreed that I would visit his daddy at the local Building Supply store 4 blocks down...and I did- --
Mr Jones was shocked when I came in and told him why I wanted to visit his old family plot....he said I was the second person asking to photograph the graveyard--so others had been sent the same graveyard request??? I got there first so....it was kinda like the Amazing Race to the Graveyard! He agreed to give me directions and permission to go there..he directed me back to the VERY FIRST house I had knocked on the door of..he said drive to the back of the house, around the garden, into the woods and at the end of that road is the Graveyard...so I did--
The Patriarch of the family seems to have been Maj Samuel Jones who was the last remaining Revolutionary War Soldier in Kershaw County he died Jan 27, 1847--although I couldnt find anything online about his service in the Rev war...
And he lived to be 91, his mother Elizabeth King Jones lived to be 97 unfortunately there are no dates on her headstone---it would be fun to research her and find out more about her...the major had 2 wives I found one headstone in the family plot and unfortunately Col Burrell Jones's headstone has broken into 2 pieces--So I photographed all the graves except 2 (unnamed infants) and I should have photographed those also--Im new to this and didnt think it was important but I realize now to family it is very important...So this really made me wonder about my desire to be cremated--Maybe somewhere I should put it in STONE since stone is the ONLY sure thing to stand the test of time!! Then again who is gonna care in 100 yrs? You might be surprised---
One myth of the Jones Family Cemetery is that these fieldstone
markers in the foreground mark the graves of Jones's slaves!
This fieldstone seems to be inscribed possibly
E.R.W.
E.R.W.
Slave
PEACE
This is absolutely fascinating stuff. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYes, really fascinating! Love it.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Hope to see more.
ReplyDeleteThis is so fascinating!
ReplyDeleteI have always been intrigued by graveyards & the tranquility there.
Glad you can help people out and show them where their relatives are buried.
The slave graves gave me goosebumps. Not sure why.
You are performing a good deed for people, but getting some nice adventures and discoveries yourself at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure those are slave's headstones. There were slave graveyards like that at the president's mansions and the big plantations we visited throughout the South. And those sad anonymous markers represent what would be so terribly sad if the South had won that war.
Hi Sondra...A great adventure and always so interesting to read the names and dates and etc.
ReplyDeleteI love your small town story...don't you just love it when you get in one of those small towns where everybody makes everthing there business haha!!
I must say the directions to the gravesite sounds like something out of scary story though!! lol Enjoyed!!
Oh wow this is an amazing tale of adventure! Everything about it was soooooo interesting to me, especially the small town interactions. I must have missed the post about how you got this gig so I might go look that up. Awesome!!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat title! :-) Love the third pic. I'm not aware of such graveyards here but I find this place fascinating.
ReplyDeleteSondra, it was worth being that persistent in your efforts to find the place, you found it! I always wonder what the lives of those buried people were like. Most of them quite unknown now but once real persons...
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting line of work. It is funny how you finally found the graveyard.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I wonder if I could do that here in my area? How did you get the job?
Very interesting. I love old graveyards. There was a professor in college who used to do gravestone rubbings...those were interesting too.
ReplyDeleteJean, its not a job its all volunteer and a grassroots effort...wish I was getting paid! lol
ReplyDeleteTime consuming but so interesting. One learns a lot doing genealogy stuff. D was cremated and I plan to be too. We have no offspring who will wonder about us in the future!
ReplyDeleteI am part of the Jones family and saw your post. Wondering if you have more photos that you would share?
ReplyDeleteSDJ, I have posted all the photos I had of the Jones Cemetery on the cemetery site at this URL
ReplyDeletehttp://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=51068355&CRid=2350228&
Please check there and you will see all of it.
Sondra, I cannot Thank You enough for doing this! I am a direct decescendent of William Jones the father of Samuel Jones I and Samuel Jones II. I have been looing for this cemetary for a few weeks.It is hard to find! I have lived in Indian Land SC since 2005, and did not realize I was so close to my Grandmother's family! There are many books on this family in the Carolina Room in the Lancaster Library. HAzel Parker Jones married into the family and did a ton of research and published her work. I will be trying to go to the cemetary as soon as I return from Florida! Thank you!
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