Maplewood Cemetery of Mayfield, Kentucky

Maplewood Cemetery in Mayfield, Graves County, Kentucky is a large, diverse cemetery. There are very old stones, crypts and Confederate monuments, not to mention the Woolbridge Monuments. I have many relatives interred there - the Bolingers, Beadles, Slaydens and even a Pryor or two. There are so many photos from this cemetery that it may develop into a series but for today, just one post.

The famous Woolbridge Monuments of Maplewood were extensively damaged when a tree fell on them during the severe ice storm that Kentucky experienced in the winter of 2008-2009. Thankfully they have now been restored.



One of the largest monuments in Maplewood, called the Angel Rock, was erected by William Slayden for his wife Agnes Mayes Slayden and their five young children.

Lucinda (Wingo) Bolinger
1804
May 13, 1856

George W. Bolinger
July 3, 1781
May 18, 1885

Hilton Head to Vicksburg II

Returning to Texas from North Carolina, my cousin Debby and I made occasional side trips to places of interest and areas where ancestors or distant relatives were said to be buried. The second installment of these road trips includes points in Alabama looking for Debby's Johnson relatives with a few unknown interesting tombstones included just because they were there.

In Tallapoosa County, Alabama, we happened upon a Pogue family plot in the Dadeville City Cemetery with some unique stones. Since cousin Kay has Pogue ancestors, we brought her a souvenir in the form of Pogue gravestone photos.

Pogue Family Plot
Dadeville, Alabama

Driving west from Dadeville crossing below the Lake Martin dam, we located the monument to Debby's ancestor Samuel Lovejoy in the Red Hill area. Although the actual site of his burial is unknown the monument was erected on land that had been part of his original plantation. Before leaving the area around Red Hill, an unplanned stop at the Refuge Cemetery provided more tombstone photos of Debby's relatives - the Meltons.

Melton Graves
Refuge Cemetery, Red Hill, Alabama

A Road Trip to Tehuacana

Tehuacana in Limestone County, Texas is little more than a ghost town today, but at the time Texas was naming a capital, Major John Boyd had proposed it as a site for the capital. He lobbied extensively and Tehuacana only lost to Austin by a slim majority.



Our road trip to Tehuacana was inspired by the discovery of a deed for land in Limestone County on Tewockony (later Tehuacana) Creek to my ggg grandfather J. J. Wingo during the period of the Republic of Texas. He had settled in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase around 1830 and no one had any idea that he had ever ventured to Texas. The reason for his return to Kentucky is unknown but within a short time he had sold the land and returned to Graves County, Kentucky where he lived the remainder of his life. The knowledge of his Texas adventure caused a few of his descendants to set off for Tehuacana on a November day a few years ago. As with all genealogical road trips, a stop at the local cemetery was a must.

Hon. John Boyd

Born in Nashville, Tenn.
Aug. 7, 1796

Died
in Tehuacana, Tex.
May 4, 1873

John Boyd was a member of the first and second congresses of the Republic of Texas. He was instumental in persuading the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to make Tehuacana the site of Trinity University.

Carrie L.
Died
Dec. 11, 1872
Aged
5 Ys, 10M, 17D

Minnie M.
Died
Feb. 6, 1874
Aged
1 Yr, 3M, 12D

Children of
W.P. & M.C. Gillespie

Rev. R.D. King

Son of
Rev. Samuel King

One of the Founders of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church

Born
Jan. 18, 1801

Died
Apr. 21, 1882

The building where Trinity University was located before it was moved to Waxahachie in 1902 and was later occupied by Westminster College now stands vacant in Tehuacana along with numerous other buildings from more prosperous days. My cousins insist that they had an encounter with an other worldly presence while taking the pictures below of the abandoned building and were completely shaken by it. Area residents later told of the local legend that the building is haunted.

Mill Springs Battlefield

Driving across Kentucky on a southerly route in an effort to retrace the migration of our ancestors and travel from Kentucky back through the Cumberland Gap into Virginia, we came upon a little known Civil War battlefield just outside of Nancy, Kentucky.

Zollicoffer Park is named for Confederate Brig. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer who is said to have died on this spot. Additionally the park contains a Confederate Cemetery and memorial.



On that sunny fall day, it was hard to imagine the carnage of a Civil War battle in this beautiful, quiet place.

Hilton Head to Vicksburg - I

While driving along a major street on Hilton Head Island, I noticed an abandoned, once elegant cemetery with a mausoleum at the back of a vacant undeveloped area. The cemetery beckoned me to turn around and have a closer look.



It is called the Zion Chapel of Ease Cemetery although the chapel was destroyed prior to 1868.




The mausoleum was vandalized during World War II and the cast iron coffins of William E. Baynard and his wife Catherine were thrown into the nearby marsh.

William E. Baynard
1800-1849

Catherine Adelaide Scott Baynard
1812-1854

(Many thanks to Dickie who helped me overcome technical difficulties to save these photos from a disk malfunction.)