Family Cemeteries...

[Wheeler]

Recently I've been photographing the tombstones in the cemetery at Old Waxhaw Presbyterian Church in Lancaster County South Carolina where I attend church. The oldest known date on a tombstone at this cemetery is 1758. There are so many interesting, both sad and at times funny, inscriptions. I'm sending these photos and the transcriptions to www.findagrave.com so others who are looking for ancestors graves can see the stone and read what is inscribed on it. Some church yard cemeteries may or may not still have records available from the church itself. Some churches kept detailed records in their minute books. We were very fortunate in that we had a wonderful lady, Miss Nancy Crockett, who kept records of the burials at our church, transcribed the inscriptions and had a booklet printed in 1965 which listed all of the inscriptions. Some are so worn that they can't be read now. So this was a big help!

 

I've also photographed family graveyards of my ancestors. I found my ancestors family graveyards fifteen years ago and was very excited and delighted!!! I found one family graveyard with three generations of my ancestors buried there. Maybe you have family buried in these types of cemeteries.

 

The family graveyard is where so many of our ancestors are buried ... found somewhere close to where the old house used to stand, out in a corner, under a grove of cedar trees. The briars and undergrowth have often overtaken the old family cemetery; trees can be found growing through tombstones with only the corner of the stone visible. The graves have sunken in and many times the stones have fallen into the grave. I was walking through one of our family cemeteries and fell knee deep into a sunken grave! Talk about an eerie feeling... I had goosebumps up and down my arms! As one walks through the cemetery, field stones may be seen jutting up between the poison ivy, briars - or are they just plain stones in the field instead? Is that depression an old grave? It is a challenge to walk through an old deserted cemetery. If one grave can be found and confirmed, the searcher can almost plot the rest of the cemetery.

 

All graves were arranged so the face of the deceased faced east and they were in rows. Husbands and wives were normally buried next to each other, flanked by children and other relatives. Sometimes friends or neighbors were buried in a family cemetery and were not related at all. In South Carolina - we look for cedar groves and crepe myrtle. Both grow abundantly in old cemeteries - with the pioneer usually making a cemetery under a grove of the "Cedars of Lebanon." In this section of the country vinca minor, the small leaf periwinkle was planted by family members and if you see that you almost always know that a cemetery is located nearby. Unless someone does as I did. I brought some of the periwinkle that was growing in my ancestors cemetery with me and it's growing beside a shed in my back yard. Hopefully, years from now people will not be looking for a cemetery here...

 

Here are a few of the more frequently used Latin expressions that will be found on some tombstones:

Anno Domini - (AD) - in the year of our Lord

circa (c., ca., circ.) - about

Esse - is

E t alii (et al) - and others

Fugit hora - the hour is fleeting

Mortalem - mortal

Mememto - recall, remember

Memento mori - remember that you must die

oblit (ob) - he died, she died

nepos - grandson

requiescat in pace (RIP) - may he/she rest in peace

sic - so, thus

te - that testes - witnesses

ultimo (ult) - last, final

uxor (us, vx) - wife

videlicet (viz, vitzt) - namely

consort - man was living at the time of death (husband)

relict - widow

Junior/Senior - does not mean that Sr. was the father of Jr. but was often used to distinguish between 2 people with the same names in the same area - uncle/nephew, etc.

Esquire - came from the 1600's in England. In England, someone who held the ablity to bear arms. Next in line after a knight, or one who deserved special social respect. In America, it could refer to a politician, lawyer, judge, wealthy landowner, clergyman or someone just respected.

Gentleman - Signified a man of elite birth who was socially situated just under the rank of Esquire.

Mrs. - did not always mean wife. In Europe it meant a member of the upper class - a woman of gentle birth, married or single.

Goodman/Goodwife (sometimes just called goody) - the head of a household, male or female.

Colonel - no military rank meant - plantation owners often referred to as Colonel.

* - born

(*) - illegitimate

X - baptized or christened

O - engaged

OO - married (two circles touched)

O/O - divorced/separated

O-) - common law marriage

[Guest Guest]

VERY interesting! Thanks, Mary!

 

My Dad & Mom have visited an old family graveyard in southern IN and taken pictures. We're very fortunate to have one very detailed book of one part of the family, so I tend to teach my kids more about them. (I wrote about them here once, but I think it was lost in a crash.)

 

Maybe I'll find it on my 'puter and post it again.

 

 

[ToAutumn]

When I first started my family tree, I didn't think about taking pictures of headstones, and I didn't have a digital or regular camera, now I do. My family tree program has the ability to put pictures with each person so now I also have their grave picture. It saves a lot of confusion when sharing info with another person, espicially if they say they have different dates than you do. A picture says a lot more than words, espicially if backed up with a birth or death certificate! I've always loved walking through graveyards. Recently I found out about a King family graveyard in upper Spartanburg county, I haven't had the chance to check it out yet, but I will go loaded with my camera, paper and charcoal pen and a good pair of hicking boots. While searching for a "maybe" relatives grave, My husband and I stopped at one church in Glen Springs, S.C. and the preacher was there. When I mentioned the surname I was researching, he said I needed to talk to Claude. Turned out Claude was a step-grandchild of my husband's great grand father,he showed us the graves of a whole branch of my tree and gave me some wonderful stories I might never have known otherwise. With his memories I have been able to add some links in that branch and clear up some other mysteries. I am lucky enough to always carry a tape recorder every time I go searching so I have the stories in Claude's own words on tape which I have also added to my tree's audio section.