Now you tell me!

Br'er's family is no different than millions of others. Unless one is born to wealth, position, or peerage - or you had an ancestor that had time and interest in such matters - there is little knowledge of one's ancestry beyond grandparents or perhaps great grandparents. Such matters simply were not of any importance. And, if like so many, live spans were not overly long then you were not even exposed to prior generations.

Out of sight, out of mind. Stories and information was (is) not passed from generation to generation.

So it was in Br'er's family. But in spades.

How does this apply to cemeteries and graveyards? Well, sit back and relax. We will get there eventually. Have faith. I shall bring it all together eventually.

It is first necessary to give some history from Br'er's paternal family.

When Br'er's Mother was gestating little Br'er, Br'er's Father's Father - Paternal Br'er Grandpa, one James Malcom Griffith - announces that the child to be is going to be twins. Naturally this prompted many questions, the primary among these being, "How do you know that?" What followed shocked all involved. Obviously Br'er wasn't in a position to hear this firsthand. I paraphrase the conversation based on all the retelling of the story I heard over the years.

"Twins skip a generation. I was a twin so I expect twins to crop up in the grandchildren (NB: There were already 7 grandchildren by the time Br'er was coming along and nary a set of twins among them)."

Br'er's Father snapped his head around and stared at his Father in utter amazement. "You're a twin?!" It was the first time in his 20 something years that he had ever heard anything about his Father being a twin. Mind you Br'er's Father had extensive relations at the time. Many Uncles and Aunts, and enough cousins to field multiple baseball teams. Yet no one ever mentioned Daddy's twin brother.

What Br'er's Grandpa then related was that his twin brother John Macon Griffith died. (James Malcom and John Macon may seem to be odd names for twins - Br'er GYRabbit has more than one case of oddly named family in his background) Now he never seemed to be clear on the details. Whether stillborn, or a live birth but surviving minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months was never made clear. All things considered it was probably less than a day. Oddly Br'er's Grampa's Mother was still alive at this time (and for several years after), yet no one chose to ask her for any of the details. So the precise history was lost.

Br'er's Grandpa went on to explain that his brother was buried in a cemetery near the 'old home place'.  This family cemetery had never been mention to Br'er's Father before either. There had been a few tales of family life during Grandpa's childhood on the farm, but all the pieces had never been put together before. The farm, the cemetery, deceased family, all of it had remained separate, disjointed facts until the tale of the twin came out. Naturally a trip or two to find the site were required. So at least Br'er's parents knew where everything is/was now. And what few graves were marked there.

As time wore on Br'er's Mother took up the mantel of tracing the family tree. In doing this she learned that Br'er's 2nd Great Paternal Grandfather (Br'er's Father's Paternal Great Grandfather) was buried in the same family cemetery as Grandpa's twin brother! And Grandpa has a sister, Alice Alberta Griffith, born few years after him who did not survive a year (again, the details are lost to the ages), and she, too, is buried in the same family cemetery. Naturally none of these three had any grave markers beyond maybe a field stone.

Br'er's 2nd Great Paternal Grandfather, James Macon Griffith (Another J M Griffith. Sensing a pattern emerging?) , had served in the Confederacy and thus was due a VA issued marker. Mamma now had a mission: Obtain the VA marker and have it erected in the cemetery. And she succeeded.

But there was a slight problem. Where, exactly, in the cemetery should his marker be erected? It wasn't as though there exactly any maps of who lay where in the two dozen or so known unmarked graves scattered about the property.

Enter the granddaughters! James Macon had three surviving granddaughters at the time the marker was obtained. And two of them had attended his funeral. We relied on their memories for an approximate location of his grave and placed his marker there. Bear in mind that we are talking about memories from 70 or so prior while they were small girls (under age 10) and the family home was some 150 yards away from the cemetery.

So it was one spring day in the 1980s that several descendants - grandchildren (the three sisters), great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren plus a few nieces and nephews of various great grand levels - of James Macon Griffith gathered to dedicate, if that is the correct term, a combination headstone and cenotaph for their shared ancestor.

It was noted lest anyone there might not realize it, but with the granddaughters we had the last living memories (for they did remember their grandfather, at least a little) of the actual man. Not the stories we others carried. Not anything recorded in a book or a tape. No, actual memories of the man made and experienced while the man was alive. As this was about 160 years after his birth that is remarkable indeed!

As the years continued and more family history was recovered we learned how these people came to be in that place. You see, James Macon (a serial monogamist - her had three wives in all, just no more than one at a time - he was twice a widower) had married one Nancy James Smith. Her father, Arthur W Smith, had originally owned most of the surrounding land. It was for his family and descendants that the cemetery was created. And he is interred there with one of the few actual markers. Note the fancy iron fencing! All the rage in the Gay 90s! (He passed in 1892)

Imagine Br'er GYRabbit and Father's surprise to learn who their 3rd and 2nd Great-Grandfather was and where he was buried. Br'er Father was in his 50s when he learned all this. It still takes him so effort to grasp all the new information.

As is evident in the photos, this is still a very rural area. We have taken up the task to do what we can to insure that these graves (the Smith Cemetery in Oglethorpe County, GA if one is interested in finding it in FindAGrave) are not lost. Placing flowers, clearing brush, and marking boundaries as best they can be determined, among other activities.

I am still working on tracking the land ownership to determine if it is probable that any direct ancestors beyond Arthur W Smith may be interred there. There are clear man-made rock 'walls' in one section that I am trying to gather more information on. These are in a sad state and difficult to properly see as things sit. They appear to be typical southern grave walls from the early 19th century. Someone has listed a Brinkley Smith (1777-1807) and his spouse, Susannah (Tiller) Smith (1785-?) as buried in the Smith Cemetery. However neither appears in "Cemeteries of Oglethorpe County, Georgia", 6th Edition, 2017 published by the Oglethorpe County Historical Society. Much more research on the Smith line and these two people is needed before even beginning to make a case for their graves being here.

Slated for future work is searching to see if anything of the family farm house remains (fireplace, foundation, etc.) so that it can be geo tagged for later reference.