First up was a revisit to a place Br'er had been to before, Bogart Baptist Church, where lay a few distant kinfolks. This was not family, though. Well, not strictly speaking.
A while back, Br'er told a long saga about going down the rabbit hole researching the family of a woman from whom he indirectly inherited a desk. Recall that that effort also found Br'er researching her husband's family and learning he was one of some 19 children his father sired with two wives. Well, as it turned out, the photo request was for one of that fellow's half-sisters. What are the odds?
More amusing, she had twice married (the second marriage as a widow). Guess she took after her father, eh? Anyhoo, both her husbands are buried in this cemetery, only about 50 or 60 feet from each other. And, seemingly to reinforce the pattern, her second husband also married twice, the second marriage after he became a widower.
Sadly, there was no marker to photograph. There is an unmarked space next to each of her husbands where she might be interred, but without church records detailing her exact grave site, there is no way to know where she lies.
From there, Br'er hopped over to another family cemetery where one distant cousin and his wife are buried. The odd thing is, Br'er did not readily find a link between his cousin and the two families for whom the cemetery is named. A bit more digging into the wife's line revealed that her mother was from one of the two families whose name the cemetery carries.
That explained that. Br'er's cousin ended up surrounded by his wife's family. Exactly what the eventual future seems to hold for Ol' Br'er hisself. What are the odds?
The next planned stop was delayed. You see, Br'er took a wrong turn somewhere. But never one to allow an opportunity to go to waste, when he realized that he was passing his great-grandparents' graves AND had recently uncovered a photo of their graves from when they were recently buried, he felt a moral imperative to pause and recreate the photo 82 years later.
He also spotted his first blue hearse.
What are the odds?
Finally, Br'er scampered off to the last destination for the day. This was not a family cemetery nor anything needed for his own genealogy work. No, it was merely one that interested him in general.
The challenge turned out to be finding the damned thing! The GPS location on record in Find A Grave turned out to be at least a tenth of a mile off! This little difference had Ol' Br'er driving slowly and repeatedly in the vicinity. Ordinarily, this would not be an issue at all.
This was not an ordinary day.
You see, a father was out walking with his two VERY young daughters. And this is a remote road with little traffic on the best of days. And this family lives in the only house for a mile in each direction. So there are two legitimate reasons for a stranger to be there: Visiting the family or visiting the cemetery.
Clearly, Br'er was not there to visit the family. And they could not know he was looking for the cemetery.
Imagine how sketchy Br'er had to appear to that father! At least no one called the police on him. This time.
Eventually, and after a few false starts, Br'er found the location. In a pleasant surprise, someone is clearly attempting to maintain the site. Yes, some of the stones are fallen and/or damaged, but that is far from unusual when the stones are close to 200 years old and in a small, remote family cemetery in a wooded area. That said, the grass is mown, and brush removed (with the exception of a small area needing attention), leaves raked, and all the things needed to protect the site and keep the cemetery accessible.
Br'er spent a couple of hours wandering about and comparing the graves to the Find A Grave memorials. The last recorded burial with a marker dated from 1984, but there are two more listed in 2015 with no marker Br'er could find in the time he had.
So, imagine his surprise when Br'er found two marked graves never recorded. One dated 1862, the other 1930. How could these have been missed in all this time?! What at the odds?
The 1862 headstone piqued Ol' Br'er's curiosity because it contained a great deal of data. Specifically, it gave his Confederate unit, stating that he died in Richmond, Va, with his age in years, months, and days.
Could this be a cenotaph? Dating from 1862? Research is required!
Casting about at the older stones, Br'er spied something he had never before encountered.
This was the first time Ol' Br'er had seen headstones with iron hooks jutting through the stone. The only explanation he could imagine is that these were designed to hold a wreath left by someone visiting the grave. It is an interesting idea and one perhaps worthy of consideration (well, an updated version) when Br'er designs his own marker one day.
Alas, Br'er had to leave a good portion (Mostly the area still overgrown with briars. He may have been born and bred in the briar patch, but Br'er has no fond memories of those days and is not eager to relive them) unexplored. But he was due elsewhere, so had to leave.
Returning to the home warren, Br'er set out to find what he could about the life, family, and death of the soldier whose stone stated he died in Richmond, Va. This proved both frustrating and fruitful.
To explain.
Precious little documentation has survived. He appeared on the 1850 and 1860 Census by name. That confirmed his parents, both of whom are in the same cemetery, though not linked to him in Find A Grave. (NB: That update and others have been submitted to the memorial manager.) And his enlistment in a Georgia regiment. And sadly, his death at Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond. His fate was shared with one of Br'er's ancestors.
A side note on Br'er's ancestor at Chimborazo; Mamma Br'er succeeded in getting his grave marked by the VA. But, there was some miscommunication, so his marker has his rank as Colonel instead of Corporal. That is one helluva posthumous promotion! Too bad there wasn't any back pay to go with it. Then again, it would be Confederate money, so worthless except to collectors.
Back to the subject at hand. Nothing in the surviving documentation records his being buried in Virginia. There are extensive Chimborazo death and burial records. There is even an entry for this individual's exact name. But that individual was born in New York and served in a Virginia Regiment. Clearly, not this person. Shipping remains home for burial was just beginning to be 'a thing' at that time, made possible by the concurrent rise of embalming in the country. There were even special coffins at the time that allowed the remains to be packed in ice for shipment home. So, while Richmond was a great distance from this cemetery, and the nearest railroad stop was miles away over rough dirt roads, it is entirely possible he was shipped home for burial. Barring any documentation to the contrary, Br'er believes this is an actual grave, not a cenotaph.
Br'er, having a vivid imagination, pictured a grieving father driving the farm wagon, making the long, slow trek to the railroad depot along dusty roads of baked Georgia Red Clay, retrieving his son's coffin, then making the same long, slow trek back to the family farm in the sweltering summer heat and humidity. He saw the family gathered for the funeral. And he wondered. He wondered if the father and/or brothers dug the grave themselves or was that duty assigned to slaves. He wondered if the body was, indeed, embalmed. And he wondered if the family chose to view the body. At least one person probably did, if only to ensure the correct remains had been sent back.
How many hundreds of thousands of parents had to endure that ordeal in the centuries since the Revolution?
Yes, Ol' Br'er can be rather maudlin sometimes.
Never able to leave well enough alone, Br'er kept digging and building out a family tree for him. Siblings, parents, and grandparents, all had to be identified. Br'er noticed that one of his sisters married a man with a surname he recognized from some distant kin in-laws. Hmmm. More digging!
It turned out that this sister was the second wife. Would you believe it? His first wife was one of Br'er's kinfolk! And! His father's middle name is an alternate spelling of Br'er's family surname! More digging!
Yup. Not only is the man's first wife Br'er's kin, but he is too! What are the odds?
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