Joel Clark Cemetery 2nd Visit

I guess the big victory of the first visit to the Joel Clark Cemetery was that I found it! My pictures didn't turn out very well though. The tombstones are just so old they just can't be read. That made a second visit necessary, and this time I went prepared. I took along shaving cream and a ruler, and things worked out much better.



This one turned out great. This is Elizabeth "Betsy" Taylor Clark. Her father was Hugh Taylor of Mecklenburg Co.

This is Joel Crawford Clark tombstone. This is who the cemetery is named for. I should have used my hand to wipe away the excess shaving cream on the face of the tombstone itself, but the picture still turned out ok. You couldn't read anything on the original picture.

This was the surprise find in this cemetery. I had no idea Alexander Sandy Clark was buried here. This is Joel's great uncle, and was a nice find. I wish it had been Joel's father or grandfather, but those remain to be discovered.

Easton, PA

On the way back from Boston, I stopped and spent the night in Bethlehem, PA in the hopes of tracking down the graves of Jacob Mauney. I stopped at the Court House and the Public Library. I was able to find what appear to be records for Jacob and his family, and I found some references to him in some church records. The churches seemed to be in Upper Mt. Bethel Township. We drove up to this area of Northampton Co, but couldn't find the churches I was looking for. I think there is more to be uncovered here, so I'll have to devote further time and research on this.

Joel Clark Cemetery

Based on research in Morganton and Raleigh I suspected that Joel Clark and his family might be buried in the Adako area of Caldwell Co. So, last week mom, dad and I drove over to that area to see if we could find the "Atico" Cemetery. The cemetery is listed this way in the Alexander and Jeremiah Clarke book, but I reasoned that it was probably misspelled since it would be pronounced the same as Adako. We didn't have any luck finding anything, even with stopping and asking a couple of locals. That night I found the Collettsville Historical Society online and contacted a member. He responded with directions to Joel Clark's grave!

So, Saturday mom and I drove back over to Adako Rd. in Collettsville and tried to find the graves. The directions:

Leaving Collettsville via Adako Rd. travel 1 3/4 mi. The cemetery will be on the right about 50 yards off the road near a giant oak. The cemetery is 150 yards before Murphy Place (street).

Yeah.........

We found an area that looked like it might be the spot. After climbing a small bank and helping mom up the bank, we wondered in the woods for a while with no luck. We went back to the road and walked up and down the highway looking for another area, but no luck still. We drove up Murphy Place, but nothing up there either. Then a car of four women passed us heading up Murphy Place. We waved to them to stop, but they just passed by, so we followed them.

They had pulled into a driveway that wound up a hill, so we followed them on to the house. I had mom do the talking, and two of the women said they knew the cemetery we were talking about. One offered to take us to the cemetery to show us where it was. We followed her in the car to a different spot along the highway and she got out. This time the bank was much steeper, so mom stayed in the car. She led me pretty much straight to the cemetery, which was not really in a clearing at all, but was among the trees in the woods. I found Joel Clark, his wife Betsy Taylor Clark, and several other family members.

My pictures didn't turn out that great because the writing on the tombstones has worn away so much. You can't read many of the names at all. I'll have to go back again and take shaving cream and a ruler.

        Joel Clark              Betsy Taylor Clark

Atico (Adako) Cemetery

Yesterday mom, dad, and I went looking for Joel Clark's grave in the Atico cemetery. This burial information came from the Jerimiah and Alexander Clarke book. I couldn't find any mention of an "Atico" cemetery, but remembered there was an area of Caldwell Co. called Adako. We drove over to the Brown Mtn. Beach area but couldn't find anything. I did find an old cemetery with some Shells and Kincaids buried there thanks to a local gentleman we stopped and talked to. This wasn't the cemetery I was looking for. When I got home last night, I went online and did some more searching and eventually found my way to a message board that referenced the Collettsville Historical Society. I found their website and found a cemeteries link. Sure enough, I found a listing for Joel Clark. I emailed the webmaster to ask about Joel's grave. This morning I had a reply with directions to Joel's grave. It literally says to walk off the road about 50 yards and next to a big oak tree I'll find his grave. Hopefully I'll get to track this cemetery down next weekend and maybe be able to find his grave along with his wife Elizabeth Taylor Clark!

State Archives

Today I went to Raleigh to the NC State Archives. This was my second visit. I was able to locate the following information:

• Joel Clark's Death notice in Burke Co. Gen. Society Journal
• John Gibb's Death notice in Burke Co. Gen. Society Journal
• Court Record for George Deal
• Court Record for John Robinson
• Family information for George Deal
• Land Transaction Record for Ralph and William Holefield

I already knew about the death notice for Joel Clark and the land records for the Holefields, it was nice to get my own copies. The rest I stumbled upon.

I was also able to copy some pages from the Jerimiah and Alexander Clarke Book. These pages show the families of Jerimiah Clark(e). I'll be able to add a great deal of detail to that family in my family tree using that info.

Holcombe, Double Island Baptist, and Charles Robertson Cemeteries

 

I went to Yancey County today to see the fall leaves...and to do some more cemetery digging. I was able to visit three today, all in Yancey County.

Holcombe Cemetery-

I knew it was in Burnsville, but that was about all. When I first got to town I passed the Holcombe Funeral Home. Dad told me he figured they were connected, so I stopped. It turns out he was right. The cemetery was just a couple of blocks behind the funeral home. I was able to locate the graves of John H Edge and his wife and son. I was also able to locate Bonnie Autrey's grave. I had found these people listed on http://www.findagrave.com/ and was able to track them down.

Double Island Baptist Cemetery-

I had visited this cemetery before, but was looking for someone else's graves (didn't find them). I found a transcription that was done by Gwen Bodford about five years ago. I located George Robertson/Robinson and his wife Susannah Woody. I also found the graves of three slaves who lived with George and Susannah as well as several of their children and grandchildren. There were many other Robinsons in this cemetery; some next to George and Susannah.

Charles Robertson Cemetery-

I would have never found this cemetery without the help of Gwen Bodford's cemetery transcriptions I found online. She also provided directions to the cemeteries. This cemetery was in terrible shape. It's sad to think that all these people have been virtually forgotten. It's clear no one is visiting this cemetery or caring for it. I was able to find all of John Robertson/Robinson's children and their spouses who are buried here, but I couldn't find John and Susannah's graves. I contacted Ms. Bodford to ask if she could provide further information and she actually sent me pictures of both graves from 2005. They have been covered over with growth or debris and I'm afraid that John's tombstone has been toppled since 2005. If it were still standing I feel sure I would have found it. I plan to return to this cemetery with mom and dad and I also am going to try to think of ways to get this cemetery cared for!

The Clark Reunion

Today I went to the Clark Family Reunion in Morganton. I was hoping to get more information on Mills Denton and on the Crawley Line. There were lots of nice people at the reunion, so that worked out ok. I wasn't able to get too much new information because I was basically stuck in the same places as those at the reunion who are working on the family genealogy. I did get a few names of brothers, sisters, and cousins of my direct line and it motivated me to focus on those families more in my family tree.

I still think going to distant family reunions could pay off with new info...it just didn't this time.

From John W Edge to George Robertson

Today I found information about the Robinson/Robertson line. After having worked on John W Edge's family yesterday, I started looking at his wife (Emiline Robertson) and her family. I used Google to search for George Robertson and found that Emiline's grandfather and grandmother(George Robertson & Susannah Woody) are buried in Double Island Baptist Cemetery.

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rob4993&id=I00139
http://files.usgwarchives.org/nc/yancey/cemeteries/dblislebc.txt (entry 229 & 230)

I was also able to use Google to find Emiline's father and mother (John W Robertson & Susannah Bailey) is buried in the Charles Robertson/Robinson Cemetery.

http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/yancey/cemeteries/robnsn05.txt

John W Edge Family

Today I have been looking at my records on Ancestry.com and I'm trying to clean up some mistakes in John W Edge's family. His son that was listed as S Manserel I believe is mis-transcribed from the 1910 census. I believe it should be S Manassas (Nass). I have removed S Manserel and attached the 1910 census record to Stanley Manassas Edge.

http://trees.ancestry.myfamily.com/tree/4349725/person/-1515308755

I also have switched David William Edge to William David Edge based on his tombstone and some census information.

http://o.mfcreative.com/f1/file13/objects/d/9/3/dd939e95-04d6-4ed6-958a-048e3aa54966-0.jpg

I have also concluded that Laird V Edge is a name that was mis-transcribed from the census. I believe this is supposed to be David W Edge who is of course William David Edge.