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| Headstone for Anderson Chick (1860-1903) and Elenia Coleman Chick (1860-1933), Seekwell Baptist Church Cemetery, Maybinton, Newberry, South Carolina. |
This is the headstone of my great great grandparents, Anderson Chick (1860-1903) and Elenia Coleman Chick (1860-1933) located in the church cemetery of Seekwell Baptist Church in Maybinton, Newberry, South Carolina. It is the oldest grave that I have been able to locate for an ancestor.
After pouring over census records and browsing through lists of next door neighbors for each family member in Newberry County, I was overcome to find the same names inscribed on nearby headstones.
Oral history interviews of their granddaughters led me to a cousin that guided me through this cemetery. I had no record of death for Anderson because he died before deaths were recorded in South Carolina (1915). I was unsure of the spelling of Elenia's name. I was able to find a death certificate for her. The inscription at the base of the headstone says that Anderson was a charter deacon for Seekwell Baptist Church.
I have since found documentation for each of their parents and siblings. Record types include land records, a former slave owner's will, census records, and more. I even met a church member who walked from his home as a small boy to the funeral of Elenia in 1933.
I am very fortunate that this landmark exists and that the church still meets weekly. I have attended a few of their annual homecomings where nearly everyone who attends both near and far looks like a member of my Chick family. My cousins introduce me to the people I do not know after these services and they are able to tell me how each person is related. How will I ever get all the history waiting for me there? How I am glad that some things never change...and we can go back!
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