Part 3: Finding Burials for Formerly Enslaved People

Ellis McClure reading inscription at Fairview Cemetery, 2014

This is the last of a three part series highlighting resources that can help you identify the burial site for Emancipated ancestors and their children. In Part 2: Finding burials for formerly enslaved people, you learned about different types of historic cemeteries and how to use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to find cemeteries using property records. Below you will learn about three more resources to discover burial sites.

Local history

Many cemeteries that no longer exist have been documented, and cemetery books are found among the local history and genealogy collections of the public library. Check out the library catalog of the library located in the area where your ancestor lived. County or parish cemetery books have indexes containing cemetery names or surnames of individuals buried in a cemetery. Librarians are also good resources for locating cemeteries or the history of families from a particular area.

Other places to check to learn more about local history are:

1. Local historical society
2. Local genealogical society
3. Local archives

The book, "Greenwood County Sketches," a local history book by Margaret Watson, proved to be quite helpful in learning about early cemeteries in Abbeville and Greenwood Counties, SC. It provides the histories of local families, early churches, and cemetery information. One early family mentioned descended from John Partlow. John Partlow was a large plantation owner and a devout Universalist. At the time he and his family attended worship services in Mount Moriah Baptist Church.

When John Partlow died, his family was not allowed to hold his funeral service at Mount Moriah because Universalists believed all people would be saved. His sons had a new church built in four weeks in 1844 and sent for a minister to deliver his eulogy. The name of this new church was Save All as given by Thomas Coleman Lipscomb who purchased the property when the Universalists eventually left the area. Coleman sold the property which became a burial ground for people of color from the mid 1800's to about 1966 according to surviving cemetery markers.

Probate records

Many times the final expenses for burying a loved one were paid from the proceeds of the estate. Chances are that you may find records showing payments for a plot, funeral home, clothing, or transportation. If the funeral home is mentioned, find out how to access those records to see if the burial site is mentioned. If the funeral home is no longer in business, ask funeral home directors who are currently in business to see if they know who is storing the records from the older funeral home. Also check the local library, historical society, or genealogical society.

Newspapers

A very productive way to learn about burial sites is to search old newspapers. Create a timeline of newspapers in a locality while accounting for boundary changes. Search for the most recent obituaries in the most recent editions of the newspapers. Use the U.S. Newspaper Directory at Chronicling America, 1690 to Present to discover all the various titles of newspapers to search in a given area.

As you move back in time, make note of the earlier cemeteries that are named. Figure out what burial sites people traditionally used for early burials. Search the following to glean what you can from the newspaper:

• obituaries for specific people to identify burial sites
• funeral homes for where they buried people
• early probate notices that may lead to maps and estate records
• early real estate sales transactions where cemeteries might have been
• articles naming early churches that may have had adjoining cemeteries

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Discovering historical records up close and personal

Greenwood County Courthouse, Robin Foster 26 February 2014

I spent the first eight years of my move to South Carolina in Columbia researching in the archives, libraries, and getting to know cousins there.  I have worked my way back to the 1800's in my research. Our family decided to move to Greenwood, South Carolina at the end of the summer last year where I could be closer to research in the area where my ancestors lived before Columbia.

Walking in their footsteps

I live just down the street from the place where my 2nd great grandparents spent their lives as slaves and experienced emancipation (1847-1919).  I have been working on mapping important sites to gain further insights for my research.  Yesterday was the first day I actually walked into the courthouse in Greenwood to look for records.  I wanted to see if I would be able to find marriage records, probate records, and land deeds.  

Courthouse scavenger hunt

After walking through the security scan at the Greenwood County Courthouse, I went upstairs and dialed the number four on a phone just outside a glass door which led to the probate records.  I explained that I wanted to look at marriage records and probate records.  I looked through the marriage books first where I found a few marriage records (more on those later).

I just wanted to share my greatest find.  My great uncle, Lewis Johnson (Andrew and Jane Johnson) married my great aunt, Arie Anna Vance (Beverly and Matilda Vance).  Both Lewis and Arie Anna are related to me. Their parents are my 2nd great grandparents.  I have researched this line backwards and forwards never finding the death date for Lewis who died leaving Arie Anna to raise a large family.

I searched the probate index and discovered an entry for Lewis Johnson, packet 64 -6:

 Index to Estates in Probate Court, Volume Number 1, 1895 to July 1st 1946, Greenwood County, South Carolina 

I really did not know if this was the correct Lewis Johnson until I removed the packet from drawer 64 and saw Arie Anna's name on the front:

 Lewis Johnson will (1909), Greenwood County Estate Packet 64 -6, Probate Records Office, Greenwood, South Carolina

I found him long ago on the 1880  and 1900 Censuses, but he was not on the 1910 Census. He never appeared again on any census with his family, so I presumed he had died sometime before 1910.  Deaths were not recorded in South Carolina at that time.  

Leave no stone unturned

I assist a lot of people who frown when I suggest they check probate records.  I often hear, "My family never owned anything.  I do not think he had a will."  They even chuckle a little.  Well for my family, I do not presume anything.  I look under every nook and cranny to discover everything that might be there.  I inspect every record known to exist, and it is that kind of persistence that has brought me the success that I have had so far. 

I am so glad the room was empty yesterday while I had this experience.  I took my time and basked in the joy and excitement over this find.  I could not believe my eyes when I unfolded the contents of this packet and saw Lewis' will which he had put together just before he passed away:

 Lewis Johnson will (1909), Greenwood County Estate Packet 64 -6, Probate Records Office, Greenwood, South Carolina

Records up close

I have a lot to go through here with all the contents of the packet.  One thing that I took away this day was the fact that casting your eyes upon the original historical documentation on your own family feels much different than looking at an image on microfilm or a computer screen.

Granted, not everyone can travel to the places where the records exist, but this is my way of connecting  with the people that I never knew in this life --the people whom I have come to love and feel close to.  My reward is feeling their presence and help.  

I know I am getting closer to discovering even more significant things.  This move has been good for me.  I do admit that I am getting a little nervous.  I do not know if I will be able to bear the discoveries that await me.  Maybe that is why they are unfolding a little bit at a time.

My scavenger hunt at the courthouse was not over.  This record led me to another record which I will discuss next time.  Be sure to subscribe above so you that you do not miss the next post. 

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