Tombstones and Graveyards and Churches, Oh My!

At the Family Reunion with cousins Linda 
Garrison Sessoms (l) and Kolby Garrison (r) and
her precious guide dog Amelia.

I had the opportunity, recently, to attend the Garrison Family Reunion, in Wilmington, NC.  This is my mom's side of the family and as I have mentioned in prior blogs, she was one of 12 children, which produced many grand and great grand children.  Unfortunately, only two of the 12 are still with us but both were at the reunion!  What a blessing that was!  There were probably 35 or so relatives there, which is a smaller number than when we had the reunion years ago, but still a great turnout, considering how busy everyone's lives are.

We had the reunion at my cousin's house which had the perfect backyard for such an event.  It was a gorgeous day and everyone had a great time.  We talked about reunions of the past, and special memories of those we have lost.  It was so nice to see everyone. Thanks to my three cousins, Delores, Debi and Gwen, who put it together.

One of the subjects we discussed was our family history, the genealogy we have worked on, and trying to find out who the father of my Great, Great Grandfather John Wesley Garrison really was. Several of us have looked into it and have found no definitive answer, but more on that in a later blog.

Mittie Hayworth Garrison's family home, before it was 
taken down.   The gentleman who owned it was going 
to renovate but must have thought it was too far gone.  

Our first adventure, after the reunion, was to try to find my grandmother's family home near High Point, NC.  We had an address, put it into the GPS and off we went.  Sadly, when we arrived at the address, we realized that they had recently torn it down.  You can't image the sadness when we made that discovery. Thank goodness, my cousin Anne and my Aunt Gladys had visited there not long ago and taken some pictures, so we do have a visual record.  After leaving the location where Grandma's home had been, we started hitting the cemeteries that were close by, where some of my relatives were buried.  

I had always heard tales of Abbott's Creek Primitive Baptist Cemetery and how beautiful the tombstones were.  The way they were intricately carved, showed pride and workmanship by the person who created them.  Unfortunately, many were very old and well covered with moss or lichen, which made them very difficult to read.  Some of the different styles are shown above.  

It was cold and rainy that day and my husband was a real trooper, marching through the graveyards with me, during that week of Halloween. We visited about six cemeteries that day, including two where my Quaker relatives were buried, Deep River Friends Meeting (est. 1754) and Springfield Friends Meeting (est. 1773). The gravesites we visited in these two places went back to the 1700's and 1800's. 

While visiting the Springfield Friends, and looking for Micajah Haworth's gravesite, I met the new Pastor, who had just started weeks before.  He was a very nice man and was very helpful in helping us locate the tombstone. He also gave me the name of someone higher up, should I need further help in the future.  

I couldn't make it to all the cemeteries that day, but I got to a lot of them and enjoyed seeing many of the family plots for myself.  It became obvious, very quickly, that I could spend weeks, trekking around the state, walking through many more burial grounds. But that will have to take place at a different time.  I will share more about this fact finding trip in the next blog.  Needless to say, being this close to where my family members lived, just reignited the fire to find those elusive, long lost relatives!

The Day I Discovered the Family Bible - Part 3

By the time I was born, my Grandfather Garrison was already 69 years old.  I have no memories of the tobacco farm.  I am not even sure if it was still a working farm.  While growing up, however, I did hear many stories of how they would have to work long hours out in the fields, in the North Carolina heat, getting the tobacco cut and into the barn. They would cut the leaves and take them to the tobacco barn to hang and cure with a wood-burning furnace. Harvesting tobacco was a very hard and dirty job. 

Today, the old tobacco barn is still standing, though in much disrepair.  At one time there were almost half a million tobacco barns in the state but only about 50,000 are still around today.  Oh the stories it could tell! 

The Old Tobacco Barn

My dad was career Air Force, and we traveled all over the world while he was on active duty.  We didn't get back to North Carolina often but when we did, we always loved visiting with family.  The Garrison’s had annual reunions, which were huge and so much fun.  There was usually a big horse shoe tournament, complete with bracket charts to determine the ultimate winners.  Trophies were given and the competition was fierce. 

The reunions were not only an opportunity to see family, and for the grown ups to catch up on things, but it also gave all of us cousins time to spend together, getting to know one another.  And I had a bunch of cousins!  There were thirty some grandchildren and my brothers and I were some of the youngest.   Someone would always step up and organize games for us to play. Some of our favorites were Kick the Can and Capture the Flag.  One year we decided to play Kick the Can as it was getting dark.  That didn’t end well.  Two of my cousins came running around the corner from different directions and ran into each other.  There were some major bumps and bruises.  All lived but lessons were learned.

On one of our trips back to NC, I remember sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, playing jacks.  One of my older male cousins got down on the floor and played jacks with me for a while.  I don’t think he had a clue what that meant to me.  Well, forty some years later I still remember it with clarity so I guess it meant a lot!  These were always great times, but for my family they were few and far between, so we treasured every moment.  

Some times when we made it back to North Carolina, we would barely hit the door and one my aunts and uncles would come get me and I would get to go spend several days at their house with three of my cousins.  I loved those visits.  We always had a great time!  My Aunt, the wife of my mom’s youngest brother, ran a catering business and sometimes I would get to help out on some of her jobs.  It gave me a chance to watch how she worked and she could run circles around all of us.  She was and still is an excellent cook.  We still love going to their house whenever we get a chance.  And an added bonus is, I can walk right across the street and see another one of my aunts, my mom’s second oldest sister.   A true blessing having them both still here and living close to each other.  Grandma and Grandpa have long since passed and, sadly, of their 12 children, these are the only two still living.  

Grandpa and Grandma in their younger years

In later years

Terri's Tidbit for Today:  If you are researching your family, don't forget to use Facebook for finding some clues.  Many times there are genealogical or historical societies in towns or states that have a Facebook page.  I joined one for North Carolina, recently, and listed a brick wall I had hit on one of my Great Great Grandmothers.  Within 30 minutes I had a response from someone who helped me bring down that wall.  Use all the resources you can to help you find some of those allusive family members.