Photos from Dunsmore box - Brushy Ridge, Greenbrier County

More photos from Dunsmore box (thanks to Elaine)

Buckland - See comments after Buckland post - family member made corrections.

The information that I have in my compilation (Black Residents) is from documents which are sometimes supplemented by personal interviews.  The Buckland information is from documents.  However, a family member has commented that her family was not mulatto but part Native American &  ..... (please see comment).  I welcome these comments and corrections. 

Reclaiming cemeteries - historical designations

Two cemeteries that need attention:
The "Dick Pointer Cemetery"/Old Colored Cemetery in Lewisburg, WV behind Carnegie Hall needs attention. There are many headstones under the grass.  I am totally unfamiliar with the process of reviving cemeteries but I think this should be looked into.

The Neff Orchard Road Cemetery/Sinks Grove Cemetery/Mt. Zion Baptist Church Cemetery on Neff Orchard Road in Monroe County, WV is well taken care of by "Elaine" but it needs a sign (the old one is no longer there).  Also we need to look into how to get an historical designation if it does not already have one.  I have documented that there are formerly enslaved persons buried there (including my great grandfather - George Washington Haynes & his brother in law Albert Payne). 

Unidentified photos from Dunsmore box - Brushy Ridge - donated by Elaine.

William Brandon Lacy Campos Gravesite - Monroe County, WV

William Brandon Lacy Campos

I went to the Neff Orchard Road Cemetery (Sinks Grove Cemetery/Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Cemetery) which is in Monroe County and the first thing that I noticed was a doe foraging in the cemetery.  She quickly jumped the back fence.  The sign, which had said Mt. Zion Missionay Baptist Cemetery was missing.  But looking forward I saw a huge bench. When I walked up to it I noticed the words "William Brandon Lacy".  I was so happy to see this as Brandon and I had become email friends and he had written a poem called "Big Sam" in which he had inserted my name.  He is buried next to his family.  I will post the picture of his gravesite as well as the photos of the other members of his family. 

Where my research is housed.

I have pretty much sent all of my research - including books, family histories, photos, correspondence,  (I didn't keep hardly anything at all) to the Greenbrier Historical Society in Lewisburg, West Virginia.  I wanted it to be at a site where people would have access and besides, Lewisburg is such a lovely place to visit.  On my trip there next weekend I will be able to visit Union, Monroe County for the first time.  I hope to stop at the Neff Orchard Road Cemetery / Sinks Grove Cemetery where my grandfather and great-grandfather are buried.  I also plan to visit the Greenbrier Hotel for the first time.  And I will at least sit on the steps of the lawyers office which was once the Lewisburg Hotel (owned/operated by my great-grandfather Harry Suthcliff Cooper).  And I may well try to see if the Caucasian Presbyterian Church has a photo of him. 

The below 36 photos are from the Dunsmore home in Brushy Ridge ...

.....Greenbrier County, WV and they were kindly shared with me by Elaine.  Elaine and I are both descended from Martha Payne Haynes.  Martha was "married" to Burton Payne in Palmyra, Fluvanna County, Virginia during her enslavement.  She was sold  by A.G. Wills to Elizabeth Stone, a 22 year old school teacher (along with her sons Socrates and Albert) while Burton had been sent on an errand.  Whe Burton came back from the errand they were gone.  He never saw them again.  It is reported the upon being sold Martha was hysterical and Albert was hanging onto her leg. 
     Burton was the son of the enslaver William Burton Payne and an enslaved woman.  Elizabeth Stone took Martha and the two boys to Lewisburg, West Virginia.  At some point Burton married another Martha.  (So there are two Payne lines - Albert and his descendants who kept the name Payne (and possibly Socrates who adopted the name Haynes as did all of Martha's children that she had in WV AND the descendants of Burton and the second Martha).
     Burton's first Martha - my great-great-grandmother - married Solomon Haynes on July 4, 1865.  He was not old enough to have been the father of most of her children and I don't think he was my great grandmother Elizabeth's father.  They lived around Second Creek, Monroe County.  Elaine is descended from Martha's first child Socrates.  The photos are from the home of Janett Haynes who was Socrates' daughter.  She was married to a Dunsmore (I need to check this). 

from Elaine's photo box
- Dunsmore household

Exhibit in Lewisburg - 9/20/2014

On Saturday, September 20, 2014, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., there will be a photographic exhibit at the Cooper Gallery in Lewisburg, West Virginia.  This exhibit will be put on by Janice Cooley and will feature approximately 80 photographs reflecting the African American history of the area.  I am fortunate to be able to attend this event.  In preparation for the event, I am scanning a number of photos which I need to return to the proper owner "Elaine". 

William O. "Bill" Lindsey

Genealogy has a way of getting away from you - as do genealogy buddies.  I realized that I hadn't spoken with one of my buddies for a while but  last week I found out that he passed in 2006.  For those of us who suffered through Hurricane Katrina, the past six years have gone by in a blink.  Still it is no excuse for not keeping up with people.  I was so sad to hear that this dear researcher of African American residents in Pocahontas County had transitioned.  His work is available through the Allegheney Historical Research Center.