Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Sorry - just moderated many many posts.

I appreciate all of the comments.  So sorry I have not published them sooner. 

Friday, May 10, 2019

Friends of Old Stone

The Friends of Old Stone Cemetery have recently gone across the street to the Old Colored Cemetery / Dick Pointer Cemetery to help restore that cemetery as well.  They recently uncovered a Miller family and five graves of children which they lifted up to ground level.  I cannot express how much I appreciate their efforts.  They are also interested in the Sexton for Old Stone who was a Black male surnamed Bowyer.  They have restored his gravesite.  They are truly interested in cemetery restoration and should be applauded by their efforts.  My aunt Mary Ann Hughs and her brother James Littleton (though his stone says James Litton) are buried in the OCC/DPC.  Also, my grandfather's sister's husband Samuel Oscar Braddock is buried there. 

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Hi folks - family - WV descendants.
I am still alive and kicking (having managed CA for four years) but more than that I have become interested in the other side of my family.  The Cape Verdean side.  And I have been working on an index of CV' s which is now 1600 pages.  Sorry if I have not responded to comments etc. 
But I WILL be back and do some housekeeping.  Also want to start two new blogs but am having problems navigating the settings on this site. 

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

W.P. Haynes and unknown woman, Pocahontas, West Virginia (from Dunsmore box of photos)

This photo
 
 
 
This photograph was taken by P.W. Poff. The Library of Virginia in an article about "A Guide to the Pocahotas, Virginia Carte de Viste" states (in part) that Perry W. Poff was born in Virginia about 1845.  He had a photography studio in Pocahontas, Virginia until about the mid 1890's.  Then he relocated to Mercer County where he opened a new studio. 
In a future edit of this post I will leave information about W.P. Haynes. 

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Scharlotta Gardner

Scharlotta Gardner was born on 5/13/1930.  She was the daughter of Sally K.R. Gardner and Vons Morgan.  She was the granddaughter of William P. Gardner and Alice Sexton Gardner.   She was the great granddaughter of the Lewisburg lawyer Stephen Gardner.  She is mentioned in the 1938 - 1939 Official Minute Book for the Church School Secretary for the John Wesley Methodist Church (Scharlette).  In a telephone conversation with her on 7/28/2004 she indicated that she has no middle name; she is the mother of Jerome Ornell Crump, she is the sister of Doris Gardner Tilghman; Ernest J. Gardner; James E. Seams; Greta Ann Smoot Dry; Carlos J. Smoot; Mason C. Smoot, and Clementine Smoot Dry.  That she was a lifelong member of the John Wesley Church.  She indicated that she attended the Bolling School.  She stated that her great grandfather, Stephen Gardner was part Cherokee Indian; that she lived on Gardner Street in Lewisburg, W.Va. --- and that the street was named after her great-grandfather.  She said that Stephen was pronounced Stefan and that he was a free man during slavery times.  Stephen Gardner bred, raised and sold horses and that Dr. Montgomery is wrong when he asserts (in his papers) that Stephen Gardner was a physician. 

PAULINE MAY HAYNES

Neff Orchard Road
Cemetery - Monroe County, West Virginia. 

ORIS T. HAYNES - July 12, 1885 - Jan 6, 1961.

Neff Orchard Road
Cemetery - Monroe County, West Virginia. 

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

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. 

Thursday, September 25, 2014

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.





Wednesday, September 24, 2014

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. 

Saturday, September 13, 2014

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).