CEMETERY JAUNT
By Bill Matthews
Good morning folks! I just wanted to give you all a quick update on last weekend's memorable tour of parts of Lawrence County around Mt Zion and Knob Creek. Jesse Clayton, Bud Slagle, Jan McCormack, Tom Stanford, and I spent most of last Saturday (Apr 3) on a tour of places that are meaningful to our heritage. Bud was the tour guide and, is he knowledgeable! There appears now to be no one in our John Huston Matthews lineage who knows nearly as much as Bud. He can cite years, relationships, and locations as if he were reading a book.
We visited Mt Zion cemetery, just across the creek from the Mt Zion United Methodist Church, which evidentially owns the cemetery property. Many of our older Matthews family are buried there. I made digital photos of the gravestones as did Jesse. Bud took us to a number of other sites, including where Aunt Jane and Uncle John lived, up on a knoll near Shoal Creek. For me the highlight of the trip was when Bud showed us the old Knob Creek school (and church building), a few yards above Knob Creek, in the woods, and now several hundred yards off a chert road in a game and bird preserve. It's on private property, but we snuck in. Jesse and I have photos of it. We'll want to find out when it was built and for how long it was used. Dad (Floyd M) would have gone to school there in about 1910 and for a few years afterwards. We had some discussions about a possible visit to the school on the afternoon of our upcoming family reunion on Labor Day weekend. Bud plans to find out more about getting clear access for us.
I also had an audio tape recorder and tried to capture some of Bud's running commentary about the significance of what we were seeing. Jan has the tape and when time permits, will transcribe it for our heritage records.
Before we headed back to Florence, Jan and I stopped by and picked up a box of papers in file folders from Irma Matthews Plott's genealogy records. A relative of Irma's had gathered her genealogy records before her death, so they wouldn't be destroyed. The lady in Waynesboro who had them was related to Irma through her mother. Jan took some of the files back to Indiana with her but I have most of them. They are in terrible shape. It is common to have page 2 of a potentially valuable letter, but not page 1. Maybe putting the files in order will solve some of those problems.
That Saturday visit was a real treat to all of us. When you talk with Bud I hope you'll reinforce how valuable his knowledge about our heritage is. Tom S couldn't stay with us the entire day, due to his and Gail's anniversary celebration. He and the rest of us want a repeat trip again soon. I'm sure every time we go out, Bud will give us still more valuable information.
We visited Mt Zion cemetery, just across the creek from the Mt Zion United Methodist Church, which evidentially owns the cemetery property. Many of our older Matthews family are buried there. I made digital photos of the gravestones as did Jesse. Bud took us to a number of other sites, including where Aunt Jane and Uncle John lived, up on a knoll near Shoal Creek. For me the highlight of the trip was when Bud showed us the old Knob Creek school (and church building), a few yards above Knob Creek, in the woods, and now several hundred yards off a chert road in a game and bird preserve. It's on private property, but we snuck in. Jesse and I have photos of it. We'll want to find out when it was built and for how long it was used. Dad (Floyd M) would have gone to school there in about 1910 and for a few years afterwards. We had some discussions about a possible visit to the school on the afternoon of our upcoming family reunion on Labor Day weekend. Bud plans to find out more about getting clear access for us.
I also had an audio tape recorder and tried to capture some of Bud's running commentary about the significance of what we were seeing. Jan has the tape and when time permits, will transcribe it for our heritage records.
Before we headed back to Florence, Jan and I stopped by and picked up a box of papers in file folders from Irma Matthews Plott's genealogy records. A relative of Irma's had gathered her genealogy records before her death, so they wouldn't be destroyed. The lady in Waynesboro who had them was related to Irma through her mother. Jan took some of the files back to Indiana with her but I have most of them. They are in terrible shape. It is common to have page 2 of a potentially valuable letter, but not page 1. Maybe putting the files in order will solve some of those problems.
That Saturday visit was a real treat to all of us. When you talk with Bud I hope you'll reinforce how valuable his knowledge about our heritage is. Tom S couldn't stay with us the entire day, due to his and Gail's anniversary celebration. He and the rest of us want a repeat trip again soon. I'm sure every time we go out, Bud will give us still more valuable information.
For information about this website please contact Jan McCormack
