headstone

Aiken’s headstone toppled.

My favorite grave marker in Masonic Cemetery, John H. Aiken‘s rough-hewn chunk of stone, has been toppled. It’s hard to imagine how anyone managed to back into it hard enough to knock it off its base, but there it is. I will reach out to Mount Hebron Lodge to find out if there are plans to reseat it.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2026.

Row Q.

Apropos of Nina Hardy’s crazy quilt, ten year-old posts from my genealogy blog, http://www.scuffalong.com:

29 October 2014

Less than an hour after we got from the WCGS meeting last night, I received an email from president Joan Howell. I’d mentioned to her that I was trying to locate an unmarked grave at Rest Haven, she’d offered to check her records, and there it was: Nina F. Hardy, Section 3, Lot 20, Q in the street, Space 4.

This is how the morning went:

  • My father and I drove over to Rest Haven, but quickly realized that there was no way to determine where A’nt Nina’s grave was just by looking.
  • We got back in the car and crossed town to Maplewood Cemetery, where the City of Wilson Cemetery Commission is headquartered. The manager provided a chart and a print-out and a good suggestion. “Walk about halfway up Q,” she said. “Then call me and tell me what headstones you see.” [Sidenote: Q was once a track running through Sections 3 and 4 of the cemetery, like P and R to either side of it. Years ago, Q and the other odd-lettered rows were closed off and converted to burial space. The designation “Q in the street” means that A’nt Nina’s grave lies under what was once a pathway.]
  • Back to Rest Haven. A few minutes and a call later, we had the general location of A’nt Nina’s grave between those of Rev. Calvin Harris Boykin and Annie Thompson. I snapped a shot or two, though there is nothing much to see. [Cemetery employees can pinpoint graves, but none were available at the time.]
  • No time like the present, so we headed to our cousin L.H.’s house. His family owns a vault business that does a sideline in gravestones. I ordered a simple flat granite marker to be inscribed with A’nt Nina’s name, birth and death dates; my dad wrote a check (I’d left mine in Georgia, and L.H. doesn’t truck with credit cards); and it was done. I kissed L.H.’s new grandson, and he promised to send me a photo when the marker is installed. [L.H. remembers A’nt Nina. I don’t know why that surprised me. When they arrived in Wilson from Wayne County, L.H.’s grandfather, Jesse “Jack” Henderson, and Nina both lived with Jesse and Sarah Henderson Jacobs on Elba Street.]

My father standing at the approximate location of Nina Hardy’s grave this morning. Rest Haven cemetery, Wilson, North Carolina.

13 November 2014

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about looking for my cousin Nina Frances Faison Hardy‘s unmarked grave and wanting to honor her by placing a stone. Today, I got a text from my cousin and an email from my mother with photos. My cousins’ business, Eastern Carolina Vault Company, installed the marker today and, after 45 years, A’nt Nina’s final resting place is no longer lost.

A surprise in Black Creek Cemetery.

I did a quick tour of Black Creek’s tidy little cemetery. As noted earlier, historically it was not open to burials of African-Americans, but I had this unexpected encounter while there:

A Clarence B. Best monument!

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of another headstone Best carved for a white customer, but I am not surprised that he welcomed the trade. (Note that Inez S. Holland’s death date was hand-cut in Best’s style 15 years after he died.)

Lane Street Project: Eddie Barnes.

Eddie Barnes Born Apr. 8, 1889 Died Feb. 20, 1935

The style of this machine-cut granite headstone appears to date it well after 1935. It is located in the Mincey family plot, but may not be sited at Eddie Barnes‘ actual grave. I have not been able to identify him further. 

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, January 2021.

Lane Street Project: Ella Oates.

Ella Dau of Charlie & _____ Oates _____ 1897 _____

Ella Oates died 21 July 1913 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was about 17 years old; was single; lived on Ash Street; was a servant; and was the daughter of Charles Oates and Emma Williams.

Both Charles and Emma Oates are buried in Odd Fellows, but, Charles’ headstone, like Ella’s, is broken and lies at a distance from Emma’s. Ella Oates’ marker is in the stamped concrete anchor-and-ivy style.

Lane Street Project: Wiley Oates.

Wiley Oates‘ sandstone obelisk is arguably the loveliest surviving monument in the Lane Street Project cemeteries. When I found it, it was shrouded in a dense cape of honeysuckle vine, but the five-foot gravestone was in nearly perfect condition. 

Wiley Oates Born 1877. Died July 23, 1913. A loving Husband and a friend to all.

The lotus motif is unique in these cemeteries and symbolizes resurrection and eternal life. The designs alternate with fern and ivy imagery.

For more about Wiley Oates, see here and here and here and here.

Lane Street Project: Smith Bennett, revisited.

I’ve written of the dozens of simple narrow marble grave markers in Odd Fellows Cemetery. Most are inscribed with the full name of the deceased and, often, the fraternal organization’s emblem. Were they headstones or footstones, though?

Yesterday I had a go at unscrambling the chunks of concrete from a shattered anchor-and-ivy marker found when trash and privet were cleared from the edge of the parking lot bordering Odd Fellows. There was an obvious base and, around it, two dozen or so pieces of headstone, which I sorted more quickly than I’d expected. I was surprised to recognize the name of the deceased — Smith Bennett — especially since I’d already found a Smith Bennett marker. 

Smith Bennett Died Apr. 30, 192_ [May the Resur]rection Find Thee On the Bosom of Thy God

The first stone, which lies about 15 feet from this one, is of the smooth white marble variety that the Odd Fellows seem to have supplied to lodge members and their families. Presumably, in this instance, it served as a footstone, though it (or the headstone) has obviously been dislodged from its original place. 

Smith Bennett’s footstone. At top, between the trees, his broken headstone.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, April 2021.