On a cloudy autumn day in 2009, Ernie Johns and I set out to find the Charlton Ford Cemetery where we both have ancestors. Ernie had last visited the cemetery in 1971 when he tackled the herculean task of documenting old family cemeteries across Rutherford County. He didn’t remember exactly where it was, but was willing to go find it again. On that day in 2009, despite the fact that Ernie was getting up there in years, we tramped around for hours on the banks of Fall Creek, climbing fences and traversing cornfields and cow pastures. At last we came upon the lost cemetery on an overgrown bluff on the west bank of the creek. There were an astonishing number of headstones poking up out of the underbrush – and a variety of family surnames. Among them I found the headstones of my GGGGG grandparents, Thomas Donnell and Elenor Smith Donnell, and my GGGG grandfather, John Milton Peyton. Our adventure paid off.
Ernie recorded the engravings of twenty headstones in 1971 and his description of the cemetery from 1971 curiously reads in part: “A number of unmarked fieldstone graves and a few graves with cedar plank markers.” The name “Charlton Ford Cemetery” was what Ernie Johns called the place due to a nearby ford across the creek. If it had another name before that, it has been lost. The Charlton family lived close to this location around 1900, and one of the later markers in the cemetery is George Washington Charlton, died Feb. 16, 1904. I assume this was their land at that time. I have heard it said that my great grandmother, Hattie Roberta Phillips Henderson’s closest friend was Betty Charlton, who was her neighbor. Coincidentally, my great grandmother’s childhood home was one of the closest to the cemetery – even though she is not descended from any of the occupants.
My family connection to the cemetery is though Thomas and Elenor Donnell, mentioned above; their daughter Jane Hannah Donnell who married John Milton Peyton, mentioned above, and their daughter Amanda Emelina Peyton, my GGG grandmother who married Andrew James (A.J.) Malone, my GGG grandfather. A.J. and Amanda Malone lived a little over a mile south of the cemetery. A.J. Malone was the son of Billy Malone, who built his home, now known as Wild Acres, a mile south of the cemetery. You can read more about this home and family in this post.
I should tell you that Ernie Johns was a major player in the documentation of family history in Rutherford County, Tennessee. He is to be thanked for recording an enormous amount of information from old family cemeteries in Rutherford County. His work accounts for a very large portion of the very large book Cemeteries and Graveyards of Rutherford County, Tennessee compiled by Susan G. Daniel and published by the Rutherford County Historical Society. I am not familiar with all of Ernie’s accomplishments, but I do know that he served as President of the Rutherford County Historical Society and as the official Historian for Rutherford County. I visited his home a couple of times and was amazed at his extensive library of history books and historical reference materials – including a lot of microfiche and a microfiche reader. Ernie and his work are true treasures to those of us with roots in this county.
In 2009, one could still see many gravesites marked by both carved headstones and flat pieces of fieldstone set upright in the ground. Gone was any trace of the cedar plank markers that Ernie mentioned from his visit years ago. There were about twenty engraved headstones and many more of the fieldstone markers. The impression was that there might be as many as a hundred graves in this place. It was hard to tell what was actually there because of the bushes, trees, vines, and tumbled headstones.
The reason this cemetery was so hard to find is because it’s quite a distance from any road. If you know where to turn off Mona Road, one can get there by driving a half a mile across a cow pasture. In other words it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere. Years ago this location may have been less off the beaten path and more of a destination for activities of the locals. And that is where the mystery begins.
Once you are there, it is truly a beautiful spot. On one side is a view of a sprawling cow pastures and cornfields, and on the other is a bluff-top view of the sparkling Fall Creek. The wooded and overgrown cemetery is hauntingly beautiful itself with a carpet of dark green vinca and moss tinted nineteenth century headstones tilted at odd angles.
But why was this cemetery seemingly forgotten when so many of the deceased had close descendants who lived within walking distance? Why are there so many different family names in this cemetery? That is more typical of a church cemetery or a public cemetery than a family cemetery that one would expect this to be. And what might be the significance of an everlasting spring from the cemetery?
My completely unfounded theory is that the location of this cemetery was adjacent to a camp meeting place for followers of the Methodist church. Methodist camp meetings were a regular occurrence in the early nineteenth century. In addition to spiritual purpose, camp meetings were also social events that gave widespread country folk a place and a reason to gather. From what I have read of some of these events, they were quite a spectacle. There is an excellent post at this link.
Here is an excerpt:
From the Raleigh Minerva Newspaper, Monday, October 7, 1805, p. 3:
At a camp meeting lately at Banks’ Chapel in Granville County, we are told that there were not less than 40 tents erected to accommodate those who stayed on the ground night and day – there were at times as many as two thousand five hundred people; very many converts, supposed to be upwards of 70, some of whom underwent bodily exercises, such as the jerking exercise, the dancing exercise, the barking exercise, etc. However extraordinary this account may seem by those who never witnessed anything of the kind, it is a fact to be relied on, as the Editor has it from many respectable and pious men who were eyewitnesses. The jerking convert, after exhorting and singing, is seized with violent fits of jerking, which usually brings him to the ground, where he lies as if laboring in a slight convulsive fit, and when the spasm seems to abate, the person begins shouting and praising of God for effecting his conversion, etc. The dancing or jumping convert generally commences his exercise after very fervent exhorting – at this time it is very common for a dozen persons to be seen dancing together, with their hands over their heads, and their fingers playing loosely – the exerciser exhibiting a ghastly countenance, without speaking a single word, with his eyes closed, his appearance resembling more a living specter than anything else. After some time, he falls with all the appearance of death and lies apparently lifeless for nearly an hour. Of the barking convert, we have not received a particular description of the exercise, but that some are seized with fits barking or howling like dogs cannot be doubted.
We don’t know about any camp meetings in the vicinity of the Charlton Ford Cemetery before 1834, but we do know that in 1834, my GGGG grandfather, Billy Malone who lived one mile south of the cemetery deeded three acres of land “a few hundred yards south of his residence” “together with the use of water from my spring” to the Methodist Episcopal Church, to erect “a camp ground for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church.” Although, still in the vicinity, this is clearly not the location of the Charlton Ford Cemetery. This Methodist campground remained in use for many years. A church building was eventually constructed, and became Shady Grove Methodist Church.
The cemetery sits a lovely location on a limestone bluff above Fall Creek. In the earliest days of settlement, creeks were often the closest semblance the settlers had to roads. Fall Creek and other creeks in the area were known to have been used as roads. Later, there was a primitive road that passed right beside the cemetery. The road is long gone, but it is known to have been sort of a shortcut from Charlton Ford to Powell’s Chapel Church – and most likely the Methodist Church while it existed. Perhaps before 1834, the presence of road passing here and an everlasting spring would have made this an excellent destination for a Methodist camp meeting.
During the War Between the States, the Shady Grove church was little used due to the dangerous nature of the times, and the church building became so abused that it had to be abandoned. After the war, Billy Malone’s wife’s nephew, Joseph D. Neilson donated a new parcel of land at Walterhill to the congregation, and a new church called Kelley’s Chapel Methodist Church was established. Joseph D. Neilson ran a store next door to the church. Kelley’s Chapel is still in operation. I do not know the date this church was established.
In 1879 A.J. Malone donated land to establish Powell’s Chapel Baptist Church near where the Shady Grove Methodist Church had once stood. Powell’s Chapel is still in operation and is the location for my mother’s family’s annual Christmas reunion.
Was the location Charlton Ford Cemetery originally a place for camp meetings? It certainly had many of the qualities that would have been desirable: access via a long-gone road or the creek, a reliable spring, and a beautiful location. We may never know.
A related mystery is the almost complete conversion of people in the area from the Methodist church to the Baptist church. Why did that big change happen? Was there any connection between the establishment of Powell’s Chapel and Kelley’s Chapel? How did those folks who converted to the Baptist church feel about the Methodist camp meetings? Those answers seem to be gone with the wind.
Occupants in chronological order of death:
Sally Smith – Age 20 years
[1786] – Nov 10, 1806
Margaret Smith – Age 57 years
[1750] – June 17, 1807
Samuel Smith – Age 21 years
[1787] – Dec 19, 1808
Mary Smith – Age 76 years
[1744] – Nov 13, 1820
[She is the mother of Cunningham Smith from Guildford Co., NC]
Elenor Smith – Age 40 years
[1784] – May 11, 1824
Isabella Jones, wife of William Jones
Age 45 yrs, 3mos, 1d
[Apr 3, 1790] – July 4, 1835
[Said to be buried here]
Robert McCullough, husband of Mary Smith McCullough 1795 – 1844
Dr. Samuel W. Hannah
Nov 29, 1807 – Nov 2, 1845
& wife, Juliet Hannah
Apr 12, 1806 – June 21, 1880
Enoch J. Jones
Age 23 yrs, 7 mos, 11ds
[Mar 10, 1824] – Oct 21, 1847
Dr William N. Smith
Jan 11, 1817 – Mar 29, 1853
Thomas Donnell
July 20, 1774 – July 24, 1853
& wife Elenor [Smith] Donnell
Oct 19, 1777 – Aug 8, 1850
Frances E. Peyton
Died April 25, 1854
Aged 16 years, 10 months, and 22 days
John M. Peyton
Age 48 yrs, 10 mos, 5 ds
[June 1, 1809] – Apr 1858
William Jones
Age 72 yrs, 11 mos, 16 ds
[Mar 12, 1786] – Feb 28, 1859
Mary McCulloch
Dec 27, 1779 – Mar 13, 1874
Virginia H. Porter
Oct 14, 1863 – Sep 10, 1876
Merritt Givens
Aug 3, 1807 – Sep 26, 1886
& wife, Polly Givens
Sep 4, 1808 – June 20, 1888
Anderson Jones
Sep 21, 1814 – May 6, 1888
Annie Kate McCulloch, dau of
J.P. & Annie McCulloch
Nov 23. 1894 – May 1 1895
George Washington Charlton
Dec. 9 1819 – Feb 16, 1904
& wife, Mary Agnes Charlton
Oct 29, 1830 – Sep 10, 1891
James P. McCulloch
Dec 28, 1839 – Mar 15, 1921
& wife, Annie M. McCulloch
Oct 8, 1845 – Nov 3, 1886
The following burials were not included in Ernie Johns’ 1971 survey. I found these in a particularly overgrown corner of the cemetery.
Robert Tilman Lannom
Co E, 45 Regt, Tenn Inf, CSA
June 8, 1839 – Aug 19, 1930
W. P. Ross
1854-1930
J.T. Lannom
Oct. 23, 1869 – Jan. 11 1940
Gone but not forgotton
Julia F. Ross
1871-1943
Addie Lu Lannom Elliott
Jan. 7, 1874 – May 30, 1952
Joe Elliott
Dec. 24, 1878 –
(Said to have kept this cemetery up until he passed)
Flash forward to 2016. My cousin Bob Henderson and I have been on a mission to clean up our ancestor’s cemeteries. This past February we spent one long day cleaning up the part of Charlton Ford Cemetery where most of the headstones are visible. We yanked out a huge amount of privet by the roots as well as many other invasive plants. Unfortunately there is a large Tree of the Heavens in the middle of the cemetery and that will require very careful removal lest we shock it into the total jungle mode that it is capable of.
The cemetery is on the property of Mr. John Bradley. He was very gracious in allowing Bob and I onto the property to do our cleanup. He also shared a lot of information about local history with us. He also told us they the adjacent property was recently sold to a developer who will soon be building new houses a few hundred feet from the cemetery. You can’t stop progress, but I do hope we can stop the new neighbors from thinking our ancestral cemetery is a playground. The best way to prevent that may be to show that the cemetery is cared for.
Are the Peyton’s mentioned here related to Balie Peyton and his family in Sumner Co. ?
Pam,
I do not have Balie Peyton documented in my family tree, so I do not know if there is a connection. John Milton Peyton (in the cemetery) was the son of John W. Peyton and Frances Kelley. They resided in Wilson County, TN. I did some DNA research on this line a few years ago. According to the DNA evidence, John W. Peyton shares ancestry with Thomas Peyton b. ca. 1765 VA, but that family remains incomplete on my family tree. The Peyton Society is very active with genealogical research in case you want to connect with them.
Billy
Yes, I have been in contact with the Peyton Society in Virginia. Our Peyton’s were from the Virginia’s. Robert Peyton came to Castillian Springs and was killed at Bledsoe’s Ck by Indians. His grandson was Congressman Balie Peyton who was a General in the Mexican War. They had a large plantation called Peytonia situated where Vol State is now. He raised thoroughbreds and raced with Andrew Jackson. There is much written on this branch of the Peyton family. Balie Peyton, Jr. was an officer in the Confederate Army and was killed the first day at Fisher’s Ck, KY.
Reblogged this on BNA bucketlist and commented:
“The Past is Prologue” Thanks for the post Billy.
“The building was erected and dedicated in 1871 by Dr. D. C. Kelley, the presiding Elder. The Church was named Kelley’s Chapel in honor of Dr. Kelley instead of keeping the name of Shady Grove.”
http://www.kelleyschapel.com/history.html
David Campbell Kelley was also Confederate Colonel during the American Civil War. He was from Leeville in Wilson County. Kelley also ran for Governor of Tennessee in 1890 under the prohibitionist ticket. But what is generally not known, is that he laid the foundation for Vanderbilt University.
Thank you Bob! Great information!
Thanks again Bob for the info on Kelley’s Chapel. For the readers, here is a good link for more info on Col./Dr. Kelley: http://ulsternashville.blogspot.com/2011/01/david-campbell-kelley-confederate.html
I see that you are quoted in this post!
If readers want even more info on Kelley, here is a biography of this very interesting man: https://www.amazon.com/Forrests-Fighting-Preacher-Campbell-Tennessee/dp/1609493834
Thank you, Billy. Great work as usual. Thank you again for your generosity in sharing!
Jenny Barnes
Very interesting ..thanks Billy
David Mason Wartrace Tn
I’ve just found my 4th great grandmother, Mary Cunningham Smith, buried in this cemetery! Thanks so much for your work!
Liz Smith Taylor
That’s great!
I am also descended from the Mary Smith Cunningham line… My Dr.
William Smith and Cunningham Smith. If interested, please respond.
Mary, I am descended from Mary Smith, also. Thru her son Sampson Smith and then William Hamilton Smith. If you have any info on Mary and her family, I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Liz Smith Taylor
Thank you Mary! I will email you later..
Hello, Cousin Billy!
I am the great grand-daughter of Sara Lizetta Short. I sent an email to your gmail today. So fun to research family!
The Lannom’s & Ross’s are my relatives. I’d love to go to the cemetery & clean up around their headstones. Thank you for sharing.