A Trip to Meet the Past

This past weekend I went to Morganton, NC for an all-day workshop sponsored by the Burke County Genealogical Society.  The presenters were Kathy Gunter Sullivan, who is an expert on court records, deeds, etc.  Her first presentation was “Where They Walked:  Working with Deeds,” explaining how to squeeze every drop of information from those “dry” documents.  Her second presentation was Now What?  - Strategies for Resolving Genealogical Puzzles.  As usual Cathy offered many useful tips, clues, and different thought processes for seeing new info in those types of documents.

Robert Carpenter gave several presentations including North Carolina in the Civil War; Migrations of our ancestors – where they came from - where and why they were going and the value of DNA; Land Records using Deed Mapper and GIS; Bringing German Parish Records to PA and NC;  and finally German religious diversity in our area west of the Catawba River in North Carolina in those earliest days.  I have mentioned before about Robert’s classes in Advanced Genealogy and Local History for ten weeks each winter at Gaston College, Dallas, NC.  A bunch of us return year after year, and Robert always finds something new to present to us each term.  A group of us from that class went up to Morganton to support him, and to learn something new.  Robert introduced us as his “fan club!”  (His beginning  genealogy class will start this fall - 18 September 2014.  See note in “Announcements, etc.)

We had a marvelous time, took copious notes, and met the people from Burke County who were gracious, friendly, and just plain “good folks.”  If you read my three-part blog in January entitled “There was a Feud in the County” you will remember about my friend Helen Whisnant finding a large file folder in the Burke County Public Library through the help of Librarian Gail Benfield, which she copied for me, and it gave me loads of information on the lynching.  Well, I met Gail at the workshop and she wants a copy of my story to add to that LYNCHING folder.  I will be sending it off to her. They also expressed a desire to publish my story There was a Feud in the County in the Burke County Genealogical Soc. quarterly.  It is pertinent to them because Morganton, where the lynching took place, is in Burke County.  So I will be sending that off to Philip Heavner, the editor of the quarterly.    (:-D    

You will also remember from the Feud Story about Robert Parker (my great grand uncle) being murdered in his yard while he was attending the Methodist seminary called Rutherford College.  The little town took the name Rutherford College and is still called that today even though the college closed many years ago.  

Robert Parker was buried (in 1889) in what was originally called Jones Grove Cemetery, but now is called Abernathy Methodist Church Cemetery at Rutherford College, NC.  Later (1936) his wife, Margaret Jane Neal Parker, was buried next to him,













and then their daughter Della Jane and her husband James Franklin Coulter were laid next to them. 

 






Frances Jeanne Coulter, a daughter of Della and Frank Coulter who married a Donnelly is next with her husband James Coyt Donnelly and other Donnellys are nearby.  

I knew all this from my research to write the story.  But it was all just words on paper. I became very emotionally involved in researching and writing this tragic story, but it still was just words on paper.

Well, after the workshop was over, Helen took me over to Abernathy Methodist Church Cemetery just a few minutes away, to see it all in person.  Helen had already provided me with wonderful photos of all the graves (I had originally only had the pictures from “Find A Grave,”) but seeing it all in person was very moving.  Robert had moved up there with his wife and daughter to attend the College (he wanted to devote his life to the ministry,) so he was the only one of his PARKER family there – all alone, it seemed to me.  No other Parkers to look for in that cemetery, they were all back home in Union County (and later in Georgia, as explained in the story.)  He was such a sad figure to me, but seeing him surrounded by all his family made him seem not so lonely. 

And even better, Helen noticed that these graves had wreaths on them at Christmas (you can see some of them in the photos,) so there is still someone in that area tending to those graves. 

That will be a future “to do” for me.  I’ll send an inquiry to the Quarterly put out by the Burke Co. Gen. Soc., asking for info about who might still be connected to those graves. 


It was thrilling for me to stand there and see where my great grand uncle and his family were buried so long ago.  But me being there tied them to the present.  It made them “alive and real” for me, not just ink on paper.*

Go find the gravesite of a relative somewhere and bring them into the present.  Visit with them a while.  It will leave you feeling good!

* But it all raised a new question (for genealogists the story is never “done.”  Some surprise always pops up and sends you off down another direction.)  Margaret Jane, Robert’s wife who is buried right beside him, has the last name of HALE on her stone.  Who is HALE!  She must have married between 1900 and 1910 when her name in the census changed to HALE but she was already a widow again. 

SARAH HALE
1833-1896

HOSEA HALE
1834-1896

WILLIAM HALE
1866-1898

And more suspiciously, there are three HALEs buried right beside the large PARKER head stone.  William is the son of Sarah and Hosea, but he doesn't fir for a second husband for Margaret Jane.    Research shows that they are also from Buford Township, Union Co, right where the Parkers are from!   

QUESTIONS!  QUESTIONS!!            RESEARCH!  RESEARCH!!

Photos courtesy of Helen Whisnant

 I have given the announcements and info their own special page. Always check out what is happening there. 

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