Thursday, August 7, 2008

Webb Ancestors at Home Reprise






I love to visit cemeteries, especially old cemeteries. The Webb Cemetery is not easy to get to, it's on the side of a mountain in Scott County, Tennessee, in the heart of the Cumberland Mountains. I couldn't begin to tell you where Carpenter's Cemetery is, but it's close to the Webb Cemetery. I've been there, but my father was driving. If I had to, I might be able to get there again.


My great-grandparents are buried in the Webb Cemetery, as are my great-aunts Laura, Martha and Annie. My great-uncles, Wil, Jim and Benny are also buried in the Webb Cemetery.

My great-great-grandparent, Martha Webb is buried in Carpenter's Cemetery.
She's actually buried in an old-style top of the ground crypt, with this lonely marker at the head of her grave. It simply says, Martha Webb, born, April 10, 1845, died 1876. The exact date is not decipherable. We know, however, that this is Martha the Mysterious because she is buried next to Willis and Margaret, her parents.

It was sad to find the graves of my ancestors in such disrepair. The stones are falling away from the walls. The pompous grass planted at the foot of each grave adds an element of hope, an exclamation mark that proudly says, "We are not here!"
I hold to that promise that I will meet them in the by and by, and we will know one another as family. All those things that fall away and decay will no longer stand in the way. Praise God! I can't wait to give them all big warm hugs and tell them how I do love them.

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