Back To Home Page
Letters to the Editor
Seeking Graves Of Civil War Vets
September 8, 2004
To The Editor:
The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) need your help!
As part of its ongoing historical and educational mission to preserve the history of the War Between the States and its veterans, Walter M. Bryson SCV Camp 70 is engaged in a project to locate and record the graves of all Confederate veterans buried in Henderson County. This information will be used by our camp to memorialize our local veterans, and will be made publicly available in a searchable format. We'll also include information about Union veterans located during the project, and publicize that data as well.
Although much has been recorded, there's no single source containing all these burial records, and the task is large. We appeal to the people of Henderson County for assistance filling in information on those gravesites we currently know, and directing us to additional cemeteries containing Confederate graves. These could be churches, family plots or individual graves. We also welcome any other family information that'll help us make this record as complete as possible.
Please contact our SCV representatives at 674-6996, 891-5513, 890-4015 or 692-3680. Help us in our efforts to honor these brave veterans who fought for the Tarheel State!
Michael Arrowood
Hendersonville
Michael Arrowood is public affairs officer for Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 70.
****************************************************************
Confederates Group Surveys Cemeteries
October 18, 2004
The Sons of Confederate Veterans is conducting cemetery surveys to identify the grave sites of men who fought in the Civil War. The group is attempting to map the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy also are recognizing the families of the soldiers.
United States and Confederate grave markers are still available for free from the state and national governments.
If anyone knows of any sites or would like more information about the grave markers, call Norman Miller at 698-5587, days, and 674-6996, evenings; Joe Young at 692-7385 or 777-3797; Curtis Poteat at 891-7074; or Barry Hollingsworth at 692-3680.
****************************************************************
Project Credit Goes To Confederate Sons
November 12, 2004
To The Editor: Somebody has been extremely misinformed! The ongoing cemetery project that has been written about in the paper by Jennie Jones Giles is the brain child of The Sons of Confederate Veterans Watt Bryson Camp No. 70 Hendersonville.
Although we as members of this organization appreciate the effort of Dr. George Jones, it is not his nor the project of the Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society Inc. It is a project instituted and headed up by the more than capable Norman Miller and his wife, Jessica.
Norman has sacrificed time from his work to tramp the woods looking for these cemeteries we're trying to save, and Jessica has been by his side helping him and our organization. Jessica, your help is appreciated more than we could ever tell you.
The entire organization is heavily involved in this project. The cleanup of the Edney Cemetery on Saturday is sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, not the Genealogical Society.
Through perhaps an editing error or other manmade glitch, it has appeared that we're merely helping in this project. No, it is and was our idea. Our work and footslogging has brought it to fruition thus far.
Barry Hollingsworth
Hendersonville
Barry Hollingsworth is a member of Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 70.
***You may write to Barry by clicking on the email box to your right.
****************************************************************
Cemeteries Tell Of Local History
December 4, 2004
To The Editor:
Isn't it nice that nowadays we have impressive memorial gardens with perpetual care? We have no worries about our loved ones being forgotten or disturbed right? Well, look around you Henderson County, our endangered old family cemeteries are being neglected and disturbed. Some of them are gone forever to development, which is punishable by law. Why weren't we watching? Why wasn't the county watching? What will they do about these felonious acts? It is a Class 1 Felony to open, disturb, destroy, remove, vandalize or desecrate any portion of a grave.
Hendersonville and Henderson County often boast about being a historic place. Who do you think gave us our history? Those souls in those forgotten places played their part, and now so must we. Time to teach a great life lesson to our children, the preservation of their heritage.
I want to give my thanks to the Walter M. Bryson, SCV Camp 70 for their dedication to our family cemeteries and our communities heritage.
Want to know how you can help? Contact me at: [email protected] or visit www.geocities.com/norman_leroy_miller on the Web.
Wanda Elaine Case
Flat Rock
****************************************************************
Help Needed With Cemetery Cleanups
December 5, 2004
To The Editor:
The Sons of Confederate Veterans are currently doing a survey of all cemeteries, and would love to have your help. Thanks go to those that helped with the successful Edney Cemetery clean up. Bravo! But we have much more to do!
The upcoming cemetery cleanups scheduled in Henderson County, sponsored by the Walter M. Bryson Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 70 are:
The Townsend Cemetery on Mills Gap Road at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 18.
The Historic Fortune Cemetery, where Revolutionary War veteran William Capps Jr. and his wife are buried, located off U.S. 176 in Green Briar Subdivision At 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 15.
All Townsend, Featherstone, Fortune, Capps and Kuykendall descendants and family members are urged to join in the efforts to help with the restoration and preservation of these and other old county cemeteries. If you know of a cemetery you would like to help restore, please let us know.
Contact information:
Norman Miller, cemetery project leader, 698-5587 or 674-6996, e-mail: [email protected]
Joe Young, camp commander, 692-7385 or 777-3797, e-mail: [email protected]
Or visit: www.geocities.com/norman_leroy_miller on the Web.
Norman Miller
Hendersonville
****************************************************************
EDITORIAL - TIMES NEWS JANUARY 5, 2005
Cemetery Protection Needs Work
The Henderson County Sheriff's Department last week investigated a complaint that a property owner had left trash in an old family graveyard, and in short order found that no crime had been committed.
"There was no garbage or refuse on the cemetery," Detective Ned Whitmire said Thursday.
That may have been a narrow interpretation of the law. But at least the investigation raised awareness of the rules. Property owners should be on notice that state law protects family graveyards, many of which have been covered by underbrush, surrounded by development or fenced off and made inaccessible.
Wanda Case of East Flat Rock made the complaint that a property owner had put black plastic plant pots and a satellite dish in the old family graveyard in the Crab Creek community.
It is a misdemeanor to willfully throw garbage or trash on any cemetery, according to state statutes.
"He's closed the investigation before it even began," Case said. "If I want to press charges, why can't I?"
The plant pots were not discarded but contained Japanese myrtles, Whitmire said. "They were between the graves and not sitting on any graves," he said. "The property owner said he had been given permission by a descendant to put the satellite dish in the cemetery."
The graveyard disputes raise questions that are not easy to resolve. State law protects the graveyards even when they're on private property and even when the current owner has no connection to the dead who lie in the ground.
George Jones, founder of the Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society, told the Times-News that no one can give permission to discard trash or garbage in a cemetery.
"The law is plain; it can't be done," Jones said.
That's just one of several gray areas that need to be cleared up.
As the news accounts by Times-News staff writer Jennie Giles have shown, many Henderson County residents, proud of their roots and interested in local history, have found old family graveyards and would like to clean them up. State law should protect their right to do that. Yet, it's probably not clear to most property owners to what degree they must allow access and in what form.
The new cemetery advisory committee appointed by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners can play a vital role in clarifying the issue and in resolving some of the disputes that have arisen between property owners and descendant families.
We would hope, too, that State Rep. Carolyn Justus, who has been researching the subject and has promised to help, would follow the advisory committee's work.
The new advisory committee can best serve the interests of families and the historical record and property owners by moving quickly to identify gaps or ambiguities in the law and seeking the Legislature's help in fixing them.
****************************************************************
Clean Ups Planned For Two Cemeteries
February 02, 2005
To The Editor:
In honor of Black History Month, the Walter M. Bryson Camp 70 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans will be sponsoring two February cemetery cleanups.
The first will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Mill Pond Cemetery on the corner of N.C. 191 and South Rugby Road, concentrating on the slave section.
Louis Dunbar brought this cemetery to the organization's attention in a letter to the editor back in December and has been planning the cleanup alongside the group for the past several weeks. This cemetery is in dreadful condition. Please show your support and come prepared to help.
In addition, the Sons of Confederate Veterans will be sponsoring its fourth consecutive monthly cleanup at the historic Davis Family Cemetery off Old U.S. 25 in the Bob's Creek community on Feb. 12. The Davis family was responsible for giving assistance to the members of the Kingdom of the Happy Land in the years following the Civil War.
Please go to the Web site www.geocities.com/norman_leroy_miller for more info about the Kingdom of the Happy Land and the Col. John Davis family and the role they played in our county's history. Or call: 698-7392 or 280-1289.
Wanda Case
Flat Rock
****************************************************************
Laws On Cemeteries Need To Be Updated
February 03, 2005
To The Editor:
As an interested party in the ongoing cemetery preservation, or the lack of, in Henderson County, I feel that the state laws governing these cemeteries need to be changed to include private and family cemeteries.
The state statutes were written in 1916. As an example, the speed limit on Main Street was 5 mph, on the open road, 20 mph. Thank goodness someone changed that!
It may have taken all these years to address the sad situation of our ancestral burial grounds, but in light of the efforts made by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the newly formed cemetery advisory committee, I think it is now time again for change.
I hope Henderson County residents will join together in these preservation efforts and make their voices heard.
There is strength in numbers! Help support this valuable effort! Now is the time!
Norman Miller Jr.
Hendersonville
Norman Miller is a member of the Henderson County Cemetery Committee.
****************************************************************
Cemetery Laws Need Enforcing
February 24, 2005
To The Editor:
According to the state of North Carolina, there are cemetery laws that are supposed to be enforced. Well, apparently not in Henderson County.
After seeing Fox News on TV and reading in the Times-News about the blatant desecration of the Corn cemetery, I can't help but wonder, does anyone out there really care about their heritage?
These are your ancestors buried in these cemeteries, and in some cases the graves are the only existing record of them. Do you not care? I have heard more often than I care to "They're dead. Who cares?"
It would seem a lot of people don't. Would it were not true!
My question is, who is supposed to enforce these cemetery statutes? And if you are supposed to enforce them, why don't you? Or is it that in reality and truth, you also don't care.
Barry Hollingsworth
Hendersonville
****************************************************************
Cleaning Cemeteries A Service To Public
February 25, 2005
To The Editor:
This is to express my personal appreciation to the Sons of Confederate Veterans Walt Bryson Camp 70. Their dedication to cleaning up cemeteries in Henderson County is very commendable.
My husband, John, is 81 years old. His family plot, where his father, grandparents and other family members are buried at Mill Pond Cemetery, was cleaned recently.
We thank all who worked so hard to clean the area. It looks very nice.
Ruby T. Hooper
Saluda
****************************************************************
Veterans' Graves Should Be Protected
February 25, 2005
To The Editor:
I am disappointed in the Times-News. You did not cover the cleaning of the Davis Cemetery the morning of Feb. 12.
The Sons of the Confederate Veterans did a fine job taking care of the graves.
There were several veterans buried in the cemetery and part of them died in war. They should be remembered, not forgotten.
I was upset the newspaper did not cover this story. It can cover trials of murders and rapists, but not of something moving and constructive like this.
The veterans should be given some consideration and respect.
Arnold Levi
Flat Rock
****************************************************************