Roots

It wasn’t exactly a “Kunta Kinte, I’ve found you!” moment. But it was still fairly profound. It was still about roots; my roots.

Last week in West TN, I visited the Magnolia Cemetery in Collierville. You might recall, I wrote yesterday about attending the THSSDL competition at Collierville High School. That was the main story that brought me within a few miles of Memphis.

But my great-grandfather was the sidebar. What a fantastic sidebar!

It all started a few weeks ago with the release of the 1940 census online. You might remember, I wrote about that. I looked up my mother’s family and my dad’s family. I was talking to my dad about that one night when he asked – ostensibly to me but really it was more of a rhetorical question – about his granddad.

“I wonder if you could find Pittman.”

Pittman Carpenter was my dad’s mother’s dad; his maternal grandfather. I never met the man as he passed away many years before I was born. In fact, my only personal connection to the man was hearing a few family stories and viewing a couple grainy black and white photos.

I’m no genealogist, but when my dad asked that rhetorical question, I knew I needed to go back to work. Ancestry.com was offering a free one-week window when you could use their service to access the 1940 census. Pittman lived in Collierville, so the stories went, but we could never really find a lot of data about him. Then, I discovered a simple fact. He had lived in western Fayette County rather than eastern Shelby County.

Pretty soon, I was able to find all kinds of census records for him. I turned the case over to the experts – Lisa and Holly…the real genealogists in the family – and they dug much deeper, uncovering a treasure trove of information – including various versions of his name.

I guess census takers, undertakers and stone makers didn’t have the same commitment to accuracy that I was taught in my intro journalism class. But, setting that aside, I was just glad to find him.

We cross-referenced all of those and they led us to the same place.

We found out that Pittman Carpenter is buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Collierville. About this time, I realized the convergence of events – state drama competition and family history quest – was going to bring me to Collierville, TN. A few days before my trip, I found a phone number for the Magnolia Cemetery and dialed it. I talked to some very nice folks who helped guide me to where I would find the gravesite once I was on site.

A few days later, we were in West TN. During a break in the schedule for the drama competition, we headed a few miles down the road to the Magnolia Cemetery.

“Come in on the main drive. Go past the red and yellow sign. At the next stop sign, turn right. Drive up to the tree. Park. Get out. Walk about 25 to 30 paces and there you’ll be.”

And there I was – face to face with the tombstone of my great-grandfather.

The stone read “Sylvester P. Carpenter.” This is one of the many versions of his name. By his side was the stone for his second wife, “Miz Mary” as she was known. Around their grave were the graves of two of their sons and other family members.

I photographed all the stones for the family archive. Lisa took some nice pictures of the cemetery in general and, as we paused to leave, I photographed the entrance to Magnolia Cemetery.

It is a very nice place; very peaceful. It looks very much as you’d imagine a mature southern cemetery looks.

I enjoyed my visit there. I enjoyed making a connection with my great-grandfather – a man I never knew in person but a person I feel I now know much better. I feel I know Pittman much better thanks to the census; thanks to the online genealogy research done by Holly and Lisa and thanks to all the helpful people out in Collierville.

But most importantly, as I was standing there – praying and paying my respects – I felt this connection so much more strongly than you could get from merely viewing a grainy photograph or inspecting an online document.

JG  

(Source: ancestry.com)

Originally posted 4/24/2012