It was fitting, I think, that Lisa and I spent the weekend before MLK Day in Memphis. We took the opportunity of the three-day weekend to advance our quest for knowledge in our on-going family history project.
The notion of service, for us, takes a different form but, to us, the goal is quite meaningful.
Back in the fall, I wrote about how we’ve been trying to locate the gravesite of my great grandmother Mary Valentine Carpenter. Mary was 25 years old when she died after a bout with tuberculosis. She contracted the disease after taking care of a neighbor who had earlier fallen ill.
During a trip to West TN for a family funeral in late September, we detoured to a place in northern MS that, we thought, might be her burial site. Turns out we were close, though not quite there.
After we returned, I reached out to the good people of Marshall County in the form of a “Letter to the Editor” in the local newspaper, The South Reporter. In the letter, I wrote about Mary. I talked about our goal to find Mary’s gravesite and asked for any suggestions or assistance local genealogists or caring citizens might care to provide.
The response was overwhelming.
I received at least three phone calls and a couple emails regarding my query. One of the calls led me to a family that owns the land adjacent to the Pittman Cemetery. A kind gentleman agreed to take Lisa and I to the site and since the cold weather has killed much of the underbrush in this small wooded area, it was easier to see.
We walked through the woods and, after a few minutes, we found a number of old grave sites and a few tombstones that date to the early 1900s and late 1800s. From a website that includes information about Marshall County Cemeteries, we learned the names of the individuals buried where Mary is. We confirmed this by reading a book on the same topic.
The names on the stones we found match those records.
Near the end of our search, we found one unmarked grave marked by two matching field stones. One would be a headstone and, clearly, the other would serve as a foot stone. Considering the other names were accounted for, Lisa and I wonder if these stones might be the ones actually marking where Mary is buried.
We may never actually know the answer to that question for sure. But, I think it would be appropriate for us to place a marker somewhere on-site to commemorate Mary’s life and note her death and burial at the Pittman Cemetery; hallowed ground indeed.
October 4, 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of her tragic death. If all goes well, I hope that many of us will return to Marshall County that day to place the marker, to say a few words and to reflect on the memory of this courageous young lady who has meant a great deal to so many of us.
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