ASBURY CLARK UNITED METHODIST CHURCH CEMETERY, Anderson County, SC A.K.A. Version 2.3, 9-Oct-2005, A008.TXT, A008 **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the recording contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the following USGenWeb coordinator with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn (visit above website) SCGenWeb "Golden Corner" Project Coordinator Anderson: http://www.sciway3.net/scgenweb/anderson-county/ Oconee: http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Pickens: http://www.rootsweb.com/~scpicke2/ **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Jan-2004 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Jan-2004 G.P.S. MAPPING . : Gary L. Flynn at (visit above website) in Jan-2004 HISTORY WRITE-UP : ____________ at ____________ in _______ IMAGES ......... : Gary L. Flynn at (visit above website) in Jan-2004 TRANSCRIPTION .. : Beverly Dean Peoples & Herman Bolt in Apr-2003 **************************************************************** CEMETERY LOCATION: ------------------ 8 miles south of Pendleton. Latitude N 34 32.352 x Longitude W 82 46.823 CHURCH/CEMETERY HISTORY: ------------------------ To: Editor Anderson Independent Newspaper CC: SC United Methodist Church Organization Re: Asbury Clark United Methodist Church (Historical) Asbury Park Rd & Lake Hartwell 8 miles NW of Anderson Anderson County SC During my last five years of GPS mapping and imaging cemeteries in Anderson- Oconee-Pickens counties, I've viewed a fair amount of stupid vandalism. However, what the vandals did to the historical Asbury Clark United Methodist Church cemetery is the purest form of being totally asinine..! You can view the images I took by visiting http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sc/anderson/cemeteries/a008/. You can also visit SC's Cemetery Laws by visiting http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemetery-p.html. Five hundred pound granite markers have been pushed over. Most any memorial marker that could be pushed over, was toppled. In order to do this, you would need a carload of fools - they must have been drunk or high on drugs. It's extremely difficult to comprehend how anyone of normal intelligence would have the deep-rooted desire to desecrate a cemetery - especially of this magnitude! I thought that the Turner Hill Cemetery desecration was bad, but this is 20 times worst. You can view their images by visiting http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/sc/pickens/cemeteries/p196/ . It's located 5 miles east of Easley. Recently, someone has trimmed many of the 3' Pine trees that were growing in the cemetery. Probably to pay their respects to a deceased love-one. I'm sure that once they discovered the vandalism, they simply went back home shaking their heads, with tears running down their cheeks. I'm writing you this e-mail in hope that maybe your newspaper can find some local organization who would be interested in restoring this cemetery. I don't have any relatives buried here, so I'm not interested in organizing this restoration effort. Some type of mechanical lifting equipment would be needed, since the large granite slabs can not be moved by hand. Because these fools have already desecrated this cemetery, there is little doubt that they won't be back to do it again if restored. The toppled top-portion of the tombstones should be laid on top of the graves and in front of their mounting base. It may not look pretty, but the tombstone inscriptions could be read and it would be very difficult for vandals to move the stones once they were laid flat. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn o----------o Excerpt pertaining to the Asbury Clarke Church from Will of Matthew Clarke , December 15th, 1840. "I give and bequeath unto my beloved Daughter Martha Jane one half of my claim to the plantation whereon I now live, also two thirds of my plantation on waters of the twenty three Mile Creek, except one acre which I give and bequeath unto John Barret whereon the Methodist Church Stands and one fourth of an acre for each grave yard for the use of the Methodist denomination of Christians forever adjoining land of J. B. Earle, D. J. Morris and others.... I think that John Barret was a church leader who handled the property for the church. I'm assuming that if the present day church tries to sell the property and I don't like the terms of the sale that I can bring up this clause to the attorney handing the sale and it definitely should cause a cloud upon the title that would make the sale fall through unless the known heirs of Mathew Clarke kept quiet. I am his 3rd great granddaughter and could figure out who all the others are...at least enough for my purposes. A sale of the property with a legally binding provision for the upkeep of the property and the proceeds of the sale to go into a trust fund for its upkeep would satisfy me. I would not want any removal of graves, even though that could be allowed by law. BDP o----------o "Memory of A Good Man" Article by John E. Wigington in the Anderson Intelligencer, undated but most likely about 1900. "The old home. there is a magic, some one has said, in that word, a mystic circle that surround comforts and virtues never known beyond its hallowed limits. Two brothers, Charlton Clark of Washington, DC and the Rev. Robert Clark of Dyersburg, Tenn. Visitors in Anderson and Anderson county over the weekend, are great grandsons of Matthew Clark, one of the early settlers of that section of the county in which is located Asbury Methodist Church, and to those brothers Sunday was a very happy day. They visited the community for the first time, walked over the ground opened up of cultivation by their great grandfather; lingered for a few reverent minutes at the spot where all that was mortal of him rests, and with a number of his descendants, the Bolts and the Webbs and others, worshiped in the house located on grounds given by him for a church and burying ground - and the great grandson, the Rev. Robert Clark, one of the most popular preachers in Tennessee Methodism, conducted the services...... Rev. Robert Clark, presiding elder of the Dyersburg district of the Methodist church, Dyersburg, Tenn. A district made up of eight-six churches with a membership of more than 11,000...(there follows part of the sermon) Joining with the descendants of Matthew Clark, talking with these brothers, his great grandsons, both of whom - in miles and distance -are far removed from the birthplace of their forebears, I was impressed anew with the beauty and the value of that inherent something which binds the human race together, that desire, sometimes long latent in the breasts of some, but which sometime or other will out, to visit old scenes. This is especially true in regard to the home of parents and grandparents and the places around and about which their activities were centered........ ....And there you are, Rev. Robert Clark known in Tenn., Miss, and Kentucky as a builder of churches, having served some of the largest congregations, in a little church with which the name of his great grandfather is closely lined, and to honor his memory. Truly, the memory of a good man liveth on." o----------o "ASBURY-CLARK CELEBRATES ITS HISTORY by Joanne Thrift, staff writer It could have been a scene from the early 1800's. An old iron kettle was on display beside a butter church. On the table were sweet potato custards and apple pies. And the women serving wore long prairie dresses and bonnets. But it was 1976 and the occasion was a combined bicentennial celebration and homecoming day at Asbury-Clark United Methodist Church on Lake Hartwell. The old church established either in 1828 or in 1833 (members say historians disagree about the actual year) is named in honor of area pioneer settlers, Francis Asbury and Matthew Clark. Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Black have donated a history of the church to the church library, after collecting the information from a former pastor, the Rev. Paul Goodson. The current pastor, the Rev. Barbara Rollins, and the district Methodist superintendent, the Rev. John D. Boone, Jr. were speakers during the day-long celebration. Item displayed included vintage radios and records, old lamps, picture, glasses, cutlery, crocheted scarves and pictures of the Vacation Bible School classes for 1956 to the present. Mrs. Eunice Holden was recognized as the oldest church member." o----------o A selection from "Diary of Micajah Adolphus Clark's visit to South Carolina in 1857" Published in The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. LIV, No. 1, January 1953 "....on July 22 I went down to Anderson and took dinner with Uncle Edmond Webb and at 4 p.m. started for Centerville neighborhood, ten miles; passed by where Grandfather Matthew Clark died and where I boarded in 1840 and 1841.... Then went over to Wm. Bolt's, who married Martha Clark, a young aunt of mine, who lived at my grandfather's old place near Centerville, where I took dinner. Found Wm. Bolt to be a nice young man. His wife is a very sprightly, intelligent and lively business woman. They have two children, named Mary Jane Elizabeth and Hannah Ann Matilda. The old place looked quite ancient, yet familiar; the same house in which my grandfather lived when I was born. A short time after I got there old Grandmother (at least Grandfather's last and third wife) came in. She was much delighted to see me. In a few minutes more my other Aunt who had been sent for came in, who married Abraham Bolt and lived 1/2 mile from there. I found her to be a beautiful, interesting young woman; had been married about six months. I enjoyed their company very much. About 2 o'clock I left them and went up to the old Asbury Church where I was first taught to go to church. There my grandfather and grandmother lie entombed. I got off my steed and walked around the graves and then took a seat and gave way to sad reflections. I thought of the thousand of times I have seen them and been at their house, of the many religious and moral examples they had taught their children and through them have handed down to their grandchildren; and I felt grateful to them for the good examples given me in my youth. These passages of scripture occurred to my mind: "They rest from their labors and their works do follow them." ........... o----------o The Rev. Dr. Robert E. Stillwell, D.S. The Anderson District of the UMC in SC Post Office Box 1057 Anderson, S. C. 29622 Subject: former Asbury Clark UMC Sir; I contacted you in June shortly after your assignment to this District in regards to the status of the Asbury Clark Cemetery at which time you stated that you would have to consult the District Trustees as to the status of the land and other property in establishing a Trust for the care and maintenance of the cemetery. I have heard nothing from your office in regards to this. I have a packet of info and pictures that I had hoped to share with you and the Trustees since your office does not have any records to support the fact that this cemetery has been permitted to go without any maintenance far several years. The Charge Conference had established a cemetery association to look after this when the church was closed, and what funds that were left were to be used to do this, this would also leave one to think that any proceeds from the sale of any property would also be used for this purpose, since the care of the cemetery is perpetual. How ever when your trustees ask permission of the Conference to sell the land where the church stood they stated the proceeds were to purchase more land in the District. I contacted Mrs. Mary Black who was Treasurer of Asbury Clark UMC when it was closed, and she served as the chairperson for the association as long as her health would permit, and during that time she had the cemetery cleared twice, but when she called the gentleman to clear it again he was no longer in business and she turned all funds over to the district for the Trustees to get the cemetery cleared. It would appear that there has been a breakdown in communications in the District as to who is now responsible for this very badly needed task. This is not the first time that this situation has happened to small rural churches in the UMC, when lakes are formed and most of the members live on one side and the church is on the other, we had a number to fall into this category in the Western NC Conference but we got them cared for by having the districts assume responsibilities for these abounded cemeteries. I hope that we can do so in this case, as these early settlers were the backbone of our present day UMC. I believe that we owe a final resting place to them without the complete disregard that is at present the appearance that this cemetery has in the high traffic area for the Corps landing and parking area next the cemetery. Respectful; Herman Bolt (now deceased) o----------o From: PrairEdust@aol.com To: (visit above website) Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2005 3:38 PM Subject: Asbury Cemetery near Anderson, SC My husband is a descendant of Matthew Clarke and with great effort several years ago we found and visited the Asbury Methodist cemetery. Today I noticed the articles about the cemetery clean-up done by the young Eagle Scout candidate on the cemetery website and wish that there were some way that we could express our appreciation to him for his care and efforts. If you have a way, would you please forward our thanks? Also, I wanted to add my husband's name to the list of descendants of Matthew Clarke in case they are ever needed to rally as a group on behalf of the cemetery (we could also rally my husband's mother, siblings, and the rest of his large extended family). His name is Paul Eugene Douthit and descends from Matthew as follows: 1. Ambrose Clark m. Mary Rosamond (Rosemond) 2. Samuel Rosemond Clark m. Sarah Chapman Martin 3. Henry Greer Clark m. Sarah Elizabeth Hargroves 4. Georgia Lee Clark who married James Boyd Watters (coincidentally a descendant of Flemming Watters who lived in the Anderson Co. area at the same time as Matthew) 5. Doris Elizabeth Watters who married Thomas Eugene Douthit, Jr. I am the family genealogist and you can use my email address as a contact address for Clarke or Watters. Prairedust@aol.com. Thank you. Marylyn Douthit TOMBSTONE TRANSCRIPTION NOTES: ------------------------------ a. = age at death b. = date-of-birth d. = date-of-death h. = husband m. = married p. = parents w. = wife Cemetery read on April 2, 2003 by Beverly Dean Peoples and Herman Bolt, prior to vandalism that occurred in May, 2003. Readers tried to keep groups together but there is no order to the rows. Additionally there are unmarked graves and broken stones. The condition of the cemetery was very poor, it was quickly being overtaken by pine trees. BAGLEY, Bell, Jan. 3 1893, d. Jan. 2 1930, wife of A. L. Ledford BAGLEY, Rossie M., b. Jan. 14 1896, d. Mar. 19 1919 wife of S. L. Sharpton BOLT, Asa, b. May 20 1808, d. Feb. 20 1876 BOLT, Hannah, b. Nov. 22 1808, d. June 24 1891 BOLT, Larcy (Leroy), b. May 8 1851, d. Mar 25 1856 BOLT, Mary C., b. June 13 1849, d. Sept. 21 1904, mother, (double stone with J. D. Garrison) BOLT, Willie A., b. Sept. 14 1865, d. Apr. 1 1903 BOLT, Wm, b. June 30 1830, d. Feb. 12 1920, father (double marker with M. J. Clarke) BOWEN, Sivester, b. Nov. 7 1907, d. Jan. 18 1908 BROWN, Clarence, b. Apr. 23 1876, d. July 7 1877, our children, S.N. & M.E. Brown BROWN, Fred Gary, Feb. 15 1881, d. Oct. 2 1882 (double stone with Clarence) CHASTEEN, F. G., d. Sept. 19 1926, aged 88 years CHEATHAM, John W., b. Aug. , 1892, d. May 6 1893, son of J.M. & M. J. Cheatham CHEATHAM, Minnie Lee, b. June 30 1889, d. Oct. 11 1891, dau. of J.M. & M.J. Cheatham CLARK, Matthew, b. Feb. 7 1755, d. June 2 1841, Rev. War marker, (actual birth date was 1763) CLARKE, Infant, b. & d. June 24 1911, son of B. H. & N. C. Clarke CLARKE, M. J., b. Nov. 29 1837, d. May 9 1919, wife of Wm Bolt, mother CLARKE, Wib Edson, b. Sept. 15 1906, d. Feb. 13 1907, son of B.H. and N.C. Clarke CRAFT, Betty G. b. Oct 30 1891, d. June 1, 1963 CRAFT, William A. b. Feb. 28 1885, d. Nov. 22 1975 (double marker with Betty) DAVIS, Martha T., b. May 22 1862, d. June 29 1933, wife of John W. Garrison DENTON, Margie E., b. Oct. 5 1884, June 21 1954 GARRISON, J. D. b. Dec. 17 1843, d. Mar. 23 1921, father GARRISON, James Richard, b. Sept. 24 1861, d. Oct. 6 1926 GARRISON, John W., b. Sept. 24 1863, d. Oct. 12 1947 (double marker with Martha Davis) GARRISON, Lucian, b. Sept. 4 1892, d. Aug. 20 1898, son of H.S. & M.T. Garrison GARRISON, Moses W., Co. D. 1st SC Rifles, CSA GOODMAN, Frances E. Chastain Busby, b. 1851, d. Aug. 8, 1918, erected in honor of Martha Jane Cox McClain MCLESKEY, Amanda, b. Feb. 2 1841, d. June 2 1924, wife of Warren Thomas MCLESKEY, Carlie Eugene, b. Aug. 21 1898, d. July 9 1901, son of C. E. & B. McLeskey MORRIS, David, b. Nov. 25, 1788, d. Feb. 7, 1876, aged 88 years MORRIS, Elizabeth, b. Nov. 30 1801, d. Aug. 7 1879, wife of David Morris MORRIS, John W., b. July 15 1840, d. Feb. 11 1863, son of David and Elizabeth Morris MORRIS, Martha B., b. Mar. 13 1819, d. Dec. 7 1895, wife of M. W. Garrison PERRY, baby boy, 1955 RUSSELL, H. Reid, b. Feb. 12 1876, d. May 12 1914 RUSSELL, Rebecca K., b. May 13 1875, d. Dec. 25 1948 STEVENSON, Johnnie C., b. Dec. 5 1887, d. Dec. 20 1887, son of J.A. & M. F. Stevenson STEVENSON, Theressa, b. Aug. 2 1868, d. Sept. 29 1928, his wife (double marker with Willie Bolt) THOMAS, W. S., b. Apr. 25 1845, d. Apr. 25 1865, Co. A, 1st Reg't, SC Infantry, aged 20 years, s/o B.T.& M.A.Thomas WALKER, d. Feb. 26 1904, infant son of J. N. & C. A. WILLIAMS, Claude, b. Jan 18 1904, d. Jan 5 1907, son of Margie Denton WILLIAMS, Clyde, b. Jan. 18 1904, d. Feb. 12 1904, son of Margie Denton WILLIAMS, Maudie, b. Jan , 1905, d. Jan 6 1907, dau. of Margie Denton WILLIAMSON, Annie E., b. June 1 1879, d. Mar. 1 1898, dau. of J. R. & L, C. Williamson WILLIAMSON, Sam, b. Apr. 1 1881, d. Oct. 9 1913 WILLIAMSON, T. E., b. Oct. 12 1885, d. July 24 1915, wife of S. L. S. Sharpton WILLIAMSON, W. T. b. 1887, d. 1932 WILLIAMSTON, Annie Betris, b. Sept. 29 1900, d. Dec. 29 1900, dau. of T. H. & M. Williamson WILLIAMSTON, Martha, b. April 15 1890, d. June 20 1908 WILLIAMSTON, Miles W., b. Oct. 21 1887, Sept. 21 1908, son of J. R. & L.C. Williamson WILLIAMSTON, Myrtie, b. Oct. 26 1879, d. Sept. 25 1907 WILLIAMSTON, Nezzie Ireen, b. Oct. 4 1899, d. Nov. 8 1899, dau. of T. H. & M. Williamson WILLIAMSTON, Wade, b. May 20 1898, d. June 8 1898, son of T.H. & M. Williamson