Category: Genealogy

Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Underwater Cemetery

I have roots in Upstate South Carolina. Deep roots. Not as deep as the bottom of Lake Jocassee in Oconee County, but deep none the less.

Yesterday a good friend posted an article by Robin Jarvis, Most People Have No Idea There’s An Underwater Graveyard, about the underwater Cemetery of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church on Facebook. I know about the Cemetery and I know about other building(s) and things burried under the 7,500-acre (30 km2), 300-foot (91 m) deep reservoir. Wikipedia

When this project to build a dam and flood this beautiful valley was first beginning my grandmother was very vocal about what this would do to the valley and all of the wonderful things, natural and man-made that would be lost. I don’t think she protested or chained herself to Chapman’s Covered Bridge or to a rock at the base of falls, but she was upset by the washing away of her childhood romping places and the displacement of her friends and family from the area. She used to say this or that happened here or there and then end the statement with, “but that was before they built Jocasee”.

Another blog post states,”The Cherokee name Jocassee means “Place of the Lost One,” and what a fitting description that is for the South Carolina lake that bears its name…” -Appalachian History, Stories, quotes and anecdotes. Duke Power Flood the Uplands of SC, Posted by February 5, 2015

 

So here are some of the things that were lost to the need for power…

The Confluence and portions of the Keowee River.

Chapman’s Covered Bridge.
“One of the most popular covered bridges in South Carolina linked Pickens and Oconee Counties. Chapman’s bridge over the Keowee River was moved to the site of the Oconee Nuclear Power Plant to make way for Lake Keowee. Several young boys built a fire on its floor one evening and burned it up.” Histoic Oconee County, South Carolina, Prather’s covered Bridge, Paul M. Kankula, 12-Jan-2003, SC GenWeb

The Attakulla Lodge
“The hotel’s owner fought the Lake Jocassee development and was able to keep the Duke Power Company from demolishing his structure. It was the only structure still intact when the water poured in back in 1973. The Inquisitr    A former resident has done a dive to the Lodge and brought back a light fixture as a keepsake.

Images of what lies beneath Jocasee’s water which include sunken ships as well.

I had a sail boat I had left for a friend in my driveway when left to I move to Canada – it was stolen in the few hours it took my friend to come pick it up. She told me later of a sail boat floundering on Jocassee and sinking in a storm. The description of the Sailboat in the incident matched my Sail Boat perfectly. It would be there on the bottom too.

 
The Cemetery.
In the Find A Grave post for the Cemetery it states, “Some of the bodies in the cemetery were moved before the dam was completed that created the lake, but others still remain below the lake.”

The FAG post also states that there are 23 interments. The Post includes burials in the old location, “Church and cemetery was originally in a different location – now covered by water. When Lake Jocassee was built, the church and most of the cemetery graves were moved to their present location.” SC GenWeb Mount Carmel Baptist #1 ChurchCemetery, Oconee County, SC , aka Devil’s Fork State Park, Version 1.0, 1-Jul-2007  and burials in the new location.

The Movie Deleiverence, released in 1972, has a scene which is supposed to be “shot at the Mount Carmel Baptist Church cemetery” WikiPedia – You Tube Video of the Scene. This may or not be true as quite a few posts I found said that this scene was actually shot at a location overlooking the valley – possibly where heavy equipment was stored for the Dam Construction.

 

 The names of the burials in old and new total:

Cash, Allice Crowe. b. Apr. 27, 1870, d. Jun. 30, 1947
Cash, Charles Horris, b. May 16, 1935, d. Apr. 7, 2000
Cash, Dorothy Underwood, b. Dec. 18, 1931, d. Nov. 2, 2014
Cash, James Thomas “Tom”, b. Sep. 13, 1861, d. Jul. 12, 1940
Cash, l. Russell, b. Dec. 11, 1919 d. Sep. 10, 2008
Crowe, Louie Anderson, b. unknown, d. Aug. 1, 1953
Deaton, Michael Joe, b. Sep. 5, 1955, d. Sep. 30, 1997
Galloway, Minnie, b. Feb. 7, 1911, d. Apr. 30, 2000
Hamilton, Doris Yvonne, b. Nov. 27, 1934, d. Nov. 13, 1936
Hinkle, Silas Dover, b. Feb. 20, 1838 d. Sep. 2, 1918 (Gravestone is prominent in Video of Dive above)
Hinkle, Winifred “Winnie”, b. Mar., 1858, d. Jun. 5, 1917
Patterson, James, b. Oct. 16, 1839, d. May 6, 1917
Patterson, Narsisie Janie Cardner, b. May 22, 1834, d. Sep. 20, 1908
Rackley, Elizabeth “Liz”, b. 1790 d. Jun., 1870
Rackley, Martha Licena Bowen, b. 1850, d. Feb. 10, 1892
Rackley, Thomas William, b. 1790, d. unknown
Rackley, Pvt William “Willy”, Sr., b. 1820 d. unknown
Ramey, Carrie Virginia Deaton, b. Aug. 15, 1925 d., Oct. 10, 1987
Sain, Bobbie James, b. Aug. 6, 1931, d. Oct. 19, 2010
Sain, Vallie Mae Cash, b. Jun. 26, 1937 d. unknown
Talley, Joseph Dyar, b. Oct. 10, 1884, d. Sep. 5, 1941
Whitmire, Alson Lafayette “(Hig), b. May 2, 1854, d. Dec. 9, 1935
Whitmire, Lucy Jane Thomas, b. Dec. 11, 1864, d. Jan. 2, 1916 Find A Grave

The Genealogical Nightmare

This morning, after the dog got me up at 6:30 to go for his business, I crawled back into my bed hoping for another hour and a half of sleep. Which the universe gave to me grudgingly and with a kick in the bum for not just staying up to be the early worm…

On Facebook I am a part of a group for my natives (as in I was born and spent most of my childhood there) of my home city of Greenville, South Carolina. Over the past few days there has been discussions about Chick Springs, an old resort area with great historical significance to the area. But, if you ask many about the old spring house most will tell you they know nothing about it. Continue reading “The Genealogical Nightmare”

I Am So Sorry Dad – We’re Pending.

This could end up being very humorous or a nightmare.

I was excited to hear the great news that FTDNA (FamilyTree DNA) has added a phasing ability to their matches results. Just Great! I love it! I am all over it!

I jumped into my DNA matches before I even finished reading the email. I like the new layout with the tabs navigation – makes things very easy to see in a “nutshell”. You won’t be able to be eligible to use this feature, be able to click on the tabs, until you get yourself linked to another match who is in your tree. The “tree” refers to the GEDCOM/Tree you uploaded to FamilyTree DNA. Continue reading “I Am So Sorry Dad – We’re Pending.”

Just Start

Oh to Start. Well that is what it all comes down to right? Nothing gets done unless you just start. Marc and I are doing just that.

We have known each other for a couple of years. He and I live in the same neighborhood. His sister is in my life “circle’s”. You know, those people you probably interact with at least weekly, but they aren’t really a “friend”. A neighbor who shares a fence, the fella at the butcher shop you end up having long discussions with occasionally while shopping, the manager at your favorite store who patiently listened to a special request, made it happen and you always go out of your way to say hello.

So one afternoon when our paths crossed, Marc says to me, I hear you are into “Genealogy”. Oh, the conversation that followed. So now we…

…Just Start.

Continue reading “Just Start”

Cluster Genealogy Part 3 – I have Maine on My Wall.

Back to CW and his family…

CW has a One Name Study already on the go on WikiTree. Which has come in so very handy. He has it structured in part by early W’s – everywhere he had already found them.

To further my own research of his brickwall I have to study ALL of the early W’s in Maine. I Continue reading “Cluster Genealogy Part 3 – I have Maine on My Wall.”

WikiTree and Family Search

Life is such an annoying thing, the way it always gets in the way of enjoying genealogy – my/our primary purpose in life, right? I have so many real life things to do today but instead I am here posting a blog about a speaking engagement I have for tomorrow on one of my favorite subjects…you guessed it, GENEALOGY!

Shameless plug:

Voices from the Dust – Ottawa’s Rootstech

Continue reading “WikiTree and Family Search”

I know I am the only one who does this.

I know I am the only one who does this.

I am the only genealogist who has a sense of family, who feels an ancestor’s pain when I type a date into my Genealogy program of choice (WikiTree). I am the only one who, when reading about some horrific event in an ancestors life, feel it in the pit of my stomach. I am the only one who feels pride when I read that someone was mentioned in the hallowed halls of Congress upon her death.

I know I am the only one. Continue reading “I know I am the only one who does this.”

OGS 2016 Toronto

Wow! Going to a Genealogy Conference sure does make ones furnace burn bright with the fires of impetus, drive and determination!

Grandma’s Genes is at the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2016 in Toronto this weekend (June 2016). We participated in a workshop on running a genealogy business where we learned great strategies for moving Grandma’s Genes into the stratosphere of our niche market (Genetic Genealogy – General, Adoption and First Nations Peoples). It’s Amazing to have this kind of a workshop available to us this weekend and furthers our desire to offer insights and resources to our clients and to the genealogical community as a whole. Continue reading “OGS 2016 Toronto”

Down The Rabbit Hole Again

I just had a great chuckle. I downloaded the Ontario Genealogical Society 2016 Conference App. from Google Play. Listed underneath the application, as the top download also downloaded by others who downloaded the OGS Conference 2016 App? Addiction Biology.

Oh I have seen all the comics about how we Genealogists/Family Historians are up to all hours hunched over our computer keyboards, how we are neglectful of our significant others, how our homes fall down around us from that same neglect…it goes on and on. We do have a singular passion. We are almost driven to find the answers to all our Family mysteries. But is it really an addiction? Continue reading “Down The Rabbit Hole Again”