Posted By: Dorothy Campbell
Date Posted: Jun 17, 2009
Description:
William L and Nancy Wallace Llewellyn
Son of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen
Date Taken:
Place Taken: Grassy Valley Cemetery Knoxville, TN
Owner: Margery Morgan
Margery Ray Morgan - Jun 18, 2009
this Lewallen gave the land for Grassy Valley cemetery plus land for another cemetery
he had 125 acres of land and it was all farm land and trees in his days
he was a good man ( so i have been told ) and i believe he was since he was so good at giving land away for churches and cemeterys
who would you find that would do that
Dorothy Campbell - Jun 18, 2009
Margery,
In that time period, that is how most cemeteries were started, by someone in the family donating land, but now in todays time frame, well that would be a different story. Seems like too many people now want to change the names of the old cemeteries from the original names of the people who did donate the land and put another name entirely different on it. Can sure be confusing when trying to locate the ancestors.
William had to be a good man after all he was one of us.
Resa Miller - Jun 18, 2009
Why do they change the names, it seems like the owner should be the only one to change the name. If it belong to the "people" then it should remain the same name. My aunt had a fit when she found out about some of the cemeteries names being changed, with our ancesters in them. I think one was the Thompson cemetery.
Dorothy Campbell - Jun 18, 2009
I have found in some cases, the people (part of the family some how), that is now the care takers of the cemetery, feel that their names should now be on the cemetery or part of the cemetery name. I feel they should stay the same original name, but that is just my way of thinking, everyone has their own thoughts.
It makes it too confusing for people trying to locate graves of their loved ones. Some times they even change the name more than once. That is really confusing.
Billie Harris - Jun 18, 2009
What's even worse is when a cemetery is demolished ! There was one outside of Delight where I lived. It had some of my ancestors and relatives in it. The cemetery was there for years and one time when my grandmother went, it had been destroyed and the owner of the land was using it for a cornfield. She was told by a neighbor that he bulldozed the markers and they were dumped down a nearby ravine. Now no one except a few of us older people even know it was there and even at that, I have no idea where it is because I didn't go with my grandmother at the time. I did notify the Pike County genealogical association of what happened though so they'd be aware that one existed for the family.
Dorothy Campbell - Jun 19, 2009
They should at least move the bodies to another location with the headstones too, before they do something like this.
Billie Harris - Jun 19, 2009
I remember the old man who owned that area. He didn't care about the people there, only about money and obviously he wanted to use the land. It's sad to me that someone would stoop that low for a little extra land to grow corn.
And, I've heard of the same thing happening to other cemeteries.
Dorothy Campbell - Jun 19, 2009
All of our houses may all be built on very old burial grounds. Hard to say what was once where we all live, from way back there.
Resa Miller - Jun 19, 2009
I thought that would be against the law. It just doesn't seem right.
Billie Harris - Jun 20, 2009
It probably is now, Resa, or at least I'd hope so.
Margery Ray Morgan - Jun 18, 2009
Rick Llewellyn - Jun 30, 2009
I only now saw this post - my GGGF John (who was one of William's sons) was the one who donated the land to Grassy Valley Baptist Church. I have an interesting church letter about the establishment of this church. In fact, this is the land I grew up on until my GF sold it about 1964. It was in the possession of the family for about 100 years! I also have an aerial view of the property from about 1958 when my GF and father were operating the Llewellyn Turkey Farm on the land.
Margery Ray Morgan - Jun 29, 2009
have you noticed how good the reading is on these old stones
it is what we do to them then wash them off after taking the picture
Margery Ray Morgan - Jun 30, 2009
Rick
i have all ways been told by the Lewallen family about the cemetery and who gave the land for it
Margery Ray Morgan - Jul 4, 2009
it is sad what happens to some graves
my Great Grand father was buried in Cookville, tn where a lot of my kin are buried
some one went in that part of the cemetery and made a tobacco patch over the graves they destroyed the head stones and did not even give them to the family
we was all up set about this but i hear that once a grave is a hundred years old it can be done.