CUMBERLAND COUNTY, VA - CEMETERIES – Old Booker Cemetery
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Source: Library of Virginia Digital Collection


LVA Titled Files: Survey Report, Old Booker cemetery:
                  1936 May 20
                  Research made by Esther R. Meador

Cemetery Location:  1.5 miles south of Cumberland Court House on County Rt. 
                    #622, thence west .3 mile on County Rt. #642, thence south 
                    .5 mile on County Route #641.  Cemetery is east of the road.
                    Cumberland County


DATE:

About 1800.

OWNERS:

Edward Booker            Dates unknown.
William Booker           Dates unknown.
William James Smith      Dates unknown.
George E.B. Smith        From 1899 to unknown date.
G.E.B. Smith’s relatives From unknown date to present time. (1936)

DESCRIPTION:

The old Booker Cemetery, which contains one acre of land, was not enclosed until 
1935.  At that time, a brick wall two and a half feet high was erected, at a 
cost of $300.00.  Previous to that time, it seems that the graveyard had been 
rather neglected, although there were four tombstones.  The few trees in the 
cemetery are not of any special kind worthy of mention.  When the writer was 
there, last autumn (1936), the place was overgrown with weeds and bushes.  No 
flowers were noticed.

There are a great many graves with no inscriptions or tombstones.  On one 
tombstone there is this inscription:

Rev. George E. Booker, D.C.
Born February 9, 1828
Died February 14, 1899
A finished scholar.  A true philanthropist.
A faithful Christian. “He being dead yet speaketh.”


On another tombstone, there is the following inscription:

E. Nash Booker
Died in the triumph of Christian Faith
July 23, 1868
“Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb,
Take this new treasure to thy trust,
And give these sacred relics room
To slumber in the silent dust.


ON ONE TOMBSTONE, THERE IS THIS INSCRIPTION:

Fannie Munford Booker
Daughter of
Rev. G.E. and E.M. Booker
Born July 5, 1884
Died March 12, 1904
Pure in thought, exalted in purpose, 
lovable in disposition, blameless in life,
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.


There was one more tombstone, with this inscription:

Rev. G.E.B. Smith
Mar. 24, 1871
Feb. 24, 1915


HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:

Judge William M. Smith, the Commonwealth’s Attorney of Cumberland County, has 
many relatives, who were closely related, buried there.  Judge Smith’s great 
grandfather, Edward Booker, who was a Captain in the Revolutionary War, was 
buried in the Old Booker Cemetery, Captain Edward Booker was buried probably 
about 1800.  Judge Smith’s maternal grandfather, who rose to the rank of Captain 
in the Mexican War, was buried there in 1856.  This grandfather was Captain 
William Booker.  Judge Smith’s maternal aunt, Miss Nannie Booker, was laid to 
rest in this cemetery.  Miss Nannie deserves to be mentioned for the splendid, 
noble work she did in rearing Judge Smith and his two brothers.  When they were 
small, their mother died and Miss Nannie took charge of them.  One boy became a 
minister, one a physician and one a lawyer.  

Rev. G.E.B. Smith was a popular minister of the Methodist Church.  He was pastor 
of a group of churches in Cumberland County for four years and he accomplished a 
great deal for the benefit of humanity.  Judge Smith’s other brother, Dr. J.W. 
Smith, of Farmville, has a son, Dr. William Edward Smith, who is one of the 
outstanding doctors in Farmville, Va.


SOURCES OF INFORMATION:

Ownership, Will Book No. 11, page 162
           Deed Book No. 34, page 343
           Deed Book No. 34, page 342
           Deed Book No. 40, page 481

Court Records, clerk’s office, Cumberland Courthouse, Virginia

Judge Wm. M. Smith Commonwealth’s Attorney of Cumberland County; also, a 
relative of many who were laid to rest in the old Booker Cemetery.

Tombstone Inscriptions

Visit by worker.

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	This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives 
	by:  Joan Renfrow

	NOTICE:  I have no relationship or further information in 
	regards to this family.
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