Patrick County, VA - ARCHELAUS HUGHES CEMETERY By Larry D. Christiansen Submitted for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Larry D. Christiansen ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES 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 contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net ************************************************************************ Location - in southeastern Patrick County just north of Road #631 and 1.1 mile west of the Henry County line and 4.6 miles east of the Moorefield Store area. The cemetery is almost a mile southwest from the Hughesville home as the crow flies. Known Burials: 1). Archelaus Hughes - 1747 to December 25, 1796 - [son of Leander Hughes] Headstone Inscription: "Died at his residence in Patrick County Col. Archelaus Hughes On the 25th day of December 1796 In the 53rd year of his age He rendered efficient service as an Officer in the Revolutionary War and Participated in the beneficent result As an excellent citizen" 2). Mary Dalton Hughes -1754 to December 28, 1841 - [Daughter of Samuel Dalton and Anne Dandridge Redd Dalton] Headstone Inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Mary Hughes the widow of Col. Archelaus Hughes Born in the year of our Lord 1754 Died the 28th day of December 1841 In her we saw the varied virtues blend of Daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend" 3). Samuel Hughes - born abt. 1783 to March 4, 1850 - [son of Archelaus and Mary Hughes] Headstone Inscription: "Died at his residence In Patrick County Col. Samuel Hughes On the 4th day of March 1850 In the 67th year of his age By him was realized the plan Of God's noblest working an Honest man" 4). Nancy Hughes Stovall - June 30, 1773 to June 2, 1845 - [daughter of Archelaus and Mary Hughes] Headstone Inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Nancy Stovall Born; June 30, 1773 Died: June 2, 1845" NOTE: Her original headstone was broken , and it was replaced by this headstone in 1981. Her original headstone had the same inscription. 5). Brett Stovall - October 14, 1766 to 1859 - [son of George Stovall and Mary Pleasant Stovall] Headstone Inscription: "Major Brett Stovall Born Oct. 14, 1766 Died 1859 War of 1812" 6). Samuel Hughes McCabe -April 9, 1848 to January 1, 1863 - [son of Thomas and Mary McCabe] Headstone Inscription: "Here lie the remains of Samuel Hughes McCabe Son of Thomas & Mary Martin McCabe Born April 9, 1848 Died January 1, 1863 Noble, brave and generous son and brother, sweetly sleep the soul in his God Shed not for him the bitter tears Nor give the heart to vain regrets Tis but the casket that lies here The gem that filled it sparkles yet" Probable Burials: Graves marked by primitive stones with no inscriptions with four definite graves with the possibility of one or two more in this cemetery. 1). William Martin (1742-1809) - He was the son of Joseph Martin and his wife Susanna Chiles born in Albemarle County, Va. and died in Stokes County, N.C. He married Rachel Dalton, the sister of Mary Dalton Hughes, in 1798. Additional connections to the Hughes family came when a daughter, Nancy, married Archelaus Hughes, Jr., and when another daughter, Sally, married Capt. John Hughes in February of 1798. William Martin served in the Revolutionary War first as a county lieutenant and later as a captain. As part of his war service he received a grant of land from North Carolina in the area that became Tennessee. He moved to N.C. upon inheriting land to be near his brother Col. Jack Martin. He and his wife had nine children. Lucy Henderson Horton in her Family History printed in 1922 on page 153 wrote: "Captain Martin is buried at `Hughesville' in the old family burying grounds in Patrick County, Virginia." 2). Leander Hughes (abt, 1770 to 1867) - probably the oldest child of Archelaus and Mary Dalton Hughes. He was born and reared at Hughesville. Upon the death of his mother and later his brother Samuel, he inherited Hughesville where he lived until he passed away at the age of 97. He is found on the 1850 and 1860 Patrick Co. Census South District, but he is not found on the 1870 Mayo District. On the 1850 census Thomas McCabe and his wife Mary Martin McCabe, plus children from Mary's two marriages, are living at Hughesville with Leander. In 1860 only Mary and three children from the Staples marriage and three from the McCabe marriage are living at Hughesville. On this census Leander is listed as a "gentlemen" at age 92, while his niece Mary Martin McCabe not only heads the list of family members but shows an income of $8,000 an extremely high figure for Patrick County where the next highest figures were $7,000, $6,100, $5,880, $5,700 and $4,500 also being uncommon. As he never married, at his death Hughesville passed to his niece (his sister's daughter), Mary Martin McCabe, who had lived at Hughesville with her uncle in his old age there. After spending his whole life living there and the last 15 plus years managing the Hughes property in and about Hughesville, it is almost inconceivable that he would have been buried anywhere but the family burial grounds. 3). Gabriel Hughes - the son of Archelaus and Mary Hughes who died in an accident as a youth. The number of known children of Archelaus and Mary Hughes varies from nine, ten or eleven in most histories of the family with only a few of the children with reliable birth dates. Family accounts have many discrepancies with much omitted and numerous questions unanswered. From a second great granddaughter Hallie McCabe Price (Mrs. Robert B. Price) comes the story of a son in the Archelaus Hughes family who died young in an accident. She submitted papers to the National Society of the DAR as a descendant of Archelaus Hughes. These papers also included Mrs. Price's lineage as follows: - ". . .Col. Archelaus Hughes and wife Mary Dalton. Their daughter, Sallie, married Col. Joseph Martin. Their daughter, Mary Martin, married Col. Thomas McCabe. Their son, Thomas F., married Rachel Tatum. Their daughter, Hallie McCabe, married Robert B. Price." Mrs. Price belonged to the DAR as Serial # 416710. Her verbatim account included this story: "Col. Hughes had a son who was thrown from a horse and his neck was broken. The slaves claimed that in late evening after sunset they would see a man sitting by the road side about where young Hughes met his death and he had no head, but would be crying." None of the known sons can be connected to this story. Either this descendant's story was incorrect or there was another son in the family. Confirmation of this son with a name and an additional family member comes from an even closer source. Archelaus M. Hughes III (1800- 1838), son of Archelaus Hughes, Jr., and grandson of Archelaus Hughes, in an account he wrote in 1827 from Weakly County in Tennessee cited several of the brothers and sister of his father Archelaus Hughes, Jr. [or II]. He made two additions to his grandparents' family in this fashion: "Gabriel Hughes, the other brother, and Mary Hughes, the other sister, died when quite young." The "other" brother and sister that died while very young are not listed by most researchers and family historians, but they are believed by us to be buried in this cemetery. ["Archelaus Madison Hughes, by his own hand-C. 1827 Weakly County, TN" in the Newsletter of Hughes & Related Families for June 1999] 4. Mary Hughes - the young daughter of Archelaus and Mary Hughes, who died while "quite young." This makes the number of children in the Hughes family as thirteen. * * * * History of the Archelaus Hughes Cemetery: First burial - either the young son who died after being thrown from a horse, or his young sister or their father and namesake of the cemetery. Last burial - probably Leander Hughes in about 1867. The stone wall that is two feet thick and from three to three and one half feet in height completely surrounds the cemetery was constructed about 1850. In the settlement of Samuel Hughes' estate, the account current of the Administrator Joseph Martin included the notation dated October 3, 1850 - (paid to) "Geo. Gatewood balance due him for building wall around grave yard 15.46" In 1850 or shortly before, a major improvement of the cemetery took place with the erection of the stone wall and inscribed marble headstones for some of the previous burials. Prior to the death of Mary Hughes in December of 1841, this burial ground contained only four graves-the young Hughes son and daughter that died young, the father Archelaus who passed away in 1796 and Captain William Martin who died in 1809. None of these graves were marked with inscribed headstones. Then beginning with Mary Hughes' death the next nine years saw a daughter Nancy and a son Samuel buried in the cemetery. When Nancy Stovall died in June of 1845, her grave was marked with an inscribed headstone. Then in the period between Mary Hughes' death in 1841 and the burial of Samuel Hughes in 1850 the family burial ground was improved with the stone wall and permanent marble headstones for three of the Hughes. Although we do not know the exact dates, we can make inferences from the fact that the inscribed headstones of Archelaus Hughes, Mary Hughes and Samuel Hughes were identical in style and material. Apparently the three were erected at the same time or within a short time of each other, and not the five decades and four years of their death dates. With the death of Mary Hughes in 1841 she passed "the tract of land and premise" on which she resided to her son Samuel. He now had the Hughesville home and adjacent land plus acreage of his own that included 300 acres surrounding the cemetery. In January of 1850 Samuel, a bachelor, passed this 300 acres down to a nephew with the following stipulation in the deed: "Samuel Hughes for and in consideration of the natural love and affection to his nephew the said Joseph Martin, Jr. and being desirous that the burying place of his ancestors should be in the possession of a relative in whom he has confidence and for the further consideration of one dollar . . . ." Possibly the stone wall around the cemetery was a factor in this gift by Samuel to his nephew. However in 1878 the Martins sold the land to people not related to the family buried in the cemetery. The only burials in the cemetery after the land was given to Joseph Martin were Samuel Hughes in March of 1850, Samuel McCabe in January of 1863 and Leander Hughes in 1867. Two months after Mary Martin Staples McCabe buried her son Samuel Hughes McCabe in January of 1863 in this cemetery; she started a burial ground adjacent to the home place of Hughesville. Here she and two of her Staples children and three of her McCabe children were buried between March of 1863 and 1923. The Cemetery from Old Photographs 1935 - four pictures-two close ups of the Archelaus and Mary Hughes headstones individually. Then a picture of both headstones taken some distance back and behind a small tree. Behind each headstone can be seen the trunk of a large tree with the one behind Archelaus' the larger, but both trees were as wide or wider than the headstones. The fourth picture taken outside the cemetery at a corner of the stone wall and shows several trees inside the stone wall. 1966 (October) - an old photograph of the cemetery with the date on the picture's outer edge and taken from outside looking at the southeastern corner of the stone wall with the outer stone steps on the right side. The view reveals a number of large trees dominated the cemetery interior. It shows two trees outside the stone wall with the one on the left side still living and a dead tree near the southeastern corner of the wall. The sparse vegetation outside the walls indicates the surrounding land may have served as a pasture. 1967 (May) - there are two photographs with this date on them. The first shows "Mr. T. F. McCabe (`Fleet') and Mrs. Galen Andrews (`Marje')" standing outside the eastern wall (stone steps visible). It shows a minimum of vegetation outside the wall with one tree near the northeastern corner. Inside the walls there were three large trees standing in the southeastern quadrant with another large tree fallen and leaning against the standing trees. Just right of the center of the pictures there was shown another very large tree standing with several smaller trees with vegetation so thick as to defy delineation. In this section with the thickest vegetation, there are no known burials. The second picture shows a close up of the Archelaus Hughes headstone. Behind the headstone is revealed a very large tree that was broader than the headstone with a small glimpse of the western stone wall in back of the tree. 1974 (spring) - Newspaper picture of the Hughes Cemetery with an article on Hughesville in The Bull Mountain Bugle, Stuart, Virginia of April 24, 1974, reveals the following about the cemetery. The view was from the southeast looking northwest with a clear view of the south wall and eastern side including the steps. Outside the eastern wall there was a small tree or large broken limb laying just south of the stone steps with a small tree growing outside the wall just north of the steps. Otherwise, the area outside the walls was free of any vegetation other than grass, possibly revealing the area was a pasture for cattle. Inside the walls of the cemetery were several large trees with many smaller trees. One of the large trees is laying at an angle, apparently propped against a couple of other large tree to prevent it from falling to the ground. There appears to be fewer of the large trees than were shown on the May 1967 pictures. The two large cedar trees behind the headstones of Archelaus and Mary Hughes were no longer there. From a descendant an identical photograph was obtained with the date of September of 1974. Most likely the newspaper furnished a copy of this picture to the family after the article in the newspaper. 1981 (spring) - picture of Mrs. Hattie Stovall Spencer standing on the cemetery wall during the cleanup and restoration undertaken during that time. The Stuart newspaper The Enterprise for April 1, 1981 noted that Mrs. Spencer and others had - "Just completed restoration of one of Patrick County's oldest and most historically valuable cemeteries during the past year." The newspaper stated that the stone wall surrounding the cemetery had been completely rebuilt. From a couple of people living nearby and one former owner of the property, we learned the following. There were some large trees and a few smaller trees within the enclosed cemetery. Some of the largest trees fell and damaged the wall. In the winter and spring of 1981, the fallen trees and the thicket of small trees, brush and vines were removed There appears to be no trees remaining inside the walls in the picture where Mrs. Spencer was standing on the wall. Apparently the storm damage extended beyond damaging the wall to some of the headstones with evidence that the Archelaus, Mary Hughes and Samuel Hughes headstone had been knocked over causing physical damage to the markers. The Nancy Stovall headstone was discovered knocked over and buried. It was found that the original headstone was broken. It was replaced in 1981 by the headstone now at the site with the inscription being the same as on the original. Nancy Stovall's old broken headstone is now in the Patrick County Historical Museum. A headstone for Brett Stovall of the same design as his wife's was also set up. Mrs. Spencer, who headed this cleanup, died at Martinsville in early May of 2001. Later Observations: 1984 --Mr. O. E. Pilson work Tombstone Inscriptions of the Cemeteries of Patrick County, Virginia was published. On page 2 and his number seven cemetery listed Mr. Pilson wrote the following: "COL. ARCHELAUS HUGHES CEMETERY, Located on the north side of Road # 631, about 1.1 mile west of Henry County line, near Buddy Hylton home. Cemetery is enclosed by stone wall. It was unattended for many years, and was in bad condition, but has been restored recently, and is now in good condition." After listing the tombstone inscriptions for six graves he concluded: "There are 4 graves marked with field stones with no inscriptions." 1999-2001 - We (Becky and Larry Christiansen) found the cemetery in the summer of 1999 while we were negotiating with a property owner in northern Patrick County concerning another old family cemetery located in a cow pasture with cattle grazing among the graves. The Hughes Cemetery was an absolute thicket of small trees (18 to 22 feet tall and up to five inches in diameter), brush, poison oak and vines both inside the walled cemetery and outside each wall. A view of the cemetery itself from the eastern wall showed vegetation so thick that only the graves adjacent to the inside steps (Samuel Hughes and Samuel McCabe) could be seen. The first summer we cleared away the growth from outside the eastern wall, and then moved inside the wall and cleared away the southeastern corner from the inside steps over to Nancy Stovall's footstone and south to the southern wall (an area less than one-sixth of the cemetery). At this juncture the burial ground in the cow pasture was resolved, and we turned our attention to fencing out the cattle and restoring it. Once this was done, our attention returned to the Archelaus Hughes Cemetery. Becky Christiansen is the fourth great granddaughter of Archelaus and Mary Hughes, and the third great granddaughter of Bret and Nancy Stovall. In the late summer of 2000 we solicited the help of David Sloop of the Ararat community to undertake the cleanup of the cemetery as his Boy Scout Eagle project. He began spraying the poison oak, which was prominent in and about the cemetery. After the vines lost their leaves, the work of cleanup was to commence with the assistance of members of his Scout Troop 551, sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Mt. Airy, N.C. In the meantime the Roy and Dottie Via family had found the grave of an ancestor at the cemetery in the cow pasture and were also connected to the Stovalls and Hughes in this cemetery. At Thanksgiving time of 2000 the Via family, living in the area or back home for the holiday (Roy and Dottie Via and their three daughters and their husbands-Leon and Cynthia Towamicki, David and Diana Nixon and Brian and Julia Nester), spent a day cutting most of the small trees and brush from the cemetery and along the outside of the northern wall using chainsaws. They piled the cutoff trees, brush and vines opposite the eastern wall and northern wall. Then David Sloop with his fellow scouts and their leaders came in and finished cutting down any remaining trees inside the cemetery and outside the western and southern wall. Then they brought in a chipper and reduced it all to chips and mulch. They worked at the massive mat and tangle of vines (honeysuckle, Virginia Creeper and poison oak) and greatly reduced its presence. They reset the large stone steps leading into the cemetery and placed a sign at the junction of the small lane and Road #63l that reads "A. Hughes Cemetery." We did a little repair work on the walls and cleaned all of the inscribed headstones. One headstone required extensive repair work, two some restoration and the McCabe headstone was placed back upright. Surprises in the Latest Cleanup: 1). A mystery stone was observed early in the cleaning of the cemetery. It was located halfway between the inside stone steps and Nancy Stovall's headstone. In the thick overgrowth it was seen as a manufactured stone with a round or circle top. Mr. O.E. Pilson had stated nothing concerning it, and so it became known as the "mystery stone" as we wondered why it was there. After all the trees were removed and the tangle of vines was reduced, it was discovered the top of this round stone had a base a few inches more than we first thought. On this base below the circle portion was inscribed the following: "N.S. AE [formed together back to back] 73." Research revealed the two letters back to back formed a Latin symbol for age of human. Now the mystery stone was seen as Nancy Stovall's footstone. A quick trip to the Patrick County Historical Museum the very day we found the inscription confirmed our belief. This footstone and Nancy Stovall's original headstone were made of the same material and similar in design. 2). A marble slab covered the entire grave of Samuel Hughes McCabe. The growth of vines was so extensive as to preclude seeing this marble slab until the overgrowth was cut and removed. 3). Behind the graves of Archelaus Hughes and Mary Hughes were large stumps whose centers had decayed away leaving only the outer circumferences still standing some 10 to 11 inches above the ground. The tree roots had forced the two nearby headstones out of alignment and had caused each to be tilted. Between the two headstones a root had a large knurl or knot on it exposed above ground, and both decayed stumps were unsightly eyesores. From existing dated pictures, it can be determined that the two trees were cut down sometime between 1967 and 1974. The stump behind (west) Archelaus Hughes' grave was the largest and measured 26 inches at its narrowest point and 33 inches at the widest diameter at the cutoff point. The stump behind Mary Hughes' grave was smaller but still measured 20 inches at the narrowest point and 23 inches at the widest diameter at the cutoff point. Because of their condition and being right up against the bases of the grave markers, it was thought best to remove these stumps so the two headstones could be realigned with one another and leveled. To our amazement the outer ring of these stumps was extremely hard notwithstanding the complete decay of the inner two-thirds. When the outer layer was cut away the old wood of the stump was colored reddish and possessed the strong aromatic smell of cedar. The two trees that sat behind these two graves were Eastern Red Cedars (Juniperus virginiana)-actually a variety of juniper rather than true cedars.. A professor of Tree Physiology and Silviculture at the Department of Forestry at Virginia Tech stated there was no reliable way of determining the age of these trees when cut off since the inner two-thirds had decayed away. However, he noted that the Eastern Red Cedar was slow growing and that trees of the size we gave stump diameters for were "likely several hundred years old at least." Making it feasible that the large cedar tree behind Archelaus's headstone could have dated from or near the time Archelaus's interment in 1796. The same could also be said for the tree behind Mary's headstone. * * * * On June 16, 2001, a commemorative service was held adjacent to the cemetery and attended by over 33 relatives and interested persons. After a program, a SAR marker was unveiled next to the Archelaus Hughes headstone. Robert L. Hughes, a fourth great grandson of Archelaus Hughes, President of Hughes Families, President of the James Madison Chapter of the SAR, and President Elect of the Tennessee Society of the SAR donated the bronze marker and dedicated it at this time. 1 9