(died at Camp Douglas, an Illinois prison during the Civil War.)
History and commentary - by Wayne Austin
This cemetery was founded in 1840 by Bennet Kerbey who (except for Thomas Scott his brother-in-law who died in 1838) was one of the first known person to be buried there. In his will he specified:
I make a reserve of one half acre of land around Wesley Chapel for the benefit of the Methodist Church and burying ground forever.
This tells us the burial ground was included in a 1/2 acre tract, whereby the Wesley Chapel Methodist Church was also located. I believe the church building was down between the road and cemetery. There is a nice flat place appropriate for a church building in that westerly direction with the cemetery on the plateau behind the building. Assuming the location of the road has not changed the space between and including the cemetery and two parallel north/south property lines could be about 1/2 acre. A check of Maury County Land Deeds could verify this.
Studying the many graves marked only with fieldstones especially up in the northwestern corner of the cemetery leads one to believe there were burials occurring well before 1840. Tombstones were not as plentiful in the times prior to 1840. This little valley (Hollar as they are called) was settled at least as early as 1815 and the early pioneers needed a place to bury their dead. All of the persons interred in this cemetery one way or another are my ancestors or relatives and I can relate several others prior to their generations that are missing from the cemetery records that may be in North Carolina or Kentucky or they just might be under one of the stones turned on its side and buried half into the ground in a way that was known to mark the head of a grave. [WA 20 Jan 2008]
If you visited this cemetery prior to 2008 or this site previous to Jan 25,2008 you would have seen a drastically different place.
The John & Sue Brawders' who recently purchased the house and land to retire there have restored this cemetery. They have done a phenomenal job in the cemetery clean up and resetting of the memorials. They plied hands of loving care taking pains to see that each little detail was restored to it original glory. Such talent and clarity of thinking are rare. John & Sue your vision to see this site as an artistic, beautiful retreat instead of the usual bunch of fallen and broken rocks with writing on them has paid off. The family & friends of Wes Pullen, Pat Cribbett & Wayne Austin wish the Brawders a long and happy retirement and many hours of enjoyment in their continuing effort to turn their property into an enjoyable retreat and conversation piece to relate to friends and neighbors. [WA 20 Jan 2008.]
