ROBERTS CHAPEL CEMETERY, Roberts Bend Road, MAURY COUNTY TENNESSEE.
(Also called SEDBERRY CHAPEL CEMETERY.)

Locator Maps & Instructions      Roberts Chapel Cemetery Signage     Area photos

* Sources say were interred here, no inscribed tombstones found 24 Mar 2009.
ADAMS, Elisabeth Taylor, 19 Jul 1835 - 22 Oct 1896, "wife of T. G. Adams". (Wife of Thomas Adams; sister to Jane Roberts Blackwell.)
BLACKWELL, Rufus H. (Harvey), (22 May) 1849 - (Jun 2) 1926. (hus of Jane Roberts Caughron.) 
BLACKWELL, Jane Roberts, (4 Oct) 1838 - (10 Sep) 1915. ( Jane Fleming Caughron; 1st mar. Cannon Hill Roberts; 2nd to Rufus Harvey Blackwell.)
BYRD, Martha J., wife of L. M. Byrd, 10 Sep 1834 - 3 Sep 1872.
CHURCH, Roberta Albertine, 24 Dec 1882 - 18 Oct 1885. "Daughter of Clayton & M. A. Church"
CHURCH, Cathey Roberts, 5 Mar 1885 - 6 Oct 1886. "Son of Clayton & M. A. Church"
HOWELL, Jethro, 3 May 1798 - 18 May 1850. (inside small iron fence.)
HOWELL, Winfrey Jane, 16 May 1831 - 11 Sep 1862. "Wife of B. J. Howell; daughter of William & M. F. Roberts." 
HUGHES, Robert M., 4 Dec 1818 - 31 Mar 1893. (Son Parselia Alford Hughes of N. C.; mar.: Annie C. Howell)
HUGHES, Annie C., 20 Sep 1826 - d. --??--. (Wife Robert M. Hughes; dau. Jethro & Elizabeth White Howell.; inscribed stone not found 24 Mar 2009)
*McKEE, Mrs. Elizabeth, "23, died Friday on Snow Creek, wife of Thomas McKee; buried Roberts Cemetery" (Daily Herald, 15 Sep 1901.)
*McKEE, Nelson E., "52, died Saturday; son of Andrew & Elizabeth Dodson McKee; married Miss Sedberry, who died several year ago; buried in the Sedberry Cemetery." (Maury Democrat, 25 Jun 1931.)
ROBERTS, William, 24 Sep 1806 - 12 Oct 1871. (65-00-18.) 
ROBERTS, Mary F., 3 Jan 1801 - 12 Jul 1876. (69-06-09.) (nee Mary Fisher Orton, of Williamson Co.; Wife of William Roberts.)
ROBERTS, Samuel J., 10 Aug 1829 - 25 Feb 1892. Father. (Son William & Mary F. Roberts.)
ROBERTS, Angeline B., 3 Apr 1835 - 1 Dec 1912. Mother (wife of Samuel J. Roberts.) 
ROBERTS, Alice Annette, 11 Aug 1865 - 13 Jan 1886. "Daughter of S. J. & A. B."
ROBERTS, Cannon Hill, 1 May 1833 - 16 Nov 1872. (Son Wm. & Mary F. Roberts; 1st husb. Jane F. Caughron Roberts Blackwell.)
ROBERTS, William H., 4 Jun 1858 - Nov 1879.
ROBERTS, Samuel B., 22 Feb 1862 - 25 Nov 1862. "Son C. H. & A. B. Roberts."
ROBERTS, Mary Elizabeth, 11 Aug 1863 - 23 Jan 1868. 'Dau. C. H. & J. F. Roberts"
ROBERTS, Maury Orton, 16 Sep 1835 - 8 Nov 1873.
ROBERTS, Sarah Fidelia, 16 Feb 1844 -  11 Oct 1870. "Wife of M. O. Roberts." 
ROBERTS, Orton Worfielde, 27 Aug 1860 - 20 Aug 1862. "Son of M. O. & S. F. Roberts"
ROBERTS, Rev. William Orton, 1840 - 1923.
ROBERTS, Melinda Kinzer, 1843 - 1936. "Daughter of Nancy Garton & Gabriel Kinzer; wife of W. O. Roberts."
ROBERTS, Elliott P., 27 Aug 1853 - 30 Jan 1919.
ROBERTS, C. P., 2 Oct 1861 - 17 Mar 1886.
ROBERTS, Elizabeth Stanfield, 2 Dec 1871 - 18 Jan 1915. "Wife C. P. Roberts." (Daughter of Mrs. Fannie Cates)
ROBERTS, A. Pitt, 1 Jun 1865 - 22 Feb 1937.
ROBERTS, Lemira S., 22 Jun 1869 - 26 Aug 1908. "Wife of A. Pitt Roberts."
ROBERTS, Eva Foster, 24 Dec 1872 - 28 Dec 1896. Mother (Wife T. W. Roberts; daughter of J. M. Foster.)
ROBERTS, Infant of Mr. & Mrs. T. W. Roberts, 1893. (infant of T.W. & Eva Foster Roberts)
ROBERTS, Obediah, 27 Sep 1870 - 8 Nov 1870. "Son of M. O. & S. F. Roberts.
ROBERTS, Jane, 1867 - (10 Oct) 1893, "age 26, died on Tuesday, of fever ; lived in Godwin, (news source unknown, 19 Oct 1893.)
ROBERTS, Mollie B., 1862 - 1875.
ROBERTS, Iris Linn, 1873 - 1881.
ROBERTS, Samuel Henry, 1880 - 1880.
ROBERTS, Rosaliel, 1880 - 1901.
ROBERTS, Anderson P.,, 27 Nov 1827 - 6 Jan 1872, age 44 Yrs, 1 Mo and 9 days.
VESTAL, James M., 27 Feb 1858 - 12 Jan 1895. husband of Laura.
VESTAL, Laura, 1 Jan 1863 -  19 Jan 1897, (daughter of Maury Roberts; wife of James M. Vestal.)
VESTAL, daughter of Laura K. Vestal, 5 Jun 1887 - 13 Jun 1888.
VESTAL, Grover L., 10 Jul 1885 - 25 Oct 1886. (Son of James M. & Laura K. Vestal)
VESTAL, H. Eugene, 18 Sep 1888 - 8 Jan 1909.

Unknown fieldstone likely marking unknown graves (listing & photos):
Unknown, fieldstone, #210 Front eastern part of cemetery
Unknown, fieldstone, #213 Front eastern part of cemetery
Unknown, fieldstone, #214 Front eastern part of cemetery
Unknown, fieldstone, #220 Front eastern part of cemetery
Unknown, fieldstone, #221 Adjacent to #220
Unknown, fieldstone, #233 Middle part of the cemetery, cut piece of granite definitely marks a grave 
Unknown, fieldstone, #235 next grave south of H. Eugene Vestal's grave
Unknown, fieldstone, #237 Adjacent to #235
Unknown, fieldstone, #238 Adjacent to #237
Unknown, fieldstone, #239 Adjacent to #238
Unknown, fieldstone, #240 Adjacent to #239
Unknown, fieldstone, #244 inside rock wall, area large enough for a couple of graves.
Unknown, grave,      #273 Middle western part of the cemetery inside wrought iron fence.
Unknown, grave,      #287 Middle western part of the cemetery
Unknown, fieldstone, #301 Very back row on side of cemetery, this one has a footstone & is sized to be a child's grave.
Unknown, fieldstone, #302 south of #301
Unknown, fieldstone, #303 south of #302
Unknown, fieldstone, #304 south of #303
Unknown, fieldstone, #320 Far south side of cemetery stone stands up tall facing east.

Unknown old house in a decaying state in the neighborhood of this cemetery. Likely one of the inhabitants of this cemetery lived here.

This cemetery has been abandoned for many years, as has the old frame church building. The latter has been used as a hay and tobacco storage facility recently. The cemetery is completely overgrown and very difficult to list, even in the wintertime. F.L.H. 3 Feb 1987. 

The old church building is now in a serious state of decline with the roof metal compromised enough to allow the inside facility to get wet setting up irreversible decay. The spring plant growth (though too tall & uncontrolled for the cemetery) was beautiful with several of the floral plants of olden times used to decorate gardens in the south.  One plant I recognize there from my boyhood days in the 1950. My Mom collected and planted it around the yard in east Colbert County Alabama. I can still hear honey and bumble bees attending to the flowers today. That yielded a peaceful humming sound that spoke of a relaxing spring day when times were more simple. I am today unable to name the shrub, but the lush white flowers return each spring. [W. A. 24 Mar 2009]

ROBERTS BEND METHODIST CHURCH HISTORY

The earliest records refer to this church were as Sedberry Meeting House and the road was often called the Sedberry Meeting House Road, although the correct name in the old road minutes was the Hunters Ford Road. Hunters Ford was on Duck River where the Hughes Bridge crossed the river near Monsanto today.

As late as 1870 the bend was called Sedberry Bend and the little church Sedberry Chapel. But there was an even earlier name for this bend of the Duck River--the name is now lost and we can only speculate about it.
In 1841 Merrett Sedberry donated the site of the church and a class was organized by Sedberry, John Smith, James K. Gardner, James Bazwell, William Roberts, and Jenkins Scanlin. In 1846, the Methodist Church was divided on political grounds and the Methodist Episcopal Church South was organized at the bend with about 25 or more members.

The congregation was a part of the Duck River and Santa Fe Circuits through the years. Rev. R. G. Lynn and Rev. W. O. Roberts were the two most prominent ministers who served this congregation prior to 1900. R. G. Linn/(Lynn) and W. O. Roberts organized a mission church with seven members at this church in 1878. These two men organized several congregations in this part of the county including Luckett's Chapel near Kinderhook, Walnut Chapel north of Santa Fe, and Mt. Wesley.
As late as 1876 notices in the newspaper announce meetings being held at Sedberry Chapel by Linn, Roberts, and Rowland Hull.
The bend took its present name from the four Roberts brothers who settled here: Samuel J. (1829-1892), William O. (1840-1923), Cannon H. (1833-1872), and Maury 0. Roberts (1835-1873). They were the sons of William and Mary Orton Roberts. Members of the Roberts family are buried in a cemetery here. Two epitaphs are quite interesting. The Rev. W. O. Roberts stone says "He stood for freedom of the Negro. Walked in truth, sat not with vain persons, and
went not in with dissemblers." His wife Malinda Kinzer Roberts has: "Rooted and grounded in love, kept the faith, won the
prize."
The Roberts brothers had a sister Winfrey Jane, who married B. J. Howell, I (Jill Garrett) have found references in old newspapers where they lived in Howell Bend of Duck River. I (Jill Garrett) have never been able to discover which bend this is today (1976).
Unquestionably, the Roberts brothers were also prosperous farmers. In 1872 they sold 40,000 pounds of bacon and the old Columbia Herald reported that this was some sort of record sale. (1976 Jill K. Garrett)

Also published in the book Maury County Tennessee Cemeteries, by Fred Lee Hawkins, Jr. Page 178-179; visited 3 Feb 1987; and "They Passed This Way" page B-48, about 1967. Additional source information from Jill K. Garrett's Hither & Yon Vol. I, page 294 title: "Church in the Wildwood". Added to this site 26 Mar 2009 by Wayne Austin from 24 Mar 2009 visit & transcription effort.