I was researching cemeteries in Shelby County. The article is about Hunter's Walk Cemetery which is located in a subdivision on Bailey Road just off North Germantown Road north of Hwy 70. See below the story for information I've found researching this on the internet.
Commercial Appeal, Memphis
LONG-FORGOTTEN CEMETERY FOUND, RESTORED
Date: THURSDAY, April 1, 1999
Like chopping through jungle, Roy Holmes bushwhacked his way across
underbrush and overgrowth until he found the cemetery on the 52-acre tract that has since become Hunter's Walk subdivision.
It was two years ago when Holmes bought the property; an elderly neighbor told him about the cemetery.
"I didn't believe it but the man, who is in his 80s, said he played in it as a boy," Holmes said.
Using a GPS (geographic positioning system) instrument, Holmes stepped the property off in 50-foot increments until, after five days of intensive bush exploration, he came upon a clearing where the cemetery sat.
He was greeted by the local fauna: "There was a big ol' copperhead (snake) sitting on a grave marker," Holmes recalled. "I didn't want to mess with that snake."
Holmes, who has since sold the subdivision, also didn't want to mess with the state statute that requires notifying next of kin when a cemetery is moved. He and the subsequent Hunter's Walk owner did the easiest, and probably most pleasing, thing - they planned the subdivision around the cemetery, even assigning it its own lot.
Fresh paint and new metalwork have given the final resting place of Major Edwin Becton a new life, so to speak. Becton's and at least three other graves are restored to nearly the condition they were 160 years ago.
And the quaint old cemetery is up for grabs in Brunswick.
"We're hoping whoever buys the house next door, to the north (of the
cemetery), will agree to have the lot deeded over to them," said Chris
Taylor, one of the three builders active in Hunter's Walk, off North
Germantown Road.
The buyer of the house south of the cemetery declined the offer.
"Or we want to contribute it to a historical organization or society," said Taylor, who added he has approached a Brunswick community association about receiving the lot and cemetery but has not yet received word from the group.
Ownership would include keeping up the property; the cemetery has been
completely refurbished but the lawn would have to be mowed and trees
maintained.
It should be an interesting acquisition since Becton was born Nov. 19, 1790, and died Jan. 25, 1838. Holmes said his son was "doing a background check on the people in there" but came up empty-handed.
Other gravestones mark a Rev. Moses Brock (other information on the marker is not legible); Brock's wife, Elizabeth Bell Brock, Oct. 21, 1794, to Oct. 13, 1864; and Elizabeth's mother, Lovett Bell, March 22, 1767, to Feb. 17, 1843.
"We asked, knocked on doors, looked up the names but haven't found any trace of anyone who knows the names," Holmes said. "When we find out some information, we'll probably put up a brass plaque (explaining who they are)."
Holmes estimates that $20,000, plus labor, has been spent repairing the elaborate wrought-iron fencing, remounting broken headstones, building a stepped sidewalk from the street to the cemetery and sodding the lot. Throw in the $47,000 value of the lot and the refurbishing labor and saving the cemetery has cost more than $70,000.
"It's part of the subdivision, part of the land and always will be," said Mike Hilliard, who, with his brother Mark Hilliard, are the other two builders at Hunter's Walk. The subdivision comprises 104 lots averaging 16,500 square feet each.
"I love the cemetery, I think it's cool," said Mark Hilliard. He said most Hunter's Walk home buyers have had the same reaction.
Jeanie Costa, one of the Crye-Leike real estate agents selling Hunter's Walk houses and lots, said the cemetery is "a great novelty" but also has an interesting history. "I hope a historical society gets it," she said.
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The research I've done shows an Edwin Becton sitting on a grand jury in Jones County, North Carolina on March 12, 1827 (link: (
visit link) )
Rev. Moses Brock shows up as a preacher in North Carolina who "finished his useful days in Tennessee, where he died in
good old age" according to 'A History of Rowan County, North Carolina' by Jethro Rumple, on page 293.
Also in the story it states that Lovett Bell as being Elizabeth Brock's mother, but may in fact Mary Bell's father - the wife of Maj Edwin Becton. A marriage announcement from 1813 shows a Mary Bell, daughter of Lovett Bell marrying Edwin Becton (see screenshot photo).
Research has found a Lovett Bell deeding land several times in Hyde County, North Carolina and according to this page ( (
visit link) ) he sold a house to their family.