Extra Extra Read ALL About Her

Good morning Tanderanians, today I am writing to you about my great-grandmother Minnie Nesmith. After playing phone tag, I finally got in touch her with daughter Pearl, who happens to be my great-aunt. Mrs. Minnie was born February 11, 1907, and died on a cool crisp Sunday evening in 1975. For starters,  I would like to say she was  just amazing. Many would refer to her as strict, strong-willed, and a powerful woman, but to me she was everything.

My Great-Grandmother Minnie

After getting married, her and my great-grandpa had 10 children and lived on a farm with the 11 children he had from a previous marriage. It is said that they had just about anything that you could imagine on this  farm, from fruit trees, vegetables, and gardens to their very own grapevine. When talking with my aunt, I found this to be sentimental because most of the things my grandmother grew up with she brought to the house I live in now.

Sadly after a few years, my great-grandmother's husband died and she had to raise all twenty-one children and run a farm on her own. She worked hard to get what she wanted in life and taught her children the same. If this isn't a strong determined woman, then I do not know what is.

While talking on the phone with my aunt, I admired how they either planted, raised or made everything from scratch. It was amazing to know that everything she made came from the heart, including her homemade syrup. The most important things to her were her children and being productive. The part that surprises me the most is that she was able to do all of those things as a woman of color, back when we had few rights. In a time period where women were disrespected and where black women weren't even acknowledged, she proved that you can do anything. She believed that there was always work to be done. The day she died she was suffering from Tuberculosis, but her actual cause of death was because her sugar dropped and her blood pressure went up.

My Great-Grandmother with her children and grandchildren.

 Before I go, I wanted to say that my great-grandmother was an amazing woman who did  regular grandmother-like things, for instance, quilting, baking, and planting. Whoever is out there reading this, I hope you know that you can do anything and don't have to be dependent. My great-grandmother never remarried or dated after her husband died, and even though he was the love of her life, she still managed to be strong. She was buried in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  at Mount Moriah Cemetery. Her  last words were, " I know I won't get to see my grandchildren because I am dying soon."

As we embarked on our journey to another church I couldn't help but to look up at the sky above us. It was as if God had opened the gates of heaven just to great us here on earth. The church was not ony beautifiul on the . outside Welcome tanderanians, thank you for coming along for another adventure. This time we happened to embark on a journey to Bethel United Methodist Church. Although I will admit I had passed by the church multiple times I had known very little about its history.

Bethel United Methodist Church 

When we first went to the church I noticed that the designs on the headstones were more immaculate then other churches we had visited. Although, there were few headstones there was still a lot to learn about the people residing there.

For instance, I learned that although the church allowed black people to attend their services,  it was still segregated.


So while walking around the graveyard I happened to take a few pictures of the headstones i found the most interesting and these are just a few of them.

tombstone

To start off the first headstone I came across was a regular tombstone with a cross inside of a crown. This grave belongs to Priscilla Sarah Eason she lived from June 25, 1809 to March 10th 1885. The symbol on her headstone means sovereignty of the lord meaning that god has supreme order over earth and the heavens.

The next headstone I came across happened to belong to a young boy by the name of James Just. He was the only son of Dr. Jas R and Martha K Mood. He died at nine years old and lived from May 24, 1860 to December 27, 1869.

Ledger

die in socket

 The next person who I searched up went by the name of Rosa Mary Muckenfuss.  Her tombstone happens to be a die-in-socket. It seems as though hers may be the most luxurious with its beautiful designs. The bouquet of roses that is displayed across is supposed to represent beauty or even undying love while the drape is to represent lingering mourning or even to set the stage. She lived from October 9th, 1835- November 2nd, 1881.














The grave on the right belongs to a man by the name of William Capers.

Ledger.

Mr. Capers happened to be apart of the Washington Light Infantry which is known to be one of the oldest militia units and is still around till this very day. Listed below the Washington Light Infantry are the words Futaw Regiment which is the company he belonged to during the battle of Futaw. Mr. Capers was born to B.S.D and L.A. Muckenfuss September 15, 1843 and passed away July 28, 1862.

bedstead

To the left of this photo resides one of the former pastors of this church. He went by the name of William H Fleming DD.                                                   Many knew him as a beloved pastor, wise counselor, and to have been cheerful. He preached for 36 years and was considered chosen. The symbols on his grave represent a bible which is supposed to represent a religious person. The ivy wreath is supposed to symbolize liveliness.
He lived from January 1st, 1821 to April 16th, 1877.

Lawn-type marker

This marker belongs to Lt. T. Williams Veronee and his wife Adeline Veronee. Lieutenant Williams enlisted when he was 30 CSA, Company A in the Managualt's Battalion South Carolina Artillery.
Williams was born in the year 1832 and died November 6, 1862.
Adeline was born in 1830 and died December 9th, 1889.




The headstone to left belongs to Margaret Steinmeyer. She died October 14th, 1884 and was born June 28, 1811. She doesn't exactly have many designs on her tombstone. But there is a phrase below that states, "She is not dead but sleepeth." Whoever wrote this considered her to be asleep as though she would eventually wake up.

The tombstone to left belongs to Charles H. Muckenfuss. He lived from October 25, 1835-  June 3, 1914. The quote on his tombstone says faithful onto death. While the symbol on his grave stands for sovereignty of the lord.

This tombstone was dedicated to Rebecca Jane who happens to be the daughter of C.D. and R.J Bateman. The symbol on Rebecca's grave is supposed to symbolize an Angel which means guardian of a sacred place. She was born January 22, 1856 and died November 21, 1875. The words on the bottom of her tombstone state. "I have learned the song they sing. Whom Jesus rath set free and the jasper wales of heaven ring with my newborn melody. 

Pictured to left I have an image of my professor and the lady that hosted us this past Monday. I would like to thank her for welcoming us to her church and showing us around. 

Pictured to the right I have a picture of the inside of the church that I took from the top of the balcony. This is where I learned that the church had once been segregated and that most families paid a few cents to have pews with their names on it. 

If you look to left you can see the ceiling of the church. Now I know you're wondering why would you take an image of the ceiling of the church? Well for one it is true art. If you look closely you can see the designs of it and the flowers that are carved into it. It was quite beautiful to look up and see that to be honest it was a work of art. I couldn't help but wonder how many other people have looked up at the ceiling and thought the same things that I had. 

Pictured to the right is an image of the old bethel. The story of how it got across the street is quite interesting they literally picked the church up and lifted it across the street. I believe now this is the church that most of the African Americans that attended Bethel now go to. 

old bethel

history of old bethel.

As I close the window on this chapter I hope that you learned a little about the people that I wrote about here as always. I hope that wherever you are that you visit some of the churches that I have wrote about and take the chance to learn about the people that are on this earth and have left it. See you next time tanderanians. 

Greetings tanderanians, I just wanted to make a short post to update you guys that I'm going to be doing a blogpost about my great-grandmother named Graham. Although I know very few about her I do know she was an empowering black woman who took raising her children very seriously along with other things.