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The
purpose of this history is twofold. First and foremost this pamphlet
was written to document the information known about this cemetery
for family members as well as others that may be interested. However,
this project was not designed to be just a one page list of the
nine people that were buried on this land. The second and most
important purpose of this project is to share information that
is known to ensure that the people buried in this ground are known
to others for the contributions they made to their family, the
community, and the nation.
The nine people
in this cemetery cover three generations. The first person known
to be buried here was an infant, Rodrick Turner, who died on the
day he was born in 1875. At the time the cemetery was established
it was in easy walking distance from the Turner home place. It
was down the slope from the house and on the way to the meadow,
a very special place known throughout the community for the lilies
that would bloom in the early spring. More than likely, the father
and neighbors and or farm helpers dug the grave and made the casket.
Flowers would have come from the yard. The service was at the
home and could even have been conducted by the maternal grandfather,
Rev. John A. McMannen, a Methodist circuit rider. Surely there
were many who could have played the mother's piano since the McMannen
family was musical. While both parents were from large families
and Rodrick had five older siblings, given the circumstances,
it was probably a very small funeral.
The last time
someone was buried here was in December 1940. By this date the
land had belonged to the Turner family for 110 years. But the
times had changed and home funerals were not as common. Miss Addie
Turner had a wake at her sister's home where she had resided for
twenty years and funeral at McMannen's Methodist Chapel. After
the funeral the undertaker drove the casket with all of the floral
arrangements from the florist to the Turner Cemetery. Addie had
many, many friends and family and most had cars by this time.
There was a daily paper to announce the death and a phone to call
relatives. There were also cameras to take pictures of the event.
So the last burial was the largest and was rather like a formal
funeral that one would have today.
In between,
from 1875 until 1940, seven other family members were buried in
this cemetery. Four of them were born on the Turner land. One
member was an officer in and a veteran of the Civil War who had
been taken prisoner during the last campaign. One was an eldest
son named for an uncle who had made many contributions to the
development of Orange County. Another was a youngest daughter
with a beautiful white casket. Still another was a mother who
left a husband and five children behind. The last was a spinster
aunt who doted on her nieces and the other children in the neighborhood,
reading to them and teaching them how to live.
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