Orange County North Carolina Cemeteries Other NC County Cemeteries
Brought to you in partnership with Durham-Orange Genealogical Society https://dogsnc.org

130    UNIDENTIFIED CEMETERY - CHEEK-MARKHAM LAND [DESTROYED]

Location - The cemetery was located SE of Chapel Hill in the development 'The Reserve II' north of a private drive off Madera Lane, on Lot 9, approximately 50 paces SE down the road and 75 paces NE into the lot from that point.

Coordinates: 35d 53m 14.0s N; 79d 01m 40.0s W Click here for Online Maps

There are no burials listed for this cemetery.

Survey - This cemetery was visited by Shirley Glasgow of the Durham-Orange Genealogical Society in September, 1995, prior to its destruction.

Graves, Unmarked - There were approximately 24 graves marked by some fieldstones or merely depressions.

Status - This cemetery was destroyed and the graves removed to the Markham Memorial Gardens in October, 1995.

Comment - This property was purchased by James M. Cheek from A. S. Jones on 1 Dec 1859 (OC DB 49:393). It had previously been in the possession of William Barbee and prior to that John Daniels. The Cheek family home was WSW of the cemetery and the remains have been preserved in a small park. It is possible the home or homesite pre-dated the sale; the path to the old Barbee Mill on Morgan Creek to the north passed a short distance to the west of the homesite. James M. Cheek died in 1884, and he and his family seem to have been buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery or other nearby cemeteries. The land passed to his son Joseph Addison Cheek and from him to his wife, Nancy Jane Andrews Cheek, then to their daughter, Luna Cheek Markham in about 1927 when Nancy died. No mention of the cemetery is found in any deeds (the most likely one it would have appeared in if the family had an interest in it was the division of the James M. Cheek property in 1886 (OC DB 53:48)). It is possible this was a slave/black cemetery but James M. Cheek had only one female slave in 1860; he did have some black or mulatto employees in 1870 named Cheek. Quite possibly the cemetery predates the Cheek family. It was further noted that there appeared to be several graves near the old Cheek residence, to the west from the front north corner of the house about 50 paces, surrounded by several large trees. Nothing is known about these possible graves.

Photo is of two pictures taken of the marker in Markham Memorial Gardens in Durham County. Left photo by Shirley Glasgow taken in February 1996. Right phot of same marker taken by Milton Forsyth in September 2002.

1. Unknown, Unknown   (b. - d. )
Some stones and a flag marker for graves in the unidentified cemetery on the Reserve II property in Orange County. The graves were removed to the Markham Memorial Gardens in Durham County after this photo was taken. Photo by Shirley Glasgow, February 1996.