On Saturday, Dec. 19, two old, unmarried sisters who live in one of the western states arrived in Wadesboro, with plans to find me because they wanted me to be their tour guide to the old Sneedsboro Cemetery, which was located way out in the “sticks” outside of McFarlan off U.S. 52 South in southern Anson County, adjoining the state line.
They were descendants of William Johnson, who is buried at the old cemetery. He was born about 1761 at died at old Sneedsboro in 1840.
We did not meet up with each other until Monday morning Jan. 21 and I agreed to meet with them at the Anson County Historical Society office and ride out to the area with them at noon. We arrived in McFarlan and turned left at the post office. As we passed by a field, I pointed out to them the remains of the chimney of the old Knox Inn that was built by Samuel Knox in the late 1700s to early 1800s.
Down the road from the Old Knox Inn was the locked gate where we parked and had to walk for about a half-mile into the wilderness. I must mention here that the sister who was driving was capable of walking down the rugged path, but the older sister was using a walker to get there, so we had to take out time and watch her every step. We tried to talk her into staying in the car, but she said they would never come visit the area again and she was going to see where her ancestor was buried.
It was the late 1990s the last time that I had been out here. The timber had since been cut, so I was a bit confused, but I didn’t tell them. As we walked, we came upon three paths. Two paths led off to the left and one led off to the right. As they stood there, asking me which way should we go, I looked down the path that turned to the right and I saw a patch of dead trees in the distance. I told them, “Let’s walk toward those trees.”
Five minutes later, I looked over to my left and saw a tall headstone and very happily exclaimed to them that we had arrived.
There are nine headstones listed on the find a grave website for the Sneedsboro Cemetery. Their ancestor, William Johnson’s grave and five other graves are encircled by rocks. There are several other marked graves scattered outside of the rock fence.
The able-bodied sister and myself climbed over the rock fence, while the older sister stood outside the rock fence, holding onto her walker. She wished she could join us, but the younger sister told her to be patient while she took pictures of William Johnson’s headstone. Then she took pictures of the other headstones.
As we left the cemetery and were walking down the path back to the car and back to civilization, they turned to take one last glimpse of the old graveyard, knowing that they would not pass by this way again. Back at the car, they rested and wiped away their tears, because they had heard about William Johnson of Sneedsboro all their lives and now they could go back home and brag to their family and friends about their adventure.
As we headed back toward U.S. 52 South, and passing by the field where Samuel Knox’s Inn once stood, the sister who was driving, suddenly stopped the car in the road and said she might as well take a picture of the old chimney. My comment was: “That is a great idea, but how about not parking in the road?”
So she pulled over to the roadside and took pictures from the car, but then decided we should walk out into the muddy field and take pictures, so I walked with her right to the old chimney and she took pictures of every angle. We then headed back to Wadesboro and came back to the historical society office so they could search the files that we have on the Johnson family and the Sneedsboro Community.
It was now 4 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 21 and I asked them to come back to the office on Tuesday morning because I had to close up for the day. We are not usually open on Mondays, but this was a special occasion for these two ladies. They arrived on Tuesday morning and I photocopied all the pages from the Johnson family file and the Sneedsboro Community file. They paid for the photocopies and paid membership dues to the society. They left here with a great feeling of satisfaction.
As they were leaving, they told me that visiting the Sneedsboro Cemetery was one of their dreams. They had traveled through 49 states in their lifetime and now their plan was to travel through South Carolina, which would make their “bucket list” complete. They have my mailing address, so they plan to send me postcards whenever they visit anywhere else during their amazing lives.
In regards to another incident that occurred with Sneedsboro, on Dec. 30, while I was at the office typing a report, Mr. Helms of Monroe called to tell me that despite the weather — it had been thundering and lightning that day and raining for most of the day — he and a friend decided to try to locate the Sneedsboro Cemetery.
They found the Knox Inn chimney and were told if they could locate the chimney, to walk into the woods and the cemetery would be there — but the cemetery was not found. Then, they found the locked gate, walked the muddy path and took the path that led to the right, but after walking in that direction for five or 10 minutes, they decided they were lost.
They were too busy looking straight ahead and did not look to their left, or else they would have seen the tall headstone of Herbert and Margaret Ann Pearson in the distance. They went back home to Monroe and then called me.
I couldn’t stop laughing on the phone while he told me about their adventure in the wilderness.
Steve Bailey is employed with the Anson County Historical Society and has specialized in local African-American family history for 20 years.