A Genealogy Jaunt

A dog rescue friend of mine needed a dog transported from Charlotte, NC to Lexington, NC. I'd been wanting to go to Lexington to do a little work in the library on genealogy. My Dad's Mother was from there. All her lines were around this areas: Davidson, Rowan, Guildford, Iredell. I really wanted to drive around these counties to see what they are like. But I guess I'd have needed to spend a week or more here to do all I wanted to do. I only had less than 2 days. I had a doctor's appointment so I couldn't leave early on Monday. Once we got there it was 3:00pm and we met my friend at the library.




This puppy was so adorable, so sweet. I wouldn't mind taking him home with me. But I already have 5 dogs so I had to give him over.

We spent an hour at the library. I took photos of some of the local genealogy books and pages that referenced family lines I'm interested in. But I went ahead and purchased the 9 volumes of cemetery surveys and the volume early marriages in the county. I may never get back here again so I figured it was worth the money to buy them from the Davidson County, NC Genealogical Society. They sell them out of the library.

Then we drove through town. It's a small town and seems economically depressed. But we were able to find a nice hotel on the outskirts. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and we ate at Lexington Barbecue, not too far away. It was pretty good. Lexington is known for it's BBQ. Although this was good, I really didn't see it as any better than what we have around here. But it was good.





When we woke up on Tuesday morning, it had snowed during the night. There was about an inch and they were calling for more. I didn't know if the country roads out to Tyro and Churchland would be OK or not. They turned out to be fine. We made it to the Pine Church Primitive Baptist. There were a couple of reasons why I wanted to visit it again. It was originally known as Pine Meeting House. In 1837 it was changed to Churchland Baptist Church. The old building is now Pine Church Primitive Baptist. The newer Churchland Baptist Church building is just past the church cemetery on the right. But here is the Pine Church Primitive Baptist. Dad is walking towards me. I'm at the stairs into the Barnes Cemetery. It seems that the Barnes donated land for the church cemetery and when one of the sons committed suicide, he couldn't be buried in the church cemetery. So his father, John Barnes, donated the land beside the church cemetery and started the Barnes Cemetery. They are side by side and you can't tell where the one ends and the other begins. The church cemetery even crosses a road further down.







Beside the church on the right, there are two small houses. Originally they were owned by Avery Lawrence Barnes (his father was Lewis Frances Barnes was a son of John Barnes). Avery was crippled and his father made sure he had an education and built the houses and a small general store for him in order to help him make a living for his family. The two houses are still there but the store is gone.








Richard Barnes and his wife, Frances "Fanny" Johnston Barnes are buried in the church cemetery. A beautiful bronze plaque was installed in 1992 by some of the descendants. The stone fence around their graves has fallen into ruin.

Richard Barnes Jr. (1780 - 1854)
Frances "Fanny" Johnston (1787 - c. 1874)
Married November, 21, 1808
1803 Trustee of Revival Congregation (Union Church)
Charter members of Pine Meeting House
May 17, 1837 - (Now) Churchland Baptist Church
Children
Elizabeth, Nancy, Sophia, John
Mary "Polly", Samuel W., Fannie and Richard
Erected in their memory by descendants 1992


My great great grandparents




My Great Grandparents

After we left Davidson County, NC, we got off at historic Salisbury, the county seat of Rowan County, NC. Salisbury seems to be in good shape. The old buildings and houses seem to be kept up. Maybe because it's closer to Charlotte.



Salisbury High School

The historic Train Depot




If you look closely, you will see it had started to snow again. Which was my ticket to head home.




The interstate was fine. And we made it home safely about 3:00pm. I wish I could have spent a lot more time but I did what I could with the time constraints and the weather. I was so glad Dad got to go with me. He gave me some stories of when he was a boy.