Main Page    York County Lindsey's

Martin Family Burial Ground
(site of John and Mary Lindsey tombstones)
John Lindsey died in York County, South Carolina shortly after writing his will in 1817.  He was buried in the Martin Family Cemetery in present day Cleveland County, North Carolina.  John had been preceded in death by his wife, Mary Lindsey, who died in 1816.  Mary Lindsey was also buried in the Martin Family Cemetery.  Mary's burial was one of the first in the cemetery, which has led me to speculate that Mary's maiden name might have been Martin.  I have not found any records that could substantiate this speculation.

The Martin Family Cemetery is also known as the Little Bethel Methodist Martin Family Cemetery.  It is located in Cleveland County, North Carolina, just over the border from South Carolina.  In 1980, a survey of the tombstones in the cemetery was made by F.H. Gettys, T.J. Caldwell and J.E. Hart, Jr.  An article about the 1980 survey appeared in a 1983 issue of the Piedmond Historical Society Quarterly, "Upper South Carolina Genealogy and History."  (http://www.piedmont-historical-society.org/cemeteries.html)  The article states that the Martin Family Cemetery is located in Cherokee County, South Carolina, off South Carolina State Road 11-65, near the North Carolina/South Carolina border.

The cemetery actually lies over the border about 1,000 feet into North Carolina.  Information on findagrave.com from Jeffrey Lee Martin states that the cemetery is on property owned by Gary Green (property tax records list him as Gary Lee Greene):

"Thanks to Jeff Martin for the directions to this Cemetery; To find Little Bethel (Martin) Cemetery from 2226 (Lavender Rd.) go south on 2227 (Rippy Rd) 0.7mi and look for a clearing off to the left (Rippy Rd. is exactly 1 mile long so if you are coming from Holly Ridge Rd the clearing will be 0.3mi and off to the right). You will see a posted sign on a tree and a power line easment going uphill into the woods. Follow this easement on foot about 150 feet up the hill until you come to a clearing. Now travel through the clearing but aim towards the treeline on the left. The cemetery is located behind that treeline about 100 feet across the clearing. This property is now owned by Gary Green (2006). Only a handful of the 57 are now visible." http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=32187164&CRid=2286178& (accessed on 3-22-2013.)

Jeff Martin (Jeffrey Lee Martin) also wrote another set of instructions for finding the cemetery: "To find Little Bethel (Martin) Cemetery: from I-85 take exit 104 west, go .8 mile, turn left on SC-99 and go 1 mile. This should put you at Lee Putnam's house. The cemetery is in a grove of trees about 1000 feet behind the house." http://www.angelfire.com/tx/lineage/daughter.html (accessed on 3-22-2013).

Records found on the Cleveland County, North Carolina Tax Property and Valuation GIS site show that Lee Putnam's property is located at 559 Holly Ridge Road in Cherokee County, South Carolina. http://mimpickles.com/lindsey/south_carolina/cleveland_county_nc_4_1.pdf  The PDF file was downloaded on 22 march 2013 from this site: http://www.clevelandcounty.com/ccmain/egov.htm.  Click on  Tax Property and Valuation - GIS , then enter Putnam Ethel in the search box (Ethel Putnam is the widow of Thomas "Lee" Putnam).  The Putnam property that Jeffrey Lee Martin referred to is Lot 22 in the PDF file.

The image below shows that the Putnam property at 559 Holly Ridge Road (State Road 11-65), Cherokee County, South Carolina lies mostly in Cleveland County, North Carolina.  The 1980 surveyors of the cemetery plots probably did not realize that they had walked across the border into North Carolina.

 

The property owned by Gary Greene, where the cemetery is located at 445 Holly Ridge Road.  It also lies mostly in North Carolina.

Jeffrey Lee Martin's directions say to park .3 mile from Holly Ridge Road on the right side of Rippy Road.  Then Martin says to walk about 150 feet up a power line easement to a clearing.  The cemetery is about 100 feet behind a tree line that is on the left side of the clearing.  The image below is one that I marked to show the approximate location of the cemetery using Jeffrey Lee Martin's information and information from the Cleveland County GIS site.  I think that the cemetery is on the northern end of the Gary Greene property.  It does seem that the easiest access would be to approach from Rippy Road.  The clearing that Martin wrote about may be where a house (built ca. 2010) is now located.  The power line easement may be close to the driveway to the house.  My guesswork is probably not accurate as to where .3 miles up Rippy Road from Holly Ridge Road actually is, but this should get one close to where the cemetery can be located.

Here are the names of those buried in the cemetery from the 1980 survey, as listed by Jeffrey Lee Martin:

  • Adamsas, infant son of W. D. & E. Adamses
  • Etters, John d. 30 Sep. 1834 or 1854 in his 49th year
  • Etters, Nancy d. 09 May 1843 in her 36th or 86th yr.
  • Fulton, D. D. d. 18 Nov 1854 in his 50th yr.
  • Fulton line (footstone): E. H. F.
  • Fulton, J. R. d. 19 July 1851 in his 18th yr.
  • Fulton, R. H. d. 20 Nov. 1854 in his 22nd yr.
  • Fulton, Rachel d. 26 or 23 June 1851 in her 12th yr.
  • Fulton, T. D. d. 18 Nov. 1885 aged 87 yrs. 7 mos. 3 days (b. Apr. 1797)
  • Fulton, W. T. d. 26 Apr. 1847 in his 19th yr.
  • Gibbons, infant son of Jacob & Maggie Martin Gibbons b. 16 July 1886 d. 16 Aug. 1886
  • Hardin, Benjamin d. 19 Apr. 1850 in his 84th yr. (b. c1766)
  • Hardin, Elijah I. d. 28 May 1851 age 2 yrs. (b. c1849)
  • Hardin, Elijah O. d. 05 Jul. 1849 in his 37th yr. (b. c1812)
  • Hardin, Elizabeth d. 19 Aug. 1847 in her 55th yr. (b. c1792)
  • Hardin, Martha I. b. 28 Nov. 1818 d. 18 July 1897 w/o Elijah O. Hardin
  • Hardin, Sallie or Sally b. 01 Aug. 1874 d. 14 Aug. 1875 d/o D. J. & Sue B. Hardin
  • Jameson, infant son of W. & H. Jameson
  • Katherine d. 13 Oct 1812 aged 32 yrs.
  • Lackey, Mary d. 18 Aug. 1856 10 yrs. 11 mos. 2 days
  • Lackey, Mary d. Aug 1850 aged 30 yrs. (infant twins nearby) d/o Tho. & Sarah Rippy Martin, w/o Robert Lackey
  • Linsey, John d. 15 Aug. 1817 in his 45th yr. (b. c1772)
  • Linsey, Mary d. 16 May 1816 aged 49 yrs.
  • Martin, infant son of Thomas & Sarah Rippy Martin
  • Martin, Alice infant d/o Perry & Sarah Jane Beattie Martin d. 26 Feb. 1860 age 3 weeks
  • Martin, Berryman d. 13 Oct. 1843 age 32 yrs.
  • Martin, Bird b. Jul. 1810 d. Nov. 1874 (wife Rebecca Spurlin)
  • Martin, Edward d. 15 Jan. 1853 in his 23rd yr. s/o Thomas & Sarah Rippy Martin h/o Elvira
  • Martin, Elizabeth d. 12 Sep. 1868 aged 80 yrs. second wife of Thomas Martin
  • Martin, Elizabeth E. d. 12 Oct. 1891 in her 65th yr. w/o Henderson Martin
  • Martin, Emily I. L. d. 30 Aug. 1866
  • Martin, Henderson b. 05 Jul. 1820 d. 12 May 1906 85 yrs.
  • Martin, infant son of George Henderson & Elizabeth Jane Martin Martin b/d 27 Sep. 1882
  • Martin, infant son of T. H. & I. S. Martin d. 12 May 1833 aged 2 days
  • Martin, Juliann d. 21 or 29 Nov. 1842 aged 2 yrs. d/o Berryman & Susannah Collins Martin
  • Martin, Landrum d. 04 Jun. 1886 aged 13 yrs. b. 31 May 1873 s/o George Henderson Martin
  • Martin, Madison b. 26 Mar. 1889 d. 20 Nov. 1892 s/o James Madison & Martha Clark Martin
  • Martin, Mary d. 03 Nov. 1854 aged 16 yrs. d/o Thomas & Sarah Rippy Martin
  • Martin, Nancy d. 20 July 1858 in her 25th yr. d/o Thomas & Sarah Martin
  • Martin, Rebecca (Spurlin) b. 1811 d. 1895 w/o Bird Martin
  • Martin, Rhoda d. 25 Jan. 1808 aged 30 yrs. 1st w/o Thomas Martin
  • Martin, Thomas d. 28 Apr. 1855 in his 77th yr. h/o Rhoda & Elizabeth
  • Martin, Thomas M. d. 21 May 1861 aged 55 yrs. h/o Sarah Rippy Martin
  • Martin sarah (Rippy) b. 26 May 1811 d. 24 Apr. 1887 w/o T. M. Martin
  • Martin, William b. 04 Aug 1840 d. 20 May 1864 s/o T. M. & S. Martin
  • Moore, Rodie d. 05 Apr. 1874 29 yrs.
  • Moss, Elizabeth d. 25 Feb. 1853 33 yrs. consort of John Moss
  • Neal, Mary Elizabeth d. 01 Aug. 1855 aged 16 mo. d/o Drewy & Catherine Pinkey Neal
  • Parker, William d. 12 May 1859 aged 84 yrs.
  • Powell, susana d. 1827 aged 32 yrs. d. June 1827 in her 12th yr.
  • Taylor, Catherine d. 18 Oct. 1825 aged 72 yrs.
  • Taylor, John d. 02 June 1826 aged 87 yrs.
  • Wilson, Columbus b. 31 Mar. 1850 d. 19 Apr. 1900
  • Wilson, Ida b. 25 Nov. 1892 d. 15 Sep. 1910 w/o L. B. Wilson
  • Wilson, Inez b. 22 Jun. 1908 d. Feb. 1910 d/o L. B. & Ida Wilson
  • Wilson, L. Basil b. 06 Sep. 1884 d. 09 Feb. 1920
  • Wilson, Vera b. 13 Jun. 1906 d. Oct 1906 d. 01 Oct. 1908 d/o L. B. & Ida Wilson

Source: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/lineage/daughter.html (accessed on 3-22-2013)

 

 

 

 This page was updated on
3-23-2013
Susan Grabek