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Today is a wonderful day. I’m having the greatest day off of work, and I’m just enjoying doing things by myself.

So, I mentioned earlier that I was getting into geneaology, but that other people’s trees suck. (Remember? The ones that go back to Adam and Eve and Our God in Heaven?) I’ve stopped relying on other people’s research as the basis for my own, and instead started my own research, diving into census records, birth and death records, and all sorts of other means of piecing my family history together. From scratch. By myself. I’ve come a very long way from knowing nothing about the Pittmans (father’s side) or Smiths (mother’s side) to now knowing my great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and even great-great-great-grandfather’s whole name, birth and death date, occupation, marriage date, and place of burial. All from my own research.

For example, I found (again, on my own) that my 3rd, 4th, and 5th great grandfathers on my mother’s paternal side are buried practically in the back yard of where my mother moved when I was in highschool. It’s ridiculous how close it was, and neither of us had any clue. I live directly across the street from where I work, and it’s still not as close as the distance between my old house and this cemetery.

So today, I decided (once again, on my own!) I was going to go and see these graves. I pulled up to the methodist church and found that it now houses a preschool. There were all of the little children playing on swingsets and running around yelling “Trick or Treat!” even though halloween was two weeks ago. Little kids are so cute.

I drove around a small path to the rear of the building and came up on a 1700 or 1800’s building. Very small, very old. The paint was chipping off and the wood was incredibly old. This was the original church, not the big brick building in front of it. Behind this old building was the cemetery. I parked my truck, pulled out my camera, and thought “It won’t take me long to find these graves. This cemetery is small.”

I walked up, and the very first grave was Wm. H. Smith, son of W.O. Smith and Vasti. Wow! That was easy! W.O. Smith is Wesley Owen Smith, my 4th-great-grandfather. I didn’t have to look long. Here they all were. Side by side, the entire family. Several generations of Smiths, all labeled “son of,” “daughter of,” “wife of.” All with dates, neatly arranged just waiting all these years for me to find it.

My mother wanted to go with me to see this, but I just couldn’t wait. It popped into my head this morning, and I just decided to go. I found out where it was, I found it, I’ll do it alone the first time. I’ll take her with me next time. The headstones are so old that they are mostly worn away. In person, you can faintly read them. The pictures I took are mostly illegible, but I have uploaded a few. Next time, I’ll have to take rubbings.

Here is William F. Smith, son of Rev. Sion Smith (who owned much of the Crabtree area and was one of the first Methodists in the area.)

William F. Smith was the father of Wesley Owen Smith, whose stone was one of the harder to read ones. His wife was Vasti Poole:

And a wide-shot of all of the Smith graves:

It was such a pretty day. Cool, crisp air. Those leaves everywhere. I looked at these stones for a very long time before deciding to leave. But as I turned to get back to my car, I noticed an area behind an iron gate. Very wooded, very unkempt. Small stones everywhere. I walked through and touched all of the stones, wiping off dirt and debris, trying to find out if any of them red “Rev. Sion Smith.” I did not find one. As I walked through, I kept thinking how beautiful and old this area was, and how everything around it had changed so much since those graves were placed.

Upon leaving, I took another wide-shot of this older cemetery.

Immediately, I couldn’t help but notice the bright light in the back corner, between the trees:

I know it’s pretty cheesy, but I still think it’s cool. It could just be a beam of sunlight coming through the trees, but it looks to me like it’s in front of a tree trunk in the background. So, that’s all I’ll say about it.

After my cemetery adventures, I went to Brier Creek and got some crafty stuff from Michael’s and then decided to do another thing on my own. Something I’ve never done on my own before. I went to a restaurant. I ate sushi all by myself. And I really enjoyed it.

Today is a good, fun day of doing things all by myself.