Carmel Baptist Church Cemetery

We are still here at the Carmel Baptist Cemetery near Woodstock. Let me point out a few persons of interest - my interests anyway.

Above is the "after" picture of my great grandparents' marker. They are William and Emaline Ray Hunter. William is the one, you will recall, that fled North Carolina, in about 1865, after involved in killing a man, and went to Texas, then, finally settling in Woodstock and changing his name to Hunter. (Now you are yawning, saying you heard that story before over and over and over). See how clean looking their tombstone is? Somebody cleaned it. I think they probably water pressured it with bleach or sandblasted it. I can't figure out who. I can't think of anyone that is still around that would do something like that, but me - and I didn't do it - or at least I don't think I did.



The "before" picture of the same marker. See how dingy it looks?



In front of them is their oldest son Charlie Jefferson Hunter and his wife Letha Parr. You can see William and Emaline's tombstone in the background. Their houses were also side by side.

Charlie owned Hunter's Store, ran a post office in the store, and wrote a weekly gossip column that was published in the Cherokee County weekly newspaper. The name of the column was uniquely called "Hunter's Store". Letha was his second wife.





Charlie's first wife, Paralee Dobbs is buried way in the back of the cemetery where she won't bother anyone.



Here is another Hunter 2nd cousin that is buried only a stone's throw from William and Emnaline, and Charlie and Letha. Their spirits can all sit on their markers and talk about the good old days.



Here is Anna's ancestors James E. and Frances Tyson Kuykendall. Yes, we are 4th cousins, once removed. Her progenitor Frances Tyson and my progenitor Robert C. Tyson were siblings.


And here is a stone of another of Anna's relative, John Kuykdendall. Click to make it larger and you will see it doesn't give his birth date, but gives his death date and the age he was when he departed, from that you can figure out his birth date if you want to. The marker is lying flat down and broken, and put together. Vandals. Tch tch.

A few years ago one Sunday a tornado came through and did a number on the church building. Interesting, it came about a minute after every was out of the building from just hearing the service. I was told the steeple landed on William and Emaline's grave.

Then, a couple years after that the church burned down and it to be rebuilt.