GUIDED TO THE STONES by Sherry A. Jumper, [email protected]

My cousin and I drove from Texas to Alabama for the sole purpose of getting a picture of the grave of my husband's ancestor, John RIGNEY, who died in 1847. We arrived about 3 p.m. and went straight to the small community of Maysville. I had received information from a fellow researcher, but all I knew was that the family plot was near Maysville. We looked until almost dark and couldn't find anyone who knew where the plots might be, so we checked into a motel for the night.

We were at the library when it opened the next morning and soon found that the graves were about 3/4 mile east and 1/4 mile north of a small graveyard named Bellview on Bell Factory Road. We drove back out there and stopped to eat lunch from the tailgate of my truck. I have to say that this area was breathtaking. It was part of the Tennessee Valley when these ancestors settled there about 1805. There are mountains and valleys. We located the Bellview Cemetery fairly easily and calculated the approximate area of the family plot. We drove to the area and found a new housing development. My cousin didn't think it would be in there so we went slightly past it and turned onto a dirt road beside a cotton field. We were driving in the general vicinity, but couldn't see any headstones (we knew that five of the stones should still be standing). As we drove on my cousin spotted a deer ahead of us and he just stood there until I looked at him and then he jumped into a clump of trees. We soon ran out of dirt road and had to turn around, without finding the graveyard.

As we drove back I told my cousin I wanted to check out the new development being built. She didn't think it would be worthwhile, but I was driving so I turned into the first street. After this street turned to the right, I saw the roof line of an old house out in a clump of trees. I told my cousin I was going to turn down the next street in that direction and check it out. When I turned down the street, straight in front of us was the clump of trees where I had seen the house. Across a small clearing was another clump of trees. THE HOUSE WAS NOT THERE.

We got out of the truck to talk with a construction worker and ask him if he had seen any graves in the area. He said he certainly had, they were right there in the clump of trees. My cousin and I just looked at each other. We then climbed over downed trees and through vines to access the graveyard. We took pictures of all the stones (they were not only John RIGNEY's, but also several of his children and their spouses). After we were in the graveyard, we also realized the significance of the deer. We were in the clump of trees where he had jumped. I believe I was guided to the stones, by whom I am not sure.

When reading a gravestone in a cemetery old, And find a family's story told Let me as long as life shall last, Live for today but revere the past.