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McKay-McNeill Family Cemetery Relocation
Our ancestors, Jenny Bahn McNeill (1720-1790)
and Archibald Scrubblin McNeill (1720-1801) were buried on their
main homestead on a bluff overlooking the Little River, north of
Fayetteville in North Carolina. Eventually 20 of the family were buried
there and lay undisturbed for 200 years.
Jenny McNeill's Grave Monument in its
Original Location (c.1980)
In his article about the McNeill family
Everette McNeill Kivette, a North Carolina cousin, indicated that
Edgar Francis McNeill was responsible for the erection of the
monument over the graves of Jennie Bahn and Archibald McNeill. Edgar
was a descendant of 'One-Eyed' Hector. The monument is located in
the cemetery to the left of McCormick’s Bridge Road just after
crossing the Lower Little Creek. McCormick’s Bridge Road branches to
the left off Highway 210 heading south out of Lillington just before
going into Spring Lake, North Carolina.
The monument was originally purchased
before the Civil War by the sons of Jennie Bahn and Archibald from
England and floated down the Cape Fear River from Wilmington to
Fayetteville. The large base fell into the river and remained there
for many years. The base was eventually recovered from the river and
moved to a marble yard in Fayetteville to be prepared for
installation with the monument. The stone yard building one day
caught fire and the base fell into the basement. It was never
recovered and eventually covered over as part of a construction
project. The monument itself was left at the gravesite where it
remained in obscurity for many years. Finally in 1926 or 1927 Edgar
Francis McNeill, while conducting family research, found the
monument, installed a concrete base, had the monument engraved, and
installed at the cemetery.
Jenny McNeill's Grave Monument in its
New Location (October 2009)
In 2008, the owner of the property, Mr.
Tom Brooks of McCormick Farms (who lives in a house on McCormick
Bridge Road just south of the graveyard) leased the land on which
the cemetery sat to Martin
Marietta Ltd, a large mining company that wanted to mine the
granite that was underneath the sandy soil of the cemetery.
Family graves are situated all over the
countryside and under North Carolina law it is legal to relocate
graves, subject to fulfilling certain requirements. The Cumberland
County Board of Commissioners granted permission at a meeting held
October 6, 2008. John Clauser, of the company Of Grave Concern, was
brought in to map out the cemetery and R Ward Sutton Cemetery
Services moved the graves in October 2008.
Martin Marietta has a good reputation
and spent a lot of money to do a first class job. Jenny had a
massive 8 foot tall monument that they had specially cleaned and
replaced above her grave in the new cemetery. I don't have photos of
this. They also placed a plaque on the back of the monument
explaining the history of the graveyard.
An interesting note is that
the names of her children were also inscribed on the
monument: One-Eyed Hector, Neil, Archibald, Laughlin, Daniel, John,
Malcolm, Margaret and Mary. In the
cemetery there were 10 identified graves but also 10 unknowns. I
expect that some of the unknowns laying next to Jenny could be
some of these children. Although it is known that "Nova Scotia"
Daniel is buried in the Parker Family Cemetery in Walton, Nova
Scotia (the Daniel in the Church of the Covenant graveyard in
Fayetteville is One-Eyed Hector's son).
The graves were relocated in October
2008 to the Church of the Covenant located 10 km away at 118
West Manchester Road, Spring Lake North Carolina. (This is just
minutes from Fort Bragg, which is the site of the Massacre at Piney
Bottom for which our ancestor John McNeill (and Jenny's son) is
responsible ...but that's another story.)
Satellite photo of original location of graveyard
Satellite photo of new location of graveyard
Maps of Graves -
at old location and new
Minutes
of Cumberland County Meeting
Mr Sutton of R Ward Sutton Cemetery
Services was kind enough to send me photos and video that they had
taken of the move. He explained to me that after 200 years even bone
can begin to decay; that depending on soil conditions sometimes
nothing is left but discoloured soil. Our graveyard had fairly sandy
soil so many of the graves contained full skeletons. Teeth are the
last to go and one grave held only buttons, teeth, and nails from
the coffin.
In the video and photos below you can see the orange
paint sprayed, outlining where the body had lain (to show they had
removed everything). You can see skulls and leg bones primarily in
the small boxes. The remains were re-buried 18 inches below the surface
at the new site. Unknown remains are buried together. I have still
to sort out who everyone is, but of the identified remains buried
with Jenny and Archibald, Daniel, and Mary are their
grandchildren, and Dr John McKay was married to Mary. Isabella was
John's second wife (listed as 'consort' on her gravestone). Rachel
was Daniel's wife.
Video of McKay-McNeill Grave
Relocation
I can burn and mail a dvd of
the video to anyone who wants it, or click
HERE to download it.
Photos of McKay-McNeill Grave
Relocation
Jenny Bahn McNeill
Archibald Scrubblin
McNeill
Dr John McKay1
Dr John McKay2
more photos of
the cemetery relocation
Sarcophagus of Dr John McKay
It is very unusual to find someone
buried in a sarcophagus. This was made of cast iron (Ward told me it
weighed a couple of hundred pounds with only a skeleton in it) and
has a glass plate over the head. They didn't touch this as it was
fragile and were worried about breaking it. Out of respect they do
not open intact coffins. Dr McKay either knew he was dying, or
ordered the coffin well in advance because back in the mid-1800's it
would have had to have been shipped from Ohio and would have taken 1
or 2 months to arrive by rail.
John Mckay married Mary McNeill, Jenny's
granddaughter. He was a well known physician who was among the first
to organize health care in Harnett County, which borders Cumberland
County. His son John A took over his
practice after him, and his grandson Joseph after him. The Harnett
County Medical Society has a web page paying tribute to the McKays:
http://www.hcmds.org/AboutHCMDS/History/TheMcKayPhysicians/tabid/77/Default.aspx
photo of Dr Joseph McKay (John's
grandson)
Mary (McNeill) McKay
(John's wife)
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