In Search of Our Great Grandparents – John & Martha

By J. Henderson

In February 2005, my sister Jeri (Jones) and I went "Grave Yarding" in Mills -
Hamilton County where our Great Grandparents (Both Hendersons and Neals) 
are buried.  We were on our way back to Abilene from the Henderson Cousin 
Family Reunion in Kerrville when we decided to take a side trip to look for 
Grandpa John's and Grandma Martha's gravesite that was reported to be in a 
remote pasture somewhere in Hamilton County.  Sure enough, by following the 
directions in a letter written long ago by our Uncle Floyd, we located the farm 
home of Curtis Weisesape about five miles out of Hamilton.  Mr. Weisesape was 
home that day, fortunately, and was kind enough to give us permission to visit 
the cemetery situated on the back of his farm on a hill overlooking the 
countryside. 

Now, let me tell you, getting up to that cemetery was no easy feat because all the 
underground springs on the farm were just thawing out, and there was water 
running all over the place.  It was so wet that Mr. Weisesape had to take us up 
the hill on his flat bed trailer pulled by a small tractor.  

Okay, now try to picture this.  Jeri and Jim, both middle aged but acting like 
teenagers, going up this hill sitting on a flatbed trailer hooked to a tractor driven 
by an old man and a dog. (The dog was riding on the tractor in Curtis' lap) It was 
a odd sight.  We were holding on for dear life and laughing like we had no sense 
at all.  Mr. Weisesape said he could only take us up the hill, and we would have 
to make our own way back.  We were grateful for the lift and thanked him as he 
and his dog bounced back down the hill.

Once we got the rusty gate open and proceeded into the cemetery, we found 
John and Martha and their son, Samuel who died as a young man.  It was so 
peaceful, away from the noise of the highway and the rush and stress of modern 
life. I think Martha and John appreciated our visit.  You know they don't get many 
visitors.  

Anyway, we said our "hellos" and then we walked all over the cemetery keeping 
a wary eye out for rattle snakes in the tall brown grass.  Jeri wanted to find the 
graves of the little triplet girls born to John and Martha but we had no luck with 
that. We did find a unique artifact at Martha's grave. As I was taking a photo of 
Martha's tombstone, I asked Jeri to remove some of the tall grass in front of the 
stone so I could read the inscription.  When she pulled on the grass, up out of the 
ground came a long forgotten, antique hair comb that a lady in the 19th  century 
would wear in her hair.  We guessed that someone dear to Martha had placed it 
in the ground at the base of her tombstone at the funeral in 1906. It might have 
belonged to Martha herself as there was a date stamped on it that read, "IR 
Comb Company 1865".  

Jeri and I were so glad we decided to go "Grave Yarding" that cool February day.  
It was a miracle of God that we found the cemetery, as it was off the road by a 
considerable distance.  We felt so lucky and so confident in our map reading that 
we struck out looking for the Mount Olive Community and the Primitive Baptist 
Church cemetery where the Neals are buried.