First 12 Mile Baptist Church Island Cemetery
Oneonta
Road in Carthage
The site was visited March 21, 2007
by Buck Seibert.
This cemetery was originally walked by
Buck in the 1970s. On March 21, 2007, photos were taken of the church foundation
and one fragment of a headstone was found that possibly could be that of Eleanor Stephans, previously listed. This headstone gave the date of death as Sept.
1849 and stated the person was "A member of the regular Baptist Church"
The GPS reading was taken in the approximate center of the foundation.
38 deg 57.430N 084 deg 19.527W
None of the other headstones listed previously were found. However, several
field stones were found on end protruding out of the ground. Several bases of
headstones were also found. The area around the foundation is heavily covered
with Vinca or Periwinkle vines. I suspect there may be more stones beneath
this vegetation. It also seems apparent that graves were placed on two sides of
the old church. This leads me to believe there are many more graves at this
site than previously believed. There appears to be foundation remains of two
smaller outbuildings.
Photo of the original First 12 Mile Baptist Church foundation
Additional
photos of the cemetery site
Due to the historic significance of this site,
special attention should be given to protect it. All that remains on this site are the following tombstones:
Ball, Mildred-died 28 Mar 1862; age 30 yrs 3 mo 8 days; wife of John Traver
Beagle, Wife of Jesse-June 1869/only date listed
Henderson, John-28 June 1828-21 Feb 1905
Stephens, Eleanor-22 Aug 1777-1 Sep 1849 wife of John Stephens
Stephens, John-1774-1849
Walker, daughter of J&M-died 18 July 1868 age 2y
Possibly Stephens Stone