Miles McNair & Greenwood
Establishing Greenwood Cemetery...
As I shared the other week in Searching for the McNairs, I went to the local cemetery where Miles and his family are buried in hope of clues, as I was hitting so many dead ends with digital searches.
What an interesting coincident, as fate seems to have guided the instinct. I just discovered that Miles was actually instrumental in the creation of the cemetery.
Additionally, Mile's wife, daughter, and mother-in-law were the cemetery's first internments.
The Mystery of Phoebe Solved...
I noted in the Searching for the McNair's post, that I observed there appeared to be four original white marble markers in the family plot, and later four of a different color marble were added.
The original markers name: Elizabeth, Mary H, Laura A, and Phoebe.
These four women had matching markers, as well as information on the family obilisque.
For new readers of Lap of Legends, I refer to Miles' first wife as Elizabeth (Lozer), since his second wife was also named Elizabeth (Melendy). By referring to their maiden names, I hope to minimize confusion.
In Meeting Miles McDonough McNair, I shared that Miles and Elizabeth (Lozer) had two children: Laura Allen and Mary Helen.
I just could not figure out who Phoebe was. I was theorizing that perhaps she was Frances (and perhaps Phoebe was Frances' preferred name, in the same way William Grant is marked by Grant).
However ...
In reading a clipping from our local paper, the Mystery of Phoebe was solved ... Phoebe was in fact Elizabeth (Lozer) McNair's mother!
"Greenwood Cemetery was first established by a small group of individuals from the Brodhead area. About 1857 a Mr. M.M. McNair raised $500 and purchased five acres of land from Col. Lyman Kingman and George Gardner where part of our present Greenwood is located.
That first section is where the large statue is located at the Southeast portion of the current grounds. The first internments were Mr. McNair’s wife, her mother and his daughter according to the information available.
The Cemetery was fenced, locked and visitors had to go to the local hardware store to get a key. A number of individuals who had been interned at a location north of Brodhead were moved from that location to the new cemetery. It is not known where that place is. Mr. McNair and others formed a community Association to carry on all required business of the Cemetery."
Next Steps...
I learned from my trip to Greenwood, that Phoebe Cull died on March 25th, 1856. Knowing Phoebe is Elizabeth (Lozer's) mother, I am going to see what I can learn about her, and very much look forward to sharing!
In the meantime, I have also started to get exciting information on W. Grant ... Miles' son with Elizabeth (Melendy), and am currently putting together a post that I can't wait to share this week!
Sources
- Brodhead Free Press | November 4, 2020
*as Lap of Legends documents ongoing research, please utilize the post "tags" for the most recent and accurate information