Plat of cemetery

I helped clean the cemetery off really well at least once back about 1973 plus smaller efforts until it was vandalized in the early 90's. I found Eliza Caroline Mosteller's death date on her death certificate at the Dept of Vital Records and went to the trouble of getting it put on her stone. She was my great great grandmother and was the last person buried there in 1919. The next year her son Andrew J. Mosteller who then owned the entire property, deeded the cemetery portion (2+ acres) to the church.

After we (my parents and two aunts) had cleaned it as well as possible, I copied the inscriptions and perhaps more importantly also mapped the sites of obvious unmarked graves(had field stones as markers) and even spaces which could be graves. Fortunately, I still have this and after sending the data to you will embark on making a copy of it for you, EVHS, Cedar Creek Church, and others who might be interested.

The first Mosteller buried in THIS CEMETERY came from South Carolina in 1837 & 1838 was Daniel Mosteller. His stone was so smashed that you did not see it. (I do have pictures before the vandalism..) He died in 1855, age 50. He came approximately at the same time or slightly later than his brother Jacob. The latter had a very large family and also a smaller mill north of Folsom which did not survive the Civil War. After the war, in 1871, Jacob with most of his family moved on to Texas and by the time of my childhood, no one here recalled such a person. My grandmother Lura Ward (her mother was a Mosteller and Lura, born in 1885, grew up near Cedar Creek) after being questioned about this and thinking a bit, did say that she remembered something about 2 mills. Curtis Mosteller who did the marvelous job of researching this family and with whom I communicated and did a lot of "leg work" (read, in court houses and cemeteries) was a Texas descendent of this Jacob. In the mid-1960's Curtis wrote the Adairsville Post Master and asked for the name of a Mosteller descendant. The only one that the post office knew of was my aunt, the late Louise Ward. She immediately got me involved. And the rest is history and a matter of many personal records and correspondence.

An analysis of the graves before and after Jacob's departure brought me to the following conclusion and Curtis agreed. It appears that the cemetery was laid out with two rows to be for Daniel and his family, the next 2 rows for Jacob and family. Those in the back are apparently neighbors, unknowns, and probably a few blacks. (However, on that score, I must add that I have recently concluded a study of the Slave Census and find that it substantiates what I always heard--that the Mostellers were not in favor of slaves and only had a very few and not for very long. My grandmother remembered hearing of one named "Bob" who is recorded as "Robert" in the post war census of 1870, shown living with the family. Undoubtedly, he is buried there also. I will send you a copy of the slaves and you will see that Daniel in 1840 had 5 and Jacob had 7 both of which included some children. They had none in 1850 or 1860, altho in 1860 their uncle David Mosteller who was the millwright had 8 likely including the above "Bob." I concluded that he brought these with him to help build the lower mill, which Daniel's son Berryman did in 1858. My guess is also that in 1838 when the family first came, Daniel's family was quite young, so perhaps he brought the blacks for necessary help. I would not think there were many ready "hands for hire" so soon after the Cherokee Removal. So if you hear as I did the other day that they had 70...it just is not so.)

Back to the cemetery plan. Thus, on ROW ONE which is the first row of DANIEL's family, facing east with Mosteller Mill Rd behind one, are L-R:

1)Margaret T. (Theresa) Mosteller, Wife of T.G.B. Gore. Her dates are: Sep 14 1863--June 30 1889.) She was d/o Berryman and thus granddaughter of Daniel. (She died of a large abdominal tumor at the Battey Sanitarium--private hospital of Dr. Battey in Rome and not the more recent Battey State Hospital-- according to my grandmother Lura Ward who remembered her being put in a wagon and taken there.) TGB Gore married twice more and is buried at Pine Log.

2 &3) Eliza Caroline Mosteller Mosteller and Berryman Franklin Mosteller, wife and husband. Her dates: Jan 30, 1830--Oct 10, 1919. His dates: Nov 4, 1825--May 10, 1898. (My grandmother then 3 1/2 years old, remembered the Masonic rites). They were double cousins: their mothers were Berry sisters and their fathers were Mosteller 1st cousins. She was daughter of Andrew Mosteller in Lyerly, Ga. He, of course, was a son of Daniel. So they were 1st cousins by their mothers and 2nd cousins by their fathers. Their stone is the obelisk that was toppled by the vandals.

4&5)Elizabeth (Berry) Mosteller and Daniel Mosteller. Her dates: Jan 2, 1800--June 5, 1872. His: June 21, 1800--Nov 8 1855.

6,7,8) There are 3 obvious graves without markers. Two of these are thought to be children of Thomas D. Scott. One is Frances Scott: 1857--after April 1874. Her mother was Mary Ann Mosteller Scott. Max Aubrey Adcock (grandson of TDS) told Curtis Mosteller in 1971 that she died young and was buried at Mosteller's.
The other is Cynthia Scott whose mother was Elvira Henderson, 2nd wife of Thomas D. Scott. This was told to me by Father Phillip Scott in 1980. Cynthia's dates: 1860/65--aft Apr 1874.

"Aft April 1874" because they are both mentioned in the will of Thomas D. Scott in April 1874. Birth dates are more or less concluded from marriages, Daniel's Bible record, census, other births.

One of the 3 is marked only with a rock and we have no idea who it might be, but must have a connection with Daniel Mosteller or the Scotts. Nor do I know which grave belongs to the above.

9) Mary Mosteller Scott: 1829-1859. d/o Daniel and Elizabeth. This grave was marked probably in the 1970's. She was the first of 3 wives of Thomas D. Scott. She died in June, 2 months after the birth of her child Martha (Mattie) Elizabeth who ultimately married Adrian Adcock. The Adcocks talked about marking her grave, so likely they are the ones who did it. The Mortality Schedule of 1860 says she died of "brain congestion of 2 days duration." Her exact dates are May 4 1829-June 1859.

10) This is an unmarked grave. Some believe it is that of Elvira Henderson, 2nd wife of Thomas D. Scott. Her approximate dates from census and dates of Scott's 3rd marriage: abt 1832--1860/1865.

11) Thomas D. Scott. (This grave was marked in the 1980's, possibly by Father Philip Scott?) Thomas D. Scott's dates: 1832--30 April 1874. I have his obit which says he died of consumption. He had married as his 3rd wife Mrs. Margery McCreary Hefner in 1865 and their one child was I believe the ancestor of Father Scott. My grandmother said of her "She was stout and jolly and we always liked to have her come to see us." (How nice to be thus remembered..!) Her dates are 1834-1908 and she is buried with members of her first family at Dewey Church.

12,13) These two graves are thought to be--so says Father Scott--the parents of Thomas D. Scott who were Ben (died in 1843 per Father Scott) and his wife Polly. If this is true, then Ben Scott or his wife was actually the first person buried in the cemetery. In reality, he or she is the first person that one comes upon when entering the cemetery, so this may be true. From the 1840 census, both Ben and Polly Scott were born between 1791--1800. I believe that Polly died between 1840 and 1850. I assume this because I have not found her in the 1850 census and because a single daughter in 1840, probably Mary Ann Scott, in 1850 age 19 lived with Thomas D. Scott.

ROW 2: (Still DANIEL's family)
(L-R) One unmarked grave and then the 2 Anderson children: B. S. (male) (Boardie Spartan) Dec 1, 1878-Sept 18, 1879; and Phenie (female) Oct 22, 1888- Aug 10, 1889. They were children of Elizabeth Delura (Lizzie) Mosteller Anderson, d/o Berryman, s/o Daniel. My grandmother said that Boardie died of whooping cough. Since this is a "Daniel row", the first is likely another child in the family buried there. Possibility: There was a child in the David Louis Mosteller (s/o Berryman and thus grandson of Daniel) named Cleo. She was said to have been born into a kinsman's family, but was taken and raised by the David Louis Mosteller family. She is not listed in the 1900 census nor in the 1910 census. A family group picture taken at the mill about 1903 shows David Louis' wife Carrie holding a baby. A newspaper item in Cartersville paper in March 1905 named "Mr. Mosteller with daughters Ethel and Cleo..." It seems very likely that Cleo died between 1905 and 1910 and and if so, was most certainly buried in the family cemetery and beside the 2 other grandchildren of Berryman.

ROW 3:
(This is the first row of JACOB's family.)
There are 3 marked graves. and 3 only spaces.
(L-R) H.J. Mosteller: Died Mar 29, 1863 (sic)Age 5 years, 7 months, 23 days. (Calculated birth: Aug 6 1857) There is an important difference in the death date which you and and that which we recorded. You have it 1868 and you may well be correct. It bears rechecking some future very cold day--for 2 reasons. One, if he or she lived until 1868, then that would explain why the child is not in the 1860 census. Birth date would then be: Aug 6 1862. Also, it completely changes the possibility of who the mother or father could be. Curtis and I had come up with one good possibility--which need not be disclosed, particularly if we had the death date wrong. I would imagine that this might possibly be cleared up if we had either Jacob or Berryman's Bible. I keep hoping the latter will turn up some day.

Next there are 3 empty spaces. Two of these spaces were reported by Curtis Mosteller--based on records that went to Texas-- to contain a) William David Mosteller: Dec 6 1860-Sept 10, 1862. He was a son of Cicero Mosteller (grandfather of Curtis) and Cicero was a son of Jacob. b)Another child of Cicero here is Mary Eunice Mar 12 1862-Nov 4 1862.

Then comes Mrs. F.M. Costephens: died Sept 10, 1857--23 years, 4 months, 14 days. My computer calculates the birth date to be Apr 27 1834. She was Frances Mosteller, d/o Jacob and who married William M. Costephens in 1854. He remarried in December of that year to Martha E. Johnson and moved to Alabama. After Costephen's death there, she returned to Bartow County and married James E Blaylock; both are buried in Hayes Cemetery altho neither may now have a stone. In 1993 I found that only the base of her stone remained. But a number of years earlier I had recorded it thus: Dec 3, 1832-Mar 18 1918. "Erected by her son M.D. Costephens." J. E. Blaylock's dates are in the first cemetery book.
( Father Phillip Scott unfortunately surmised, and put it in print, that she must have been the "wife of the miller.". This is totally unfounded and wrong. The marriage of Frances Mosteller to William M Costephens is duly recorded in the Bartow Co. Courthouse.)

Next: (the one I assume you have listed as "Unknown") is: Mrs. M.C. Kay Died July 1 1866, age 21 years, 7 months, 18 days. Birth date computed to be: Nov 13, 1844. This is Mary Catherine Mosteller, d/o Jacob. Her husband's surname is known ONLY from this gravestone because of the missing marriage record books in Bartow County (or possibly Gordon, but more likely Cass/Bartow).

ROW 4: (JACOB's 2nd Row) Only one grave: W. R. Elrod. Died Oct 11, 1861: 19 years, 19 months, 6 days. Birth is computed to be: Dec 5, 1841. He is there in that cemetery and on that row because he married Sarah Ellen Mosteller on May 2, 1861 and she was a daughter of Jacob. In fact, was a twin of Mary Catherine. She moved on to Texas with Jacob and remarried there.

ROW 5:(Non-specific) One unmarked grave, then Tatum Young Sexton: Died Oct 18, 1876--only date. Assumed to be a child. There is a space between him and the next--his probable father: Morgan Young Sexton: July 14, 1836--Jan 31, 1880. We do not have a direct connection to the family altho several have thought there was some connection by a marriage. He was married to Sally Littlefield. He owned land adjacent to the Mostellers. Our birth dates differ.

ROW 6: There are 2 unmarked graves, 2 spaces, and then 7 unmarked graves--bordering on the old field road that runs behind the cemetery. One would have to assume that they are blacks, travelers, neighbors, unknowns, and probably not family.
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Misc. Information:
[Other Mosteller graves elsewhere for Daniel's Family: When the family came to the area the year before in 1837 to scout for land and a water source before buying the home place property, they camped out near Oothcalooga Church. Two small children died of fever during that time and were said to have been buried near that church. But we just don't know for sure. In 1993, data from an old Bible, almost assuredly belonging to Daniel had the names and dates of: Eli Benjamin Jan 7 1834-Mar 10, 1837 and infant male June 30, 1837-July 17, 1837. I heard about these children from my grandmother and others in the family. It is a generally accepted story. (For family researchers, there was also listed in the Bible, a female named Juliana whose only date was Sept 18, 1824. Since in 1824 they were still in SC and since she is not with the family in 1850, nor implied in either 1830 or 1840, she must have died in SC and likely is buried in the Mosteller Cemetery near Greer with her grandparents and others there. I have concluded that likely she died between 1824 and 1830. In all probability, we will never know.

Two other daughters of Jacob emigrated together to Alabama about 1860-1861. Margaret Caroline (Sept 1, 1833-1903)married Aaron T. Howse on Dec 27, 1857; Susan Elizabeth(June 27, 1839-Dec 8, 1898) married William Henderson on Dec 18 1859. Both married in Cass/Bartow. The families settled near Cullman, Alabama and are buried at Hopewell Baptist Church near there.

One other daughter of Jacob I have just this month located: Isabella. Born Nov 19, 1827, she married Benjamin T. Smith on June 18, 1849 in Cass and they apparently moved to Drew County, Arkansas between 1856--1859. Since BT Smith has a different, younger wife in 1870, I assume that Isabella died between 1860 and 1867 there. Burial site is not yet known.]

 9/2006