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Tiptoe Through the Tombstones
Union Chapel cemetery envelopes history, tragedy
By Margo Oxendine
CARLOOVER - Recently, the little church at Union Chapel enjoyed a rebirth; it is again making history.
Yet, the cemetery adjacent to the chapel - built of necessity, before the church - has a rich, enduring history all its own. Next year, those who might be inclined to note such milestones can celebrate its centennial.
We borrow heavily today from a history of the cemetery written by Sadie Hornbarger in 1974. Sadie was the daughter of John and Mollie Belle Keyser Hornbarger, and sister to a man many remember with great respect, Dr. Ira T. Hornbarger. His daughter, Mary Mustoe, still has a home in Hot Springs.
The Keysers, the Chaplins, the Smiths, the Peerys, the Cauleys, the Hoovers, the Mustoes - all of them lived and worked and loved and married in the little community known today as Carloover. It is also where they buried their beloved family members - close to home, where they could visit and care for the graves.
The Hornbarger
Chronicle
Sadie wrote, "It was on a Sunday afternoon in January 1909, that my father John Hornbarger, went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Chaplin to who inquire about their son John, who at the time was very ill with pneumonia. While visiting É they started talking about how much a cemetery was needed in the community."
The little cemetery at Healing Springs Baptist Church was already nearly filled, as were the nearby, private family cemeteries of the Cauleys, Sneads and Mustoes.
"Mr. Chaplin said he would be willing to donate land for a cemetery if the people É. would clean off and grade (it)," Sadie wrote. "This pleased my father very much, and he came home very interested and anxious to É discuss this matter" with other patriarchs of the community.
John Hornbarger was a blacksmith. This trade was quite as necessary to the community in 1909 as, say, a computer repair technician might be today.
Sadie's history continues, "The Monday morning after his visit to the Chaplins, father was very anxious to get in his shop in regards to the cemetery. The word soon got around, and a meeting was arranged for the men and older boys of the community. The meeting was to be held in the Guy School House. This school house was a one-room building located on a piece of land owned by George Chaplin, just above the Guy place. Here the children of the commu- nity went to school.
"The meeting was attended by all the men and older boys. It was decided if Mr. Chaplin would donate the land, they would get together to clean off and grade (it). Mr. Chaplin É would give a small piece of land, near Route 220, about six miles south of Hot Springs. Now, a small tract of the Snead farm joined this piece of land, so É Harry Snead donated (his) land (also) to be used for the cemetery."
Excavation Begins
When the men of the community got together to discuss building a cemetery that Monday afternoon in 1909, talk naturally turned to also building a "union" church for those of all Protestant faiths.
Sadie's chronicle tells us, "It was decided that as soon as the weather permitted, men could start work on the cemetery and chapel. Men and boys would donate their time to do the work, their plows, their horses and wagons to do the hauling, and would give what money they could afford towards the project."
The digging got under way in March. It was done by hand, Sadie notes, "digging with pick and plowing with plows pulled by horses É cutting trees with axes and saws. Large trees were cut and sawed in logs, and the logs were hauled by horse and wagons to the sawmill. Here, Mr. (Tom) Carpenter sawed it into lumber to be used for the church. The smaller trees were sawed into post to be used for fence. Then all the stumps were dug, chains fastened around, then horses hooked to the chains and the stumps were pulled out. Some of the stumps, as well as larger rocks, had to be dynamited. This work went on for many weeks, then clean up time came. Rocks had to be picked off the land."
Success and Sadness
"I remember that on Saturdays," Sadie wrote, "my brother Tom would take his donkey and wagon, my brother Bill, Walter and Jenning McElwee, and pick up and haul rocks all day. Other boys would join them and help. Brush was to be piled up for burning. How I used to love to go with my father and brothers in the evenings after supper to join others in piling and burning brush," Sadie recalled. "My, what a fire they would have, but always kept under control. Then postholes were dug, posts set, and a wire fence strung around the entire cemetery. How proud the community was when the cemetery was completed!"
Every family in the community was allowed to choose its own lot and, Sadie wrote, "anyone who needed a lot was to have it - rich or poor - no distinctions were to be made The only thing required was that they take care of their own lots."
All but one of the original trustees is buried in the cemetery he helped work so hard to build. Today, trustees include descendants and relatives by marriage of those original folks. The "new" Christ Church at Union Chapel counts among its members Ann and Jackie Snead, son of "Slammin' Sam" and grandson of Harry, who donated his land for the effort.
Sadly, the very first grave in the new cemetery was that of a baby. The infant daughter of Dave and Florence Cauley was laid to rest there on May 14, 1909, even before the work had been completed.
A Tragic Tale
A walk among the tombstones in Union Chapel Cemetery today is almost akin to a walk through the community in 1909 - names of those who helped build it are now etched in marble or granite for eternity.
One particular tombstone, however, can bring even the most hurried footsteps to a halt.
It is one of those rare gravestones that features a photograph. This photograph shows a handsome, smiling man, surrounded by four little children.
It was March 29, 1952. While the calendar may have proclaimed it spring, the weather in Baltimore, Md., was still quite chilly. Bertha Hooker Morris had left the quiet community of Carloover to make her way in the world with her husband, Earl Edward Morris Sr. They soon learned that it took two incomes to raise a family in Baltimore, especially a family that included four small children.
Bertha worked nights in a diner, and Earl worked days. When one was working, the other was home with the children, Katherine Mae, born May 21, 1947; Earl Jr., born May 24, 1948; Patricia Lane, born April 18, 1949; and Douglas Charles, born May 20, 1951. Surely April and May were happy times in the Morris household, what with all the children's birthdays to celebrate.
A family member, the late Crystal Hooker Armstrong, recalled the story for a Recorder piece about cemeteries in 1996.
Earl "had put the children to bed, and was on the couch," she said. "There was evidently a space heater in the living room; it was too close to the couch, and the skirt on the couch caught fire. The couch was stuffed with cotton and hair, and though it never ignited, there was lots of smoke. Everyone was asphyxiated while they slept. The father showed no signs of even moving," she recalled. "You could see the imprint of his body on the couch. The oldest child, Katie, was found in the living room doorway. The other children never stirred; the prints of their bodies were found on the sheets, which were clean underneath where they lay."
Armstrong said she remembered "vividly, as a child, the funeral. The bodies were brought back to the Hooker homeplace on the old Tuke property" south of Carloover. "It was very large, like an old plantation house," she said. "There were envelope doors between the living and dining rooms, and a huge staircase. I'll never forget going there and seeing five caskets - one big one and four little ones - all lined up in that great big room."
Bertha buried her husband and four children in the Union Chapel cemetery. Their tombstone bears the legend, "Some Day We Will Understand."
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