Early Family Burials

.........most families in the early 1800's
did not bury in Church cemeteries.  Each family usually had a family
cemetery on a knoll on the property.

When a person died, the family and neighbors got together and the men dug
the grave and made the casket out of pine.  The women would bathe the
body and dress it and 'lay it out', either in the bed or on a "laying
out' Board/  the minister was called the folks gathered at the home and
when tthe service was over, the men carried the casket to the grave, and
covered the casket.  Usually the grave was marked with a fieldstone or a
wooden cross.  Over the years the old folks died and the wooden markers
deteriated and when the property was sold the cemeteries became part of
the surrounding area.

You may never find the graves of some of these folks. by  Dr. Constance O'Neill