A description of the Charles Lee Smith, Sr. family cemetery, his Talbot County plantation, the dependencies, the Larkin Smith, Sr. Bible records, Charles Lee Smith, Sr.'s will, his military service, and Robert Lee Smith's grave marker were found on pages 131-136 of A Rockaway in Talbot: Travels in an Old Georgia County, Volume II, by William H. Davidson.

The family cemetery is about 250 yards from the southwest corner of the ruins (rock piers) of the Charles Lee Smith, Sr. plantation home. Mr. Davidson states that, "brick and rock tombs of the family were in a poor state, overgrown and disrupted. Possibly two or more of the tombs had been covered by wooden shelters, now rotted away." There are at least seven graves marked with field stones.

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The ruins of the Charles Lee Smith, Sr. home and the family cemetery are now located in the Big Lazer Creek WMA (Wildlife Management Area) which is parcel number 006 26901 WMA in the records at the Talbot County Assessor's Office.

Brent Hess, a Fisheries Biologist with Georgia Department of Natural Resources, located and photographed the Charles Lee Smith, Sr. home and family cemetery on August 8, 2012. Appreciation is expressed to him for the many hours he spent locating the old C. L. Smith homeplace, the family cemetery, and the documents which he sent relating to the historic Smith property and the adjacent Big Lazer Creek unmarked cemetery.

He provided the following for the Charles Lee Smith, Sr. family cemetery's location:
N32 46.474
W84 24.420

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In the Charles Lee Smith, Sr. Will (Talbot County Will Book B, pages 233-234, the following paragraph concerning his plantation home and cemetery was found:

Item 2nd.

I give and bequeath unto my daughters, Martha, Virginia [Jennie], Laura and Eliza the following lands to wit:
Fraction number [Land Lot 306] three hundred and six (306) containing one hundred and seventy nine and three fourths acres (179 3/4) also Lot number eleven (11) containing two hundred ten and a half acres (20 2/2)[sic]

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In Talbot County Deed Book HH, page 376, dated March 9, 1915, Miss Jennie Smith and Miss Laura Smith sold and conveyed their C. L. Smith, Sr. property, consisting of about 280 acres in the Redbone District of Talbot County, to their niece, Mrs. Ida Lee Smith Leonard (1874-1942). Also, Mrs. Ida Lee Smith Leonard agreed that Jennie and Laura Smith could reside on the property so long as either was alive.
This deed was recorded April 10, 1915.

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At the death of Mrs. Ida Lee Leonard on August 22, 1942, the property went to her daughter, Mrs. Mareola Leonard Lewis (1894-1988) who later married a Mr. Mitchell.

On Sept. 22, 1976, in Upson County, GA, Mrs. Mareola Leonard Lewis Mitchell (1894-1988) donated/conveyed the property (a total of 738.32 acres) to Mercer University, as trustee of the Mareola Leonard Lewis Mitchell Trust Fund. This deed was filed in Talbot County on Sept. 24, 1976, and then recorded on Sept. 27, 1976 in Talbot County Deed Book 23, page 198.

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On Sept. 24, 1976, Mercer University, as trustee for the Mareola Leonard Lewis Mitchell Trust Fund, sold the 738.32 acres in Land Lot 306 of the 23rd District and Lots 11, 20, 41, & 42 of the 24th Land District, all in Talbot County, to the State of Georgia for $221,496.
This deed was filed on Sept. 30, 1976 and recorded in Book 23 page 220 on Oct. 1, 1976.

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On Nov. 3, 1976, an inventory form for all real property of the State of Georgia was completed and signed by D. Wayne NeSmith, the project officer land acquistion unit, Big Lazer Creek WMA, Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources. This land was purchased with 50% State Funds & 50% Federal Funds.

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The Big Lazer Creek Unmarked Cemetery:

The following information about another small 19th century cemetery on the original Charles Lee Smith, Sr. property was found in the Final Report on The Big Lazer Creek Unmarked Cemetery:
A Multidisciplinary Investigation submitted to the Fisheries Management Section, Game and Fish Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources in Atlanta, Georgia, by Garrow & Associates, Inc. in April 1987.

According to the report, the "project focused on the excavation and analysis of six historic period graves discovered during construction within the Big Lazer Creek Wildlife Management Area in Talbot County, Georgia."

The "historic period graves [were] found during construction of a parking lot at the Big Lazer Creek Wildlife Management Area in Talbot County...the graves had apparently been unmarked, and were first noted when earthmoving activities began to expose the upper sections of coffins" in 1986.

The excavation, disinterment, and reinterment of the remains from the six graves were conducted under a permit signed by Freeman Montgomery, chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Talbot County, on Nov. 24, 1986.

This unmarked cemetery discovered in 1986 was located near the marked Charles Lee Smith, Sr. family cemetery. Both cemeteries were on the land formerly owned by Charles Lee Smith, Sr. and later by some of his descendants.

The remains from the six graves were reinterred in the existing Charles Lee Smith, Sr. family cemetery in the same east-west direction as they were originally interred in the unmarked cemetery. It is not known where these six graves are located in the present Smith family cemetery.

The Big Lazer Creek Unmarked Cemetery was listed on Find-a-Grave in August 2012.

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A large folder of documents and maps concerning the cemeteries on the old Charles Lee Smith, Sr. property is located in the Smith box at the Thomaston-Upson Archives in Thomaston, GA.

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Driving directions to Big Lazer Creek WMA:
From Talbotton: Take US 80 east 4 miles; turn left on
Po Biddy Rd. go 6.5 miles; turn left on Bunkum Rd. and go 1.2 miles to Check Station (the stone piers of the Charles Lee Smith, Sr. home are nearby).