Obedience Sumner Hughes was originally buried with only a fieldstone marker with minimal chiseled identification. However, the location of many of this and similar graves was remembered by either personal knowledge of, or as taught to William Smith Pickens (1823-1907) by his grandfather, Capt. Robert Pickens (a Revolutionary War veteran and the original owner of the cemetery by a land grant from the South Carolina gov’t in 1784 and subsequent grants). This knowledge was passed on to William Smith Pickens’ oldest son, Robert Welborn Pickens (1847-1948) and subsequently to his youngest son, Dr. Andrew Lee Pickens, and youngest daughter, my grandmother Lura A. Pickens Garrison, and thence to me, Carl Garrison. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Dr. Pickens (a PHD, not an MD) completed maps/diagrams of the cemetery’s graves that he knew or had learned from his father and grandfather and also arranged for VA tombstones for all the Rev. War veterans he could “prove” who did not have an engraved marker. He also personally engraved markers for some others buried here, but his great efforts still left about 75 fieldstone-marked graves. From 2006-2012, I purchased and installed 56 new commercial markers at the proper locations, and am continuing to add engraved information to the applicable markers so that anyone coming to the cemetery can locate their ancestors’/kinfolks’ graves. Many people have helped research these people and provided information for the markers. This effort will continue. The cemetery’s website (www.pickenscemetery.org) has a map of the cemetery as well as a short bio on every known person. Please refer to it for further information.
Obedience Sumner Hughes was originally buried with only a fieldstone marker with minimal chiseled identification. However, the location of many of this and similar graves was remembered by either personal knowledge of, or as taught to William Smith Pickens (1823-1907) by his grandfather, Capt. Robert Pickens (a Revolutionary War veteran and the original owner of the cemetery by a land grant from the South Carolina gov’t in 1784 and subsequent grants). This knowledge was passed on to William Smith Pickens’ oldest son, Robert Welborn Pickens (1847-1948) and subsequently to his youngest son, Dr. Andrew Lee Pickens, and youngest daughter, my grandmother Lura A. Pickens Garrison, and thence to me, Carl Garrison. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Dr. Pickens (a PHD, not an MD) completed maps/diagrams of the cemetery’s graves that he knew or had learned from his father and grandfather and also arranged for VA tombstones for all the Rev. War veterans he could “prove” who did not have an engraved marker. He also personally engraved markers for some others buried here, but his great efforts still left about 75 fieldstone-marked graves. From 2006-2012, I purchased and installed 56 new commercial markers at the proper locations, and am continuing to add engraved information to the applicable markers so that anyone coming to the cemetery can locate their ancestors’/kinfolks’ graves. Many people have helped research these people and provided information for the markers. This effort will continue. The cemetery’s website (www.pickenscemetery.org) has a map of the cemetery as well as a short bio on every known person. Please refer to it for further information.
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