Stoner's Cemetery Cleanup 2019-21
In recent years, prior to December 7, 2019, maintenance of the Stoner's (Steiner's) Cemetery had been sporadic. By October 2019, vegetation had grown over every part of the cemetery. You will read below from eye witness reports and see in photographs, that the cemetery was in deplorable condition. On December 7, a group of very dedicated volunteers (John F. Sharp. James Andrews, and Don Sanford) began cleaning up the cemetery. Others have joined the call to help, and the cemetery is being restored. Plans are being made to preserve the site for future generations. Among the tombstones are very early settlers to North Carolina, Revolutionary Soldiers, and Civil War Soldiers.
In October 2019, the photographs immediately below were taken to show the cemetery's condition. These photographs were provided to the webmaster by Kristin Albright Fearn on December 12, 2020.
According to John F. Sharp in an e-mail to the webmaster, prior to the beginning of the clean-up of the cemetery on December 7, 2019, "You couldn't go in the main gate. You couldn't see any tombstones. John's first 12 photographs below capture the poor conditions of the cemetery site.
On December 7th, James Andrews from St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Don Stanford, a Historian & Genealogist from St. Paul's, John F. Sharp and several others helped to get the clean-up started, as shown below:
On December 27, 2019, a crew consisting of Jeff Albright, James Andrews, Don Sanford, and John F. Sharp continued the cleanup. There are six Revolutionary War patriots buried in the cemetery and on that day, they put flags by four of them and plan to decorate the other two in the future. They discovered approximately 20 round discs that represent unmarked graves. They estimated that about 85% of the cemetery had been cleaned up. The plan is to return in January 2020. All of the photographs at this website unless otherwise indicated are credited to John F. Sharp.
On December 12, 2020 James Andrews organized another workday to clean up the cemetery. On that day Boy Scout Troop 17, along with members of the Battle of Alamance Chapter NSDAR and other descendants continued the clean-up preservation of the cemetery, removing vines and stumps. John Sharp assisted the Boy Scouts with placing flags to mark the veteran's graves. Quoting an e-mail from Kristin Albright Fearn to the web master, "It was so nice to stand on that hill today and look over the cemetery under a Carolina Blue sky." The first eight photos below were sent to the webmaster for posting to this site by Kristin. Below those are six more photographs taken by John F. Sharp on that day. The last four were sent to the webmaster by Christina Munter.
Below is facing North
Below left: Facing West; Below right: Broken stones.
Pictured below (left to right) with Revolutionary War Patriot John Efland's tombstone are Battle of Alamance Chapter NSDAR members Paige Licklider (kneeling), Nancy Wells, Betsy Harrington, Pat Dorward, Christina Munter (kneeling) and Susan Davis.
During 2020, James H. Andrews, John F. Sharp, Jeff Albright, and Don Stanford continued working on the cemetery cleanup. James Andrews lets everyone know when the next cleanup day is chosen. The group focuses on locating, marking, cleaning, and repairing the tombstones.
In 2021, there have been several workdays with the discoveries of several new tombstones to the group.
On March 6, 2021, volunteers did some probing and dug up additional markers. One of those markers was for Conrad Long. The photograph below of this marker was submitted to the webmaster by Kristin Albright Fearn. In Kristin's research, she found that he lived 1735-1797. His name had been anglicized from Conratt Lange . He was a member of the German Reform Stoner's Church and died 4 March 1797.
Also during a clean-up, John F. Sharp took the photograph below at left of the tombstone for Isaac Sharp II, born 1740; died 1781. His was thought to be the oldest tombstone in the cemetery until an even earlier one was discovered on April 6th. See below. (Note: in 2006, Susan Snyder and other members of her family probed the ground and also found Isaac's tombstone. Susan's group used blue chalk to accentuate the etching. The damage to the stone during 16 years, is significant.) This short time frame shows the reason for the need for immediate preservation of this cemetery. John noted that Isaac's tombstone did not appear on a research map of the cemetery created in 1998. This causes one to wonder what other secrets still remain to be discovered in this cemetery.
According to John, the stone below is unique, with a circle with triangles and what looks like "July" above. John has shared the stone with some of his monument friends and no one yet has seen another one. Judging from the shape of the stone, John thinks it could be late 1700' or early 1800's.
In an e-mail sent on April 6, 2021, Kristin Fearn reported about a visit to the cemetery as it was happening: "James Andrews and John Sharp visited the cemetery to spray Round UP along the fence. They unearthed a new stone-see first photo-too dirty to read just yet. They are in the process of reassembling a badly broken stone- may belong to P. F. Foust. They also found a stone dated 1741, which would make it the oldest stone in the cemetery. I don't see it included in the Plot Map of the cemetery. "SHARPS INPHANT 1741". I have also attached a photo of George Nease's stone before cleaning, immediately following cleaning, and a photo taken today. It doesn't look like an improvement immediately following cleaning, but after a month of sun and rain, the stone looks new again!"
As a result of many interactions through e-mails and work days concerning the cemetery, there is a core group of people who are collaborating to save this cemetery. Some have been helping out with work days and most have been meeting through Zoom since 2020. Included in the group are John F. Sharp, James Andrews, Gavin Stevens (Alamance Community Foundation), Don Stanford, Jane Zielny, Jeff Albright, Jim Byers, Kristin Fearn, James B. Powell, Sandra Henson, Susan L. Snyder, Louise Wilson, Lisa Cox, Meredith T. Edwards (Clerk of Superior Court, Ex Officio Judge of Probate, Alamance County), Bryan Hagood, and Charles Cheek.
On September 9, 2021, Jeff Albright shared at a Zoom meeting that he'd visited the cemetery on August 31, 2021 and it looked fantastic. He commended all of the persons who had been working on restoring the cemetery grounds and stones, and he shared the following three photographs that he took that day. James Andrews later shared that the bare spots were created by spraying the weeds with Roundup.
On November 10, 2021, James Andrews sent an e-mail explaining that on that day, Don Stanford, John Sharp, and James installed the new copper flag holders that John had made. To quote James, "Each grave of our veterans received a flag holder and a new flag today, in remembrance of Veterans Day. (If you notice, I forgot to take a photo of John Effland's marker and flag). As you can see, the cemetery looks clean and manicured, as it deserves. Many thanks to John for making these new holders." Photographs taken by James are below:
Below: Left: Anderson Sharp (Confederate Civil War Veteran and son of Alfred Sharp. He enlisted on May 21, 1861, age 21, in the 15th Inf., Co H,N C Troops. He was wounded July 1, 1862 at Malvern Hill, Va, and died of wounds, July 15, 1862, at General Hospital, Howard's Grove, Richmond, VA) . Below Right: Alfred Sharp (Confederate Civil War Veteran).
Below Left: George Foust (Revolutionary War Veteran) Below Right: Jacob Albright (Revolutionary War Veteran)
Below Left: Johann Foust (Revolutionary War Veteran); Below Right: George Nease (Revolutionary War Veteran and prisoner of war on a prison ship).
Below: Henry Albright (Revolutionary War Veteran; Sergeant, Prisoner of War on a prison ship, son of Jacob Albright, stone shown above.)
Future plans include: Work days: finish cleaning stones and signs, reassemble some broken stones on top of slate pieces, fill groundhog holes, and re-erect some whole stones that have fallen over. Current Projects: replace the stone for Isaac Sharp, fix the fence, install brass plaques for the six Revolutionary War soldiers as well as a couple of the key progenitors, and install a plaque with more detailed history of the cemetery at the entrance. Future Projects: plant centipede grass, a slow-growing grass that requires less mowing., procure DAR medallions for the remaining Revolutionary War soldiers that do not have them, plan a rededication ceremony for the plaques and new stone. Funding: a new reimbursement request form should be completed and submitted to Gavin Stevens.
In an e-mail dated April 26, 2021, John F. Sharp stated: "To all: I can not stop to think how awful it would have been to be a prisoner on a Prison Ship. They were ships of death. Yet two of the individuals [Henry Albright and George Neace] buried in Stoner's Cemetery survived them. Incredible to say the least.
Also every time we delve into the ancestors and come to the present with there descendants we learn even more the importance of this gem of a cemetery. Just over the weekend James Andrews uncovered that the stone of Conrad (Longsdorf changed to Long) had one of his descendants be one of the founders of Elon College and the first president and also a Captain on a ship in the Civil War. That was one of his descendants. Another one was captain on a ship during the D-Day invasion June 6, 1944 to fight for freedom of Europe.
If that isn't enough there are individuals related to sergeant York and also one of the descendants was a P51 Mustang pilot. The descendants are endless here and that is why we must get this to be a cemetery of historic and vital importance to our vary nation.
The possibilities are endless as we play it forward to many of us who are related to these people I can not stop and think thank God for them. We must protect them because they are more than worth it."
On October 15, 2022, there was a placque dedication ceremony conducted at the cemetery. For details and photographs of that day, click on this link.
Work in the cemetery in ongoing. Maintenance, discovery, and documentation continue. Click on this link for an update in March 2024.
If you aren't already a member of the group, but are interested in joining us to help preserve Stoner's cemetery, please contact the webmaster or James (<james.andrews@triad.rr.com>).
Contact person for this website is Susan Snyder: susanleachsnyder@gmail.com