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246    UNKNOWN - PROBABLY ALSTON ENSLAVED [J26.1]

Location - Hickory Mountain Township. 1,600 feet north of SR 2166, Elmer Keck Road, 2,600 feet east of Hadley Mill Road.

Coordinates: 35d 43m 10.0s N; 79d 17m 06.0s W Click here for Online Maps

On 7 April 1997, David Woody drove Will M. Heiser to this cemetery on top of hill. They reported 55 field stones covering an area 200 feet by 120 feet, but no legible markers.

Owner: Joan V. Ionata.
Legal Description: Parcel 12243. See preliminary deed search below.
Topo Quadrant: Siler City NE.
Family owned: Yes.
Abandoned: Yes.
Number of graves: 55.
Cemetery size: 200' x 120'.
Restricted access: Yes. Far from public road on private property
Overgrown and not easy to identify: Yes.
Enclosed: Yes.
Enclosed explanation: Old wire fence in 2006.
Markers: Yes. Fieldstones
Markers with inscriptions: Unknown
Number of readable markers: 0.
Other information:
In 2006, Siler City surveyor Rufus Johnson contacted CCHA about the cemetery because the property it is on was scheduled to be logged and he feared it would be destroyed. Johnson noted that the cemetery was on property just north of the parcel identified by Heiser. Correct parcel is 12243, then owned by Joan Ionata. Johnson took Bev and Jim Wiggins and Jane Pyle to the cemetery, where they marked the extent and about 30 markers. Some markers could not be located because of downed trees and brush in the cemetery. Additional graves were likely present but not obvious. Bev Wiggins tracked down the husband of owner Joan Ionata who gave contact information for his timber manager and information about the cemetery was shared. The property was timbered and subsequent aerials indicate that the cemetery area was avoided.
Preliminary deed search suggests that this land was early Gideon Alston land and that the cemetery might be the burial ground for people enslaved by Alston. Gideon Alston enslaved 100 people in 1850, according to the slave schedules. Gideon died in 1855 and left the homeplace to his wife Eveline.

Preliminary deed search:
1096/593 1 Apr 2004 Fred and Joan Ionata to Joan Ionata Trust
389/897 8 Sep 1975 Robert and Rosemary Allie to Fred and Joan Ionata 78.459 acres. Parcels 1-9 on plat for Meadowwood Acres Plat 14-37.
Plat 14-37 dated 16 Oct 1972 says "portion of RG Hancock land." Plat does not show cemetery. A note in the southern portion adjoining W.W. Brafford land says "Orig Wade Ferguson land. 176.4 acres and references deed book HR/188.
HR/188 29 Nov 1935 D L (D. Lacy) Alston (batchelor) and Walter D. Siler (widower) to Wade H. Ferguson, Jr. 176.4 acres adjoining Wade H. Ferguson, Walter D. Siler, J. A. Woody, John Clark.
371/56 28 Sep 1972 R. G. Hancock, wife Cora, et al to Robert and Rosemary Allie. 103.775 acres. References KN/223 and KQ/99.
KN/233 7 Sept 1950 Wade H. Ferguson and wife Jane to R.G. Hancock, Jr. "Same lands as in HR/188"
KQ/99 12 Jan 1951 M. R. Baker and wife Lillian Baker, and Dallas Baker (unmarried) to Cora Hancock. Five tracts described. All in Hickory Mountain Township. Tract 3 mentions some previously mentioned landowners: 66.1 acres part of J.A. Alston lands.
Note: According to Ancestry D. Lacy Alston and Lida Alston are brother and sister--children of Junius A. Alston and Ida Lloyd. They are grandchildren of Gideon and Eveline Alston and g-grandchildren of Chatham Jack Alston.
Possible deeds with D. L. Alston as grantee Can't tell if these include the subject property.
GK/591 15 Jan 1927 GP Alston Homeplace. Lida Alston Siler (wife of Walter D Siler) and Walter D. Siler to D. L. Alston 750 acres.
GS/477 28 Mar 1928 WD Siler (wid) to D. L Aston 320 ac allotted to G P Alston (Gideon Philip) in the division of lands of his mother Mrs. Eveline Alston. (Note: WD Siler's wife, Lida Alston died 3 Mar 1928)
FP/450 26 pr 1920 Walter D. Siler Commissioner to D. L. Alston 52.75 ac.
FF/245 mtg. Geo Eubanks 29 Mar 1916

CCHA wishes to revisit the site to conduct a more thorough survey.

Last canvassed by: Will M. Heiser and David Woody. Date: 7 Apr 1997; Rufus Johnson, Bev and Jim Wiggins, Jane Pyle, 2006.