Sitting Under The Family Tree

Family cemeteries have always intrigued me. I think about the family stories that could be told and my gene-sense starts tingling.  Why are they where they are?  What’s the relationship between the people buried there?

Occasionally I pass a small family cemetery with a big wrought iron gate with the letter “A” on it. One day recently the gate was open when I was driving by and I just happened to have my camera with me. So I turned in and started taking pictures in case they were not listed on Find-A-Grave. Another car pulled up and the lady told me it was her family cemetery. I think she thought I was a vandal. But after introducing myself and telling her why I was there, she told me about the cemetery and her family.

The Asbell family had homestead 1,000 plus acres there in Levy County, Florida in the 1800s and at some point they had set aside a few acres for the family cemetery. Eventually the family has fenced it in and put up the gate. There are only 11 graves there and a few are only memorial stones since the people are buried in other nearby cemeteries. The oldest tombstones are of her grandparents. She was more than glad to allow me to photograph the stones and although I found that they are already mapped on Find-A-Grave, I did take one picture that was not posted so I felt as though I accomplished a good thing.

I am sharing them with you here on Tombstone Tuesday. J. Shelton and Ila W. Asbell are the pioneers buried here.

Asbell Family Cemetery