Monday, January 6, 2014

Laban Cemetery

Newspaper Obituary of Laura Virginia Brownley Forrest, wife of William James Forrest, and mother of Thomas Jefferson Forrest. It says she was buried "in the family cemetery near Laban". Think anyone knows where that family cemetery is and who else is buried there? Her son and his family are buried elsewhere (Milford Haven Cemetery near Moon, VA).
But I've never found Laura or William James' graves. And they aren't listed online. Laban isn't exactly a large area. Does anyone we know live around there?
Mrs. Laura Virginia Forrest Mrs. Laura V. Forrest, aged 79 years, died at her home near Diggs, Sunday, October 6th at 5 P.M. She is survived by two sons, T.J. and W.E. Forest, of Diggs; three daughters, Mrs. J.W. Hunley, of Norfolk; Mrs. W.J. Smith, of Portsmouth, and Mrs. C.E. Smith, of this county; one brother, J.D. Brownley, of Laban; one sister, Mrs. T.J. Hurst, Berkley. Mrs. Forrest was a member of Salem M.E. Church, where the funeral services were held Tuesday at 1:30 P.M. Conducted by her pastor, Rev. H.J. Paylor, assisted by Rev. Wilbur C. Diggs. Interment was made in the family cemetery near Laban. The active pallbearers were, Oscar Forrest, Maywood Smith, Wilton Forrest, Willie Forrest, Edwin Smith and Frank Smith. The honorary pallbeareres were Wray Forrest, Joseph Forrest, Marshall Forrest and Frank Smith. The Mathews Journal October 10, 1929

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Laban Cemetery was actually the Brownley Family Cemetary. It was located across from Mt. Peniel Church. It is noted a book "Tombstones of Mathews County". The location is adjacent the old homestead of Charles W. Brownley. Its still there, but grown over.

Dave Wilson

David said...

Not sure if you are still working on this but I just visited the site and there are several "sites" on the property. I was looking for CWB's and his grandfathers graves. My great grandmother was Mary Alice Forest and there are some links in the area. We are in the process with the new owner of the property to clean up the site as some of the ground level stones are covered with organic growth.