This morning we left a little later - almost 8:30 (trying to catch up from the long day on Wednesday). The drive took us through the NW corner of Georgia before entering Alabama.
We arrived in St. Clair County around 11:30.
Our first stop was at the Deerman Chapel in Steele Alabama and then on to the Old Deerman Cemetery to locate the grave markers for many of the Deerman ancestors.
The new Deerman Chapel
The original Deerman chapel and cemetery was located about 1/4 mile
across the road from the current chapel.
These are the steps to the original chapel.
Bonnie's ancestors, Solomon Deermand and Mary Brigman Deerman, along with their son Richard are buried in this cemetery. The white stone to the left is Solomon's grave marker.
This was followed by a visit to the Beeson Cemetery to locate grave markers for the Brown and Deermans who married into the Beeson family. Our ancestor Curtis Grubb Beeson became senator of the State of Alabama.
The chapel next to the Beeson cemetery
We had a downhome lunch at the at the Two Sisters restaurant outside of Ashville. Lunch included fried Okra, fried chicken, home made Mac & Cheese, Chicken Pot Pie, green beans and corn bread. We didn't care much for the green beans. When one of the sisters came to give us the check she noticed we hadn't eaten the green beans. She said, "Didn't like the green beans, did ya."
Next time we'll eat at Subway.
Our next stop was at the St. Clair County Administrative offices in Ashville where we were able to locate many records of marriages and the probate and related court records for David Brown. David had significant property in the area and several children. The court records were extensive as a result.
These are the original books for the Probate Court and Wills.
This is an example of the records in the books
Corrine was very helpful as we were searching the records. The people of the South have always been friendly and pleasant in assisting us.
We then visited the St. Clair Archives and Museum where were were able to get additional information about the area and the Brown, Deerman and other ancestors.
The County Archivist, Robert was extremely helpful to us. His office and records are well organized. The files and books in the Archives included much information about the area and the Brown family. Our ancestor, David Brown, died in this area in 1868.
We checked into the hotel (Fairfield Inn ... purchased with points), had a light dinner and spend the evening recovering and reviewing information collected during the day. Drove about 350 miles today.
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