A few weeks ago we buried our uncle Patillo Ainsworth Finlayson. A few years ago we made the same trip to Cheraw, South Carolina to say good-bye to Pat's older brother James Murdoch Finlayson. While at the old St. David's Church, I remembered a Thanksgiving Day back in 1997 that all the Burruss & Jennie Wait descendants met in Cheraw for a family reunion. It was a little over ten years ago. The three remaining siblings, Pat, Murdoch, and Jennie Llew met us there. It was a beautiful day for such a gathering. We spent a leisure weekend there walking around the old township, driving down old neighborhoods and visiting the cemetery at the Old St. David's Church. Everywhere we went, we paid close attention to catch a shared memory among the last of Burruss' children. This is where they grew up.
There is an old Confederate memorial there in the quiet of the Old St. David's Church. I read where originally the monument did not mention Confederate soldiers because the area was still occupied by Union forces. Cheraw has a lot of Civil War history. After all, the first call for secession in a public meeting was made at the Chesterfield County Courthouse. John A. Inglis of Cheraw introduced the resolution for South Carolina to secede. General Sherman later occupied the area, but didn't strike a match. There was a terrible fire that burned down much of the downtown district because of an accidental munitions explosion. The Yankees of course were to blame, but it was an accident. Sherman and his troops had taken a liking to town's charm.
The Old St. David's Church was used as a hospital for both Union and Confederate troops during the course of the war. The church was also used as a hospital for the British during the Revolutionary War. It's a very small town with abundant history.
The Confederate monument reads:
"To the memory of our heroic dead who fell at Cheraw during the war 1861-1865. Loved and honored though unknown. Stranger, bold champion of the South, revere and view these tombs with love; Brave heroes slumber here, Loved, and Honored, though unknown."
It was there at the monument where I found my uncles Pat and Murdoch standing together talking. After spotting them it took me several minutes to reach them. At the time I had no idea as to the significance of the monument or the spot where they were standing. The way there were standing there made me wonder what they were talking about at that moment.
When I reached them they were just standing there close together in quiet thought. I asked them what they had been talking about. Both smiled while looking reflectively at the monument. They both shared the story, interrupting with their own memories of Memorial Day's past. They told how when they as children would march from their school to this monument with roses. When they arrived, they would all scatter the peddles around the white marble obelisk, singing a special song for the occasion.
There were orations, choirs, and special guest - it was a very big day each year in Chesterfield County. It was a tradition that started on Memorial Day of May 10, 1867. The tradition ended in 1961.
But there was more to the telling. Pat and Murdoch told me not only of those days but about the old Confederate veterans who were in attendance, quietly standing among children. Murdoch looked at me and said that as children, those veterans seemed so old to us back then. Now we are the old soldiers standing here.
That was my favorite moment during our reunion.
The Old St. David's Church was used as a hospital for both Union and Confederate troops during the course of the war. The church was also used as a hospital for the British during the Revolutionary War. It's a very small town with abundant history.
The Confederate monument reads:
"To the memory of our heroic dead who fell at Cheraw during the war 1861-1865. Loved and honored though unknown. Stranger, bold champion of the South, revere and view these tombs with love; Brave heroes slumber here, Loved, and Honored, though unknown."
It was there at the monument where I found my uncles Pat and Murdoch standing together talking. After spotting them it took me several minutes to reach them. At the time I had no idea as to the significance of the monument or the spot where they were standing. The way there were standing there made me wonder what they were talking about at that moment.
When I reached them they were just standing there close together in quiet thought. I asked them what they had been talking about. Both smiled while looking reflectively at the monument. They both shared the story, interrupting with their own memories of Memorial Day's past. They told how when they as children would march from their school to this monument with roses. When they arrived, they would all scatter the peddles around the white marble obelisk, singing a special song for the occasion.
But there was more to the telling. Pat and Murdoch told me not only of those days but about the old Confederate veterans who were in attendance, quietly standing among children. Murdoch looked at me and said that as children, those veterans seemed so old to us back then. Now we are the old soldiers standing here.
That was my favorite moment during our reunion.
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| Finlayson Family Reunion 1997, Cheraw, South Carolina |
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