Henderson Crouse Cemetery

It was a beautiful day today (high of 63 and sunny with little wind) and I took a hour, or so, to clean the Henderson Crouse cemetery. Elbert's children had kept it up for many years but they are now elderly or dead, and the plots were in an early state of neglect. There was nothing, however, that a string trimmer followed by a lawn mower couldn't handle.

The cemetery is about 50 X 50 feet in size and enclosed with a woven wire fence with a double-door gate. The graves, pointing due east, are clearly marked, most with engraved tombstones. They are arranged in three rows and the occupants by row starting in the southwest corner are:

Back Row

Elbert Crouse (b. 12-1-1879 - d. 7-11-1973)

Bettie Wady Crouse (b. 2-29-1880 - d. 2-10-1970)

Henderson Crowse (b. 6-15-1835 - d. 7-8-1913) "At Rest"

Mary Ann (b. 9-2-1837 - d. 12-6-1912) "Wife of Henderson Crowse"

Benjamin Crowse (b. 1800 - d. 4-6-1897)

Wady Crowse (b. 1807 - d. 10-11-1865)

Elisabeth "Wife of Franklin Hopper" (b. 3-26-1832 - d. 1-3-1912) "A tender Mother and faithful friend"

Rev. B. F. Hopper (b. 11-16-1861 - d. 7-5-1930

Middle Row

"a Christian" fragment on tombstone

Markers for a child's grave

Martin J. Brinegar (b. 1856 - d. 1925)

Infant Son (1896)

Caroline Joines (b. 1861 - d. 1942)

Front Row

Markers for 4 children in northeast corner

It is of significant interest that Wady Crowse and possibly Caroline Joins were buried above the ground with the mounding of earth still clearly visible.

It is also interesting that the ages at death of the three Crouses buried were 96, 78, and 97.

That mountain air must be good for a body.