Buckingham Houses: Locust Dale, Part V

 Brooks Family Cemetery. Buckingham County, Virginia. Courtesy Jeremy Winfrey

Need to catch up?  Click here: Buckingham Houses: Locust Dale, Part I

In addition to her survey of the house, Elizabeth McCraw recorded information about the cemetery on the property, writing:

There is an old graveyard on the place about half a mile from the house. This is overgrown with vines and periwinkle. Four or five graves are marked with slight slabs. Some of these are so weathered that it is impossible to read the inscriptions. Only three could be read which are as follows;

Reid Brooks

Died July 7, 1842.

Erected to the memory of

Catherine Brooks Nuckols

Died June 16, 1847

Departed this life in the 30^th year of her age.

Emeline Ayers Brooks

Died Nov 26, 1922

In the 78^th year of her age.

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Emeline Marshall (Ayres) Brooks was the wife of Vincent Reid Brooks, Jr.  Born on January 22, 1843 in Buckingham County, in 1850, she was a student at Humanity Hall, the noted school operated by Elijah G. Hanes. She was enumerated there again in 1860. She married Brooks on August 10, 1864. Land taxes indicate that Vincent R. Brooks owned property on Rocky and Green creeks.

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When Mercedes Ludlow was growing up at Locust Dale, roughly 45 acres of the farm had been divided in such a way that the cemetery and house were no longer in the same tract. Mercedes recalled additional graves, which Jeremy Winfrey has recorded for Find-A-Grave, including this comment:

Vincent Reid Brooks Sr bought this property in 1804, and it remained in the hands of descendants well into the 20th century. There are multiple generations buried in this rather large cemetery, located about 50 yards behind a home. In a lightly wooded area, covered in periwinkle, there are three rows of graves. At least 26 graves are present, possibly more. There are only six marked burials, the rest are field stones and blank slate markers.

Click here to read Jeremy Winfrey’s survey: Vincent Reid Brooks Cemetery

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For more about Humanity Hall, consult the archives at Slate River Ramblings and my book,

“At a Place Called Buckingham,” Volume Two.

Coming Next: Buckingham Houses: Locust Dale, Part VI