A Great Day in Poplar Springs

On our last trip to Alabama in November, I made plans to find my great-aunt Lillie McClendon's grave.  From my research on Find-a-Grave, I discovered she is buried in Poplar Springs, AL in a small church cemetery.  Through a connection on Find a Grave, I met a cousin of mine who told me I also had many Slayton ancestors (my paternal ggrandmother was a Slayton) in this cemetery, which made me want to check it out even more.  I did some research and phone calling and found out how to get to it so Byron and I and our friends, Odis and Marsha, decided to make a day of it and take a field trip.

All went well as we traveled to the tiny community way back in the rural parts of Alabama just outside of Albertville, AL.  We didn't have any problems finding the pretty little Poplar Springs Church and its cemetery thanks to the clear cut directions given to me by the Chamber of Commerce of Albertville.

We arrived at our destination about mid-morning.  This way back place far from city and traffic and noise.  This small, white country church with the well tended building and manicured yard and neatly kept cemetery.  This quiet, peaceful place where my husband, our friends and I searched for my familial connections to the past.  As we looked for Aunt Lillie's grave, I noticed many McClendon's.  Many Slaytons.  Some Bryants.  Just seeing these names on gravestones made me feel connected, tightly laced to this new place--this place I'd never before visited.  It felt old and comfortable and familiar to me.  I found my gggrandparents headstone monuments and was moved to consider that Sarah Horton Slayton had given birth to my grandmother, Zora, who birthed my grandfather, John Bryant, who fathered my dad, also John Bryant.  The sense of continuity was electrifying.

We searched and searched yet couldn't seem to find Aunt Lillie so we just kept looking.  It was a small place, so surely she couldn't be that hard to find.  Meanwhile, a car drove up with a husband and wife about our age with a very young, little girl with them.  As they got out of their vehicle, the woman brought out a beautiful potted plant.  I wanted so much to talk to them and ask about my family, but I decided to wait and see on which grave she placed the plant.

To my surprise and delight, she placed it on a Slayton grave!  I immediately went over to her and asked, "Are you a Slayton?"  She replied, "My mother was."  I pointed to Sarah Horton Slayton's monument and said, "This is my second great grandmother."  Her face lit up and she said, "She's MY second great grandmother, too!"  Her great grandfather and my great grandmother, Zora, were siblings!  She and I are cousins!

We hugged and then introduced ourselves and our husbands and friends one to another and started comparing notes on family.  I can't begin to describe how surreal the next few minutes were.  She told me about her mother and the community and the church.  Kathy and her husband don't live in Poplar Springs but she regularly brings flowers to her mother's grave.  This day was an out of the ordinary day because her little granddaughter was sick and they were babysitting her from school.  The little one wanted to bring holiday flowers on this day and I'm so glad she did!

Kathy also told me of the New Harmony Cemetery that was only a few minutes away where many, many of my Bryant ancestors from the early 1800s and later, are buried!  Before we parted, Marsha found Aunt Lillie's headstone, the one we'd initially come seeking.   Kathy and I made plans to become Facebook friends and to stay in touch, which we have done, and are making plans for a long visit the next time we get to Alabama.  After we said our goodbyes and finished up at Poplar Springs, we made a visit to New Harmony and were able to see even more than we ever expected to see on that chilly, overcast and rainy Alabama weekday field trip.

I often think of this good day and I am in awe when I think of how it turned out.  This meeting was no coincidence.  It was no chancy get together.  It couldn't have been more God-orchestrated if He'd sent out written invitations to us both--but what touches me most was that He knew how much I needed this connection with family, with my ancestry, with my roots.  The Lord knows my personal pain and struggles.  He knows my desires and my longing for connection with my family's past and then gives me a gift I could have never provided for myself.

Many people think of cemeteries as creepy or scary but I don't.  There's something amazing about standing in the middle of a cemetery filled with my ancestors, thinking of their lives and their times.  Their hardships, their joys, and their faith.  I think about how the same Lord Jesus who protected them, who met their needs, who guided them, is the one who takes care of my family and me, now.  He's the same one who gives us special gifts like that great day in Poplar Springs, Alabama where I found my family.      

What a great, fun, exciting day, Jesus!  You give good gifts!  You know us better than we know ourselves and I thank you for this perfect present.  I love you!

Suz