​Robin R. Foster

Fairview Cemetery

 

The first known documented owner of Fairview Cemetery, J. S. Wah ( purchased a parcel of land  in 1919 on which Fairview Cemetery is situated.  Until Adopt-A-Cemetery volunteers uncovered headstones and death certificates documenting burials prior to 1919, it was believed that Fairview Cemetery did not exist until J. S. Wah's purchase in 1919.

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Location & Map

Fairview Cemetery is located on 300 Holman Street just outside of the city limits of Greenwood, South Carolina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

History

 

Some parts of Fairview Cemetery were divided into cemetery lots by Wah and sold.  These deeds are on file and indexed at the Greenwood County Clerk of Court.  One such family plot (Percival) is clearly visible on the front right side of the cemetery.  Undertaker, James T. Percival (1882-1937) and son, Dr. Theo. Percival are interred at Fairview. 

 

Earliest Known Burials

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The earliest burials documented in Fairview Cemetery are:

 

• Unknown (June 14, 1897)

• Georgianna Walker (January 18, 1827-January 3, 1909)

• Lewis Romans (d. December 3, 1909)

• Delia Bibbs (d. 1911)

• Sarah Romans (June 5, 1911)

• Charity Sullivan (1854-1911)

 

If a headstone had not existed for them when headstones were documented April 2014, we would have no other record of them.  Death certificates do not exist for anyone who died prior to the time they were recorded in 1915, and we have yet to find funeral home records prior to 1922.  

 

Documented Burials

All documented burials for Fairview Cemetery are being added to Find A Grave  Record types that we have researched include death certificates and Blyth Funeral Home records.  A significant number of obituaries of people interred in Fairview Cemetery were published in the Greenwood Index-Journal.  Hundreds were submitted by Jan Mitchell of Genealogy! Just ask! 

 

Check out Obituaries Documenting Fariview Burials

 

Prominent people or connections:

 

The parents, grandparents, and siblings of South Carolina Senator, Frank Gilbert are buried in Fairview. 

 

Grandparents

Charlotte Vance Johnson (1860-1936)

Jane Smith Johnson McCoy

Rev. George W. Gilbert (d. Nov 1925)

 

Parents

Essie Johnson Gilbert (1895-1962)

 

Siblings

McKinley Gilbert  (1929-1930)

Addison Gilbert  (1926-1959)

Charles J. Gilbert  (1933-1933)

Roscoe Gilbert   (1924-1935)

                                                                                         Photo taken by Jim Ravencraft, April 2014

 

 

Military Veterans

 

James Nelson Adams

James H. Backus

Ernest Beaty

James E. Burnett

Emsey C. Boozer

Hazel Childs

Horace Davis

Seymore Davis

John Griffin

Frank McGhee

John Misher

Phillip Mitchell

William Nedwood

Obie Paige

Thomas L . Puckett

Clarence E. Ray

Willie Ray

Bennie Reynolds

 

See

Millitary Veterans Beneath the

Overgrowth in Fairview Cemetery

 

 

                                                                                                     Photo taken by Jim Ravencraft, April 2014

Masons

 

Rev. L. S. Burnett

 

Ernest Burton

 

Rev. G. W. GIlbert

 

Louis White

 

Ministers

Rev. E. H. Bibbs 

Rev. Elisha R. Burgess

Rev. L. S. Burnett

Rev. G. W. Gilbert

Rev. J. C. Goode

Rev. J. F. Jackson

Rev, David TImothy MacDaniel

Rev. Randolph McGhee

Rev. J. W. Perrin

Rev. Robert Perrin

Rev. John Smith

Rev. J. M. Walker

Rev. John H. Walker

 

                                                                  Photo taken by Jim Ravencraft, April 2014

Owners

 

A search is in order to determine previous owners (prior to 1919) of the 14 1/2 parcel of land on which Fairview Cemetery is situated.  With documented burials prior to 1919, it stands to reason that Fairview Cemetery existed as a burial ground prior to the ownership of J. S. Wah.

 

According to the probate record for J. S. Wah, ownership of Fairview Cemetery passed to his stepson, Frank Edward Arnold, son of Janie Arnold Wah:

 

"It is my will, and I do hereby give, devise and bequeath unto my beloved stepson, Frank Arnold, all of my property of which I may die seized and possessed, be it real, personal or mixed, and unto him, the said Frank Arnold, absolutely and forever." 

(J. S. Wah will (1946); Greenwood County Probate Records; Box 368, Package 14, Greenwood County Courthouse, Greenwood.)

 

Frank E. Arnold , stepson of J. S. Wah, died one day after an auto accident on May 27, 1953. He left property on Hackett Street to his children and all remaining property to his wife, Louise Norman Arnold.  No will for Louise Norman Arnold has been found, however, ownership of the cemetery would have passed to her heirs unless she left a will stating otherwise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 Summer Clean Up Effort

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 Winter Clean Up Effort

 

 

We still need your help removing the overgrowth that remains. 

 

For more information, contact:

Robin Foster, Fairview Cemetery Project Chairperson

(864) 337-7931

robin.savingstories@gmail.com 

 

If you would like to donate to the volunteer effort to clean and maintain Fairview Cemetery, please forward your donation to:

 

Greenwood Historical Society

P. O. Box. 49653

Greenwood, South Carolina 29649

C/O Carol Scales

 

Please specify that your donation is for Fairview Cemetery.

 

So far, it has not been determined that a church is or was ever affiliated with Fairview, however, people buried in Fairview Cemetery were members from the following churches according to historical documentation:

 

 

Funeral Homes

 

The following funeral homes were documented as having internments in Fairview:

Biggs-Thackston

Blyth

Parks Funeral Home

Percival-Tompkins

Robinson & Sons

 

Learn More

 

If you would like to learn more about Fairview Cemetery, please visit the Lawrence Genealogy and Local History Room at the Greenwood County Public Library.