Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Old Shumpert Plantation Cemetery

A large pedestal monument near the entrance to the old Shumpert plantation cemetery in southwestern Itawamba County reflects the sun filtered through the dense woods on a cold autumn day. This old cemetery contains dozens of 19th Century monuments and was established on the plantation’s hill land near the main house east of the flat cotton lands west of the ridge.

The Shumpert plantation consisting of 1,440 fertile acres along Boguegaba Creek (the SW ¼ of Section 7, Township 11, Range 8, the SE ¼ of Section 6, Township 11, Range 8, the N ½ of Section 6, Township 11, Range 8, the NW ¼ of Section 18, Township 11, Range 8 and all of Section 12, Township 11, Range 7) was the home to George Shumpert, his wife Rhoda Conwill, sons, and thirty-two slaves. The Shumpert family had settled in Itawamba County coming from Newberry District, South Carolina shortly after the county was organized.
 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just looked the cemetery up on my topographical maps, and now I've got to go there! Are there many folks buried in this cemetery?

Bob Franks said...

Mona, there are around 40 monuments in the cemetery with more gravesites just marked with brick. The oldest monuments are from the 1840's. In addition to the Shumpert family, other families buried there include Myers, Griffin, Green, Conwill, Rankin, Bolands, Little and Riley.