About 33 people gathered atop a hill in Jimmy and Carrie Lynne Gray’s farm on Hwy 778 Saturday to dedicate the long-lost gravesite of Presley Slaughter, who died in 1834.
Thunder echoed over the speeches made and prayers offered, sounding like canons in the War of 1812, a war in which Slaughter served as a Surgeon’s Mate in the Kentucky Mounted Militia.
Misty Chambers, of Dallas, Texas, was the impetus behind Saturday’s gathering.
Chambers said she “spent years” uncovering her family’s ancestries before she arrived in Trigg County last year to find the grave of Slaughter, her seventh great-grandfather.
It was a long process, she said, because there are actually quite a few Presley Slaughters in the reams of history, a result of the family’s prominent status — a family who liked to reference themselves in their family tree.
Chambers gave herself three days last year to find Slaughter’s final resting place. A genealogical reference on the Web said he was buried in Grace Cemetery. Accordingly, Chambers set off for The Land Between the Lakes, which happens to have two Grace cemeteries.
She was “heartbroken” to find Slaughter rested in neither.
Chambers then headed to the John L. Street Library, hoping someone there could help.
As it happened, some members of the library staff had been working on a comprehensive book about Trigg County’s cemeteries, a project that is only now nearing completion. Chambers was told that her relative was buried on the Gray Farm.
Chambers did call before making the short drive, but her calls went unanswered.
“Screw it — I’m just going to go over there,” she said. Chambers was leaving the next day.
For the rest of this story, please see this week's edition of The Cadiz Record.
