A Funeral, Some History, and a Big Ole Steaming Pile of HUH?

I gotta say, as far as weeks go, this past one really sucked. Why? Glad you asked…

On Tuesday morning, I got the call I feel like I’ve been waiting years for, my great-grandmother (and last remaining grand parent) passed away. It’s funny the reaction you get from people when you tell them you have a death in the family and then the entirely different reaction when you tell them it was your great-grandmother. The closest I can describe it is as going from “Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss” to “Oh, well that’s not so bad, is it?” Grandma, to me, was never any different from my other grandparents and I was fortunate enough as a child to get to spend a good amount of time with her in that capacity. I think the times I became most upset this past week over her passing was when I recalled her laugh, which she pretty much did anytime she spoke. I always found comfort knowing that she was in the world, but I know that she has had a rough few years and is in a much better place where oil never spills, no one straps bombs to themselves, and you ALWAYS get the correct change. I’m thankful that I have a lot of memories of a healthy and happy Grandma, and very much thankful that I can still hear that laugh in my head.

The funeral was Thursday morning in Laurens, SC. A few Wikipedia provided tidbits about Laurens: It was named after Henry Laurens who was president of the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War. Population was close to 10,000 in 2000. The earliest reference to the name Laurens was in a town charter in 1873, but prior to this it is thought that it was called Laurensville. It was the home of blues musician Pink Anderson, who if you are versed in useless trivia, is also where the Pink in Pink Floyd came from.

Laurens is also the childhood home of the lead singer of Kool and the Gang. I can’t help but wonder if there are cover bands like Lukewarm and the Crew doing their own renditions of Ladies Night in Laurens somewhere.






I got to spend a bit of time with some relatives at my Uncle Bud’s house. He’s actually more like my great-uncle since he’s Grandma’s son. We pretty much sat in his sun room and talked and watched all the purple martins he had roosting outside. Bud has an even hundred gourds up and every one of them has martins in residence. It was good to just sit and watch them.



Now’s probably a good time to mention that since Tuesday, I’ve had a middle and outer ear infection in my right ear. Good times, right? Even now my hearing is far from 100% in my right ear. This makes the slight hearing loss in my left ear from playing in bands a little more troublesome. So, for the majority of the week, I’ve been saying “Huh?” and turning my “good” ear towards people…kinda like you’d do when imitating old people when you were a kid. I feel like that one has come back and bit me squarely on the butt.

Ear infections are not only painful, but they age you a lot. Here is a photo of me at the funeral.

So, besides the ear thing plus Grandma passing, it was a pretty uneventful week. Nate and I ventured out to “Historic Camden” Sunday in an attempt to come up with something blog worthy, but I don’t know if it was the heat, the ear, or what, but I admit that I came up short this week.

The most interesting find was the grave of Abraham Lincoln’s brother-in-law right here in Camden. I don’t know why, but I feel this to be intensely interesting that someone so close to such famous people is buried right in the town I live in, in the old Quaker Cemetery specifically. Dr. GRC Todd apparently worked and served as a surgeon during the Civil War in Camden. At one point he was arrested and charged with the death of a white woman and her baby. The newspaper at the time cited her death as the result of an abortion from Dr. Todd, which he was subsequently arrested for and charged with malpractice and with performing a criminal operation. Dr Todd died from a self-administered chloroform overdose. There was no mention in the material I read that indicated if this was a suicide or an accident, however it was noted that after the death of his wife, he suffered deep melancholy. Scandelous!

One of my absolute favorites of this location is the grave of Agnes of Glasgow. Who was she? I have no idea. The etched scrawl in the headstone simply says "Here lies the body of Agnes of Glasgow, departed this life Feb. 12, 1780. Aged 20." There are a lot of different stories swimming around about this enigmatic yet real person named Agnes. The seemingly traditionally accepted story is that she followed her lover, who was a British Soldier coming over to fight in the Revolutionary War, but she died before finding him. It is also said that a man named King Haigler and his men buried her under the cover of darkness. I'm not sure if King Haigler was a part of the Wateree Indians or if he was the great Catawba chief. In any case, the story of Agnes is open to the imagination and I've read of some really juicy theories as to who she was. If anyone wants to know more, perhaps I'll do some in-depth digging and dedicate a post to Agnes and/or King Haigler. The stories are fantastic! Maybe I'll even do it if you don't ask. So there.

Below are just a few pictures I snapped while I was out and about Sunday. Enjoy!



The Kershaw-Cornwallis House. This is a reconstruction of the original that was burned by the Union troops in 1865. I'm told that the vehicles are an accurate representation of transportation of that era.







These are old Quaker graves,which have no markings identifying the person laid to rest here. Makes you wonder why they even bothered with the bricks.




That's weird because Nate was right behind me in the car when I took this pict-OH MY GOD A GHOST!!!!!!!! Just kidding. It really is Nate. You're so gullible.

As always, I love feedback, so don’t hesitate to leave me some below!