Barrett "Writ" BARFIELD / George COOK CEMETERY, Dillon County, SC

BARRETT "WRIT" BARFIELD / GEORGE COOK CEMETERY - Dillon County, SC
Tombstones copied 1993

LOCATION: In Kemper Community, on State Road #278, recently renamed Grain Bin Road.

Directions: Going south out of Lake View on Hwy #41 turn left at the grain elevators. Follow this road 1.3 miles. Cross SR #427, now Cooktown Road, where SR #278 becomes a dirt road. Cross Eastern Prong of Herrod's Branch. At the first field on the right past the branch, park and walk to back right corner of field, about 200 yards from road. (Hope & pray that the field isn't freshly plowed!) Cemetery is just in the edge of the woods, under one large tree that the loggers left standing.


     1ST ROW:                                       Patsie
     Barritt Barfield                               Wife of Barritt Barfield
     Born 1800                                      Born 1808
     Died 18 Nov 1876                              Died 28 April 1873
     His toils are past his work is done      Her spirit smiles from that bright
     He fought the fight the victory won.       shore
                                              And softly whispers weep no more.
     2ND ROW:
     No stones found

     3RD ROW:
     Evander Barfield
     Born 15 Dec 1848
     Died 2 Dec 1879
     "No pains no griefs no arrows fear
      Can reach our loved one sleeping here."

     Funeral Home Marker
     Glass cover and paper with writing are both gone.
     Reverse imprint on metal backing:
     Aug 27 1918
     Feb 12 1926
    
     Funeral Home Marker
     Glass cover is intact, but paper it completely gone. Reverse
     imprint on metal marker is illegible through glass. I thought of
     breaking glass, but couldn't make myself do it.

     Cook  (one stone)
     Father                         Mother
     George Cook               Caroline Cook
     1852-1929                   1855-1924

     Tiny Funeral Home Marker
     Located between George/Caroline and Mary Ann
     Glass cover gone, paper gone
     Reverse imprint on metal:
     1952-1957

     Mary Ann Cook                      Thaddaus Elemore Cook
     23 Sep 1874                           17 April 1881
     31 Dec 1937                           23 May 1944

This cemetery covers a larger area than the stones would indicate. There are large spaces in the rows between the tombstones. It is apparent that there are many more graves here.

HISTORY:
Barrett "Writ" Barfield, Jr. was the son of Barrett Barfield, Sr & his wife Susannah (_?_). Barrett Sr. and most of his purported twenty-two children sold out and went to Georgia about 1836/8. Subject of a sizable section in the "History of Marion County, South Carolina" by W. W. Sellers, the Barfield family in Dillon County is today represented only by the descendants of Writ Barfield and three of his sisters who married into the Goodyear and Rogers families. Sellers speculated that Barrett Sr. was a son or nephew of the Tory Captain Jesse Barfield. Research has not confirmed this, but it has provided clues that indicate the likelihood of it.

Writ's lands and the cemetery appear to have been part of a land grant to Joshua Barfield in the 1780's. Records show that Joshua Barfield was probably closely related to the Tory Captain Jesse Barfield, as Joshua paid taxes on the estate of a Jesse Barfield in 1786. There no clear line of conveyance of these lands to Writ in the Marion or Dillon County records. In the early to mid-1800's Writ's lands bounded on Furney Barfield, William Ford, James R. Hayes, John Elvington and Solomon Miller.

"The Tally Place", home of Robert Tally Barfield who was a son of Writ, was located several hundred yards southeast of the cemetery. It was most likely the homeplace of Writ, but no trace of it remains.

Individuals buried here include Writ and his second wife Martha "Patsie" (_?_). Evander Barfield was one of Writ's sons. Caroline Barfield Cook was daughter of Writ, who married George Cook, son of Ebenezer Cook and Telatha Miller. Mary Ann Cook and Thadeus Elmore Cook were unwed children of George and Caroline. Writ's children Tally and Susan are said to be buried here. Both unwed, they resided on the homeplace until their deaths. It is likely that Writ's first wife, Mary Porter is also buried here. (The death certificate of their son Harley states that his mother was Mary Porter.)

SOURCES: Marion and Dillon Co deeds and plats; State of SC land grants and plats; U.S. census records; Marion Co tax lists; Revolutionary War records; Family Bibles; death certificate of Harley Barfield; interviews with great grandchildren of Writ Barfield.

Barrett "Writ" BARFIELD / George COOK Cemetery