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| James McLemore Granit Stone |
The granite stones bearing both his and his wife, Mary Frances Harper flank the entrance to the small drive that leads up to the cemetery. For years this small graveyard was kept locked with a very high fence to deter vandals.
The grounds have since been cleaned, the fence repaired with a security camera installed and most importantly registered as a Historic Cemetery which will afford it protection going forward.
His marker inside the cemetery and that of his wife:
The Harper, Taylor, McLemore and Thompson families came from Virginia and the Carolina's to spread the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ in Montgomery, Alabama. Solomon Thompson and his family, along with the Dean and Beasley families were founding members of the cornerstone church, Antioch which was found along with the other three, Old Elam, Bethlehem, Rehoboth, around 1818.
The Reverend James McLemore born 1782 died 1834 married Mary Elizabeth Harper born 1786 and died 1853 and fathered ten children.
Their son, William J. McLemore born 1821 and died unknown married Rebecca Evalina Pinkston born 1828 and died 1852.
Rebecca was the daughter of James Keene and Matilda Smith Pinkston. Rebecca Evalina Pinkston, a son and baby daughter are buried in Harper Cemetery in Montgomery, Montgomery which is in the Mountainview neighborhood located off of Atlanta Highway.
This cemetery is on private property. Please obey all Alabama state laws governing access.
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| Ann McLemore's headstone in the distance, top half broken off. |
Solomon Thompson migrated to Alabama from Barnwell, South Carolina with the Jesse Peter Taylor family. Jesse Peter Taylor was the son of Thomas and Ann Wyche Taylor who hailed from Richland Co, South Carolina. His brother is one Benjamin Franklin Thomas buried in Trinity Cathedral Cemetery, Richland Co, SC.
In a suit before the Supreme Court, McLemore vs Nuckolls one James Keene Pinkston mortgaged a debt against several slaves to which he had no clear ownership of, a woman by the name of Easter as well as two other slaves, February of 1849 to the Branch Bank of Montgomery.
Solomon Thompson's [Brewster, Solomon and Co] company executed the sale of the lien. George B. Nuckolls brought this suit on behalf of one Matilda S. [nee Smith] Pinkston, mother of Rebecca Pinkston McLemore. I don't understand all the legalese but the gist of it is that James Keene Pinkston owed a debt he could not pay and was attempting to raise the money by putting a lien against the three slaves.
A counter suit was filed by Brewster, Solomon and Co, C.D. McCall and Co among other creditors against one James K. Pinkston and gentleman by the name of James S. Whitesides accusing them waste, misapplication and negligence as trustees for the assets which came into their hands, the asset being the money earned by Mrs. Matilda S. Pinkston, which was used to secure the debt incurred by James K. Pinkston. At the heart of this were three human beings whose very lives depended on the outcome of this decision.
For certain one of those was Renty Taylor, buried in Antioch and whose tombstone I photographed while with the Lincoln Cemetery Rehabilitation Authority. The person recorded in Oakwood Cemetery is not Renty Taylor Thompson and I can provide documentation that it is not the man I have searched for known as Renty Taylor Thompson. The other two are Tena Pinkston and the woman named Easter.
In the end, Renty Taylor's sister Tena remained with the Pinkstons, Renty was returned to the McLemore's. This would be William J and Rebecca, Mrs. T. Lanier can corroborate or refute this information better than I because of her family ties to the three in question. I have no idea what became of Easter but believe she is in Antioch.
The Pinkston's eventually moved on to Mississippi where they died. This information was researched by me on behalf of Mrs. Lanier through correspondence via email.
James Keene and Matilda Smith Pinkston's son in law was one William J. McLemore son of James, III and Mary E. Harper McLemore. Thankfully, their daughter Rebecca was sleeping in her grave by the time this ugly business was going on between her father and her widow.
The McLemore Taylor Harper Pinkston and Thompson's (to a lesser degree) migrated together, their family ties go back to the early 1700's from the Carolina's, Virginia and Georgia. The relationship between these families can be established with the marriage of Rebecca [nee Pinkston] and William McLemore in 1846. The marriage of William's sister Louisa [nee McLemore] to Richard Henry Taylor. The McLemore's and Taylors descendants continue to live and work here in Montgomery, Alabama as they have for nearly 200 years.
I can only surmise that Renty Taylor changed his name to honor a man who tried his best to protect them from financial exploitation and with his untimely death, failed.
Had the children of Solomon Thompson and his wife Sarah survived into adulthood, there is no doubt that they would have married into the McLemore, Taylor, Pinkston and Harper families. Because they had traveled to Montgomery together, attended the same church and resided within the same township, it was a very tight knit community.
The Nuckolls family moved further towards the south end of the county and some are buried in what is known as Possum Trot Cemetery.
James S. Whiteside died and is buried in Marion County, Alabama. James Keene Pinkston's burial location is not known.
©Southern Cemetery Researcher
The information contained in this biography was researched and written in my own words. Please do not palagerize this work which was done on behalf of Renty Taylor Thompson's descendants.
A Baptist Preacher who established four cornerstone churches in Alabama which formed the Alabama Baptist Convention. He came Montgomery, Ala...
