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Post by Angela on Apr 20, 2009 1:35:44 GMT -5
Q: The movie says the family was buried in a private cemetery because they couldn’t be buried on hollow ground. What does this mean and why?
A: We were referring to hallowed ground, i.e. church ground which is holy. Some denominations believe that suicide and/or murder is a mortal sin, a sin that condemns the sinner to damnation regardless of their other actions, and the sinner could not be buried on hallowed ground. The funeral was held on Friday afternoon, December 27th, 1929 with over 5,000 mourners in attendance.
Back then, and even today, some churches would not let a person be buried in their graveyard that had committed suicide or murder. This would apply to Charlie Lawson and since his family was buried in the same grave plot it would extend to them. Since Browder Cemetery was not affiliated with the church per se then that tells me that Charlie's family might have tried to have him buried somewhere else first...say Snow Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Lawsonville since Charlie and Fannie and 4 of their children were born and raised there and were turned down so they settled for Browder Cemetery which had no such regulation. This isn’t for certain, and we’ve heard different things if the Primitive Baptist Church held this belief or not. Maria
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Post by debbie on Apr 20, 2009 7:28:07 GMT -5
This is a very interesting post Maria. As I always thought that all burial places were considered hallow ground, and never gave a thought as to whether someone buried there was a murderer or suicide victim. I remember my mother always saying "don't walk over the graves, because it is disrespectful to walk on hallow ground."
Does this mean that Browder Cemetery is not hallow ground. There are babies, children, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters buried at Browder Cemetery. And among them a cold blooded killer. Its hard to believe that Charlie was entitled to be buried with the family he killed. That each time the graves was visited by a family member there would be a constant reminder that Charlie was there with them. I never understood why they were buried together. I wonder if this is was something the family wanted, or was it just accepted as the thing to do back then.
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Post by Angela on Apr 20, 2009 7:48:46 GMT -5
Hallowed ground is for graves/cemeteries on church property. Browder Cemetery is private property and not affiliated with a church. That's why in my previous post I stated that they may have been denied buriel in Snow Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. It's also been said that W.D. Browder, the original owner of Browder Cemetery offered free burial plots in his cemetery for people in the Stokes County area that were poor and could not afford to pay fora burial. Maria
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Post by Brian on Apr 20, 2009 14:40:18 GMT -5
The hallowed ground argument would have applied to Charlie, but those who were murdered could be buried in hallowed ground. Charlie not only murdered but committed suicide (suicided) so he had no chance of being forgiven for his sins. It was most likely an economical decission. Purchasing 7 graves would have been expensive, so free graves would have been a very attractive prospect.
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Post by Angela on Apr 20, 2009 14:57:57 GMT -5
Charlie had a one thousand dollar Life Insurance Policy with Shenadoah Life which would have probably covered not only the burial but the seven caskets as well. He also had a life insurance policy with the Junior Order Of United American Mechanics. Maria
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Post by Brian on Apr 20, 2009 16:03:06 GMT -5
But the more you can get for free the more of that money the family can keep. I think it all boils down to money.
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Post by Angela on Apr 20, 2009 16:31:47 GMT -5
I think you are more than likely right Brian, especially so because Marion Lawson was in charge of the money making decisions and we've all heard about what a greedy man he was.
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Post by smpyrtle on Apr 20, 2009 20:18:54 GMT -5
I think you're probably right also Brian. I wonder what the reason was that Onie and John Manring were buried there. Could it be because there was no money to be buried anywhere else or did they choose that cemetery because so many of their family was already buried there. There was their daughter and seven of their grand-children.
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Post by Angela on Apr 21, 2009 5:53:47 GMT -5
I don't know if John and Onie had insurance or not which if they didn't could account for them being buried in Browder Cemetery rather than in Lawsonville. I rather think that Onie wanted to be buried with her daughter and grand babies more than any other reason to be buried there. You have only to read the epitaph on her tombstone to get a glimpse of the un-ending grief that she suffered through when her daughter and her grand babies were violently snatched from her. Maria
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Post by sissy on Apr 21, 2009 7:33:18 GMT -5
I think they buried them there so it would be easier for Arthur to visit them. As far as it not being hallowed ground, the definition I saw said hallowed meant revered or respected, even though this was not in a church it was still a respected and revered place.
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Post by Angela on Apr 21, 2009 7:38:00 GMT -5
I think that's a great point Sissy and I agree 100%. Love your Avatar by the way!!!!!!!!
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