This is the original cemetery for the John Isaac Satterfield plantation. This is a large cemetery typical of a 1700s plantation. Within a massive rock wall are William Penn Satterfield ( 1824 - 1898) and Sarah Beasley Satterfield (b 1823) along with his parents, James Satterfield (1776-1859) and Elizabeth Trotter and his parents, John (Isaac) Satterfield (died 1802) and Lucy (or Sarah Jay, as some researchers believe). John is the original settler who received the land grant from Lord Granville.

Outside the wall are Moores and others from the plantation... about 50 graves total. Separated from this cemetery by 100 ft is a slave cemetery of about 25 graves. The whole area is covered with thick periwinkle and guarded by the most massive poplar that I have ever seen. 3 adults cannot join hands around this tree. This cemetery was in use from about 1750 to 1900, and has been abandoned since then.

Graves

 2 carved tombstones:

 1. Mary D / wife of / G W MOORE / Born / July 1, 1847 / Died / Jun 19, 1879 /

2. Mary E / wife of / G W MOORE / Born / Nov 23, 1849 / Died / Aug 3, 1882 /

(The information from the two stones above is an exact transcription of the information on the stones. The lines on each stone are marked by a slash. Comments are in parentheses.

Others who may be buried here:

(The information below is from research by individuals and family records. It is not supported by physical evidence in this cemetery. If you research these lines and can add additional information pertaining to this cemetery, please share what you know. Please read the comments about this cemetery that appear below from a post to the Person County Message Board by John Fox.)

3. Gilbert MOORE

4. Lavenia Satterfield MOORE b. 1803 d. Dec 23, 1882

5. Sally Willy, dau of Bob SATTERFIELD

6. Alice Bell SATTERFIELD, Jun 25, 1854, 2 months and 4 days old

7. Sarah C SATTERFIELD, b July 4, 1875 d Oct 7, 1876

8. Cora H SATTERFIELD, b Sept 4, 1877 d Jan 28, 1898

9. Sarah SWEANEY Jul 13, 1888

10. Thomas Barnett MOORE

11. Arther Graham SATTERFIELD b. Sept 11, 1885 d. Dec 8, 1885

12. Blanch Sarah SATTERFIELD b. Jan 30, 1887 d. Jul 13, 1888

Known to be buried in slave cemetery ( from family records)

13. Lucy A SATTERFIELD

14. Doc SATTERFIELD

15. Eugena

16. Mamie C b. Jul 31, 1878 d. May 20, 1881

One child's grave is completely covered with football-sized rocks. From other sources, we have learned this was a common practice with drowning victims.

Posted to the Person County Message Board

05 June 2006

I am risking offending Ken and Becky Dalton, which I do not want to do, as I am most aware of the effort it takes to do what they have been doing. But I do have some problems with what they have recorded as the John Isaac Satterfield Cemetery. The inventory was brought to my attention by a Satterfield researcher who had encountered the inventory on line; she is from West Virginia.

I have several problems with the inventory, and will take each point and explain my position. I do hope that this will be taken as contructive criticism and not as a petty issue of mine.

1. First, it is not proven that John Satterfield had the middle name of Isaac. He did sign his will and some other documents with an archaic "J"; which to some researchers looks like the letter "I". The mark actually appears as a vertical mark with a cross line near the top, and two marks at the bottom which resemble the feathers on an Indian arrow. This mark has been identified and archived as an archaic "J". He did have a son named Isaac, but that does not automatically go to father John.

2. Second, identifying John Satterfield's wife as Lucy. This myth has been passed along ever since the publishing of the first volume of the Person County Heritage Book. There are no records which establish this premise. However, the will of John Satterfield mentions his wife, Sarah; the estate papers mention no Lucy, but does mention Sarah. A record from an I880/90 County local history publication of a descendant in Arkansas from Rebecca Satterfield, daughter of John and Sarah Satterfield, states that her mother was a Jay. John Satterfield did name a granddaughter, Lucy, in his will. John Satterfield and his brother, James arrived in what was then Orange County, NC in the company of William Jay who came from Maryland by way of Fairfax County, VA. [My great-grandmother was Sarah Jay Satterfield Royster, great-granddaughter of Sarah Jay Satterfield.]

3. Listing folks who are "supposedly" in the cemetery, but are not re-enforced by the presence of a tombstone or marker. If a Bible record or some other document spells that out, it should be mentioned along with the suppositions. First Case in point: John and his wife have no engraved markers in the cemetery. To provide truth, it can be stated that family lore has it that the couple were buried in this cemetery. Second case in point: There is a considerable list of folks listed as being in this cemetery. I cannot question all, but two noticeable problems are the following:

(9). Green D SATTERFIELD, b Oct 15, 1807 d Jan 21, 1879 (Justice of Peace)

(10). Mary A SATTERFIELD, wife of Green Satterfield, b Apr 17, 1803 d May 4, 1869

These two people were buried in the downtown cemetery which is now under a parking lot. It is my understanding that their tombstones are now being held in safekeeping until something occurs about restoring them to the general vicinity of the parking lot.

4. A comment was made that the cemetery was in use from 1750 until 1900. Who died in 1750? It could not have been any elder person of the Satterfield clan, as they did not show up on any public document until 9 March 1756 when William Jay purchased a large body of land and the proceeded to deed 50 acres each to John Satterfield and James Satterfield at the same time; this was the first land acquired by John Satterfield. The earliest record of death was for indicated in the following: Estate records found in the Orange County records might indicate the identity of this earlier Satterfield. 1762: An inventory of the goods and chattels of Jno. Satterfield Dec'd apprised This was someone who had accumulated an estate of some note.

The above points are my main points of difficulty. I would caution about entering editorial comments regarding how a drowning victim might have been buried, as related to this specific cemetery. I understand that someone provided information about the cemetery, I would be quite sure that information can be documented for the purposes of inventory, through Bible records, court records, church records and such, and those elements should be included for documentation. Otherwise leave that for another venue.

People who will access data on these inventories may accept at face value what is written down on the Person County site, and that is unfortunate since myths will continue to be recycled, and truth just goes out the window.

I do hope that everyone accepts my comments within the spirit that I intended.

Very best regards,

John Fox
Winston Salem, NC

As a result of the note above, the names of Green D SATTERFIELD and Mary A SATTERFIELD have been removed from the "Others who may be buried here" list above. They are obviously not buried here since they were listed in the WPA cemetery survey in the Satterfield Cemetery in Uptown Roxboro, WPA cemetery #176.

The decision to include or not include the list of graves that are not supported by physical evidence in the cemetery for this or other cemeteries is a tough call. In this case the list is supported by strong oral history and research, but the list admittedly may not be accurate. The list may however be useful to researchers and thus remains for now but with introduction that better positions the information. As further research yields greater understanding, this page will continue to change.

John's complete post has been included here in order to be certain that those who read this page will be aware of his comments.

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