Bess Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery is located about 5 miles outside of Cherryville, Lincoln County, North Carolina. When I traveled to North Carolina in 2005, I took these photos of the headstone of Peter Bess and his wife Sarah Beam Bess. They are my 4th great grandparents. Inscribed on one side is: Peter Bess February 22, 1820 - November 18, 1899 on the opposite side is: Sarah Bess August 27, 1823 - September 26, 1915. Of the two remaining sides, I was not able to read one as the elements had eroded it badly. But the other had inscribed a sorrowful little poem - "Our Father and Mother - HOW LONELY WE SLEEP IN THE CLAY, SINCE DEATH HAS CALLED US AWAY".
I was told that Peter Bess had donated the land for the cemetery to the church. There are suppose to be slaves buried in the stand of trees located at the back of the cemetery. This area is not cleaned off and I did not look in the over growth for the graves.
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