EARNEST CHAPEL CEMETERY

Located on Mathew’s Mill Road between the railroad tracks and the intersection of Glaze Road and Mathew’s Mill Road, Telford, Tennessee. Concrete steps lead up to the cemetery from the road. It was founded in 1808. This cemetery is mowed occasionally but a lot of the markers are hard to read.

GPS location: 36° 14.68 N 082°33.89W Elevation: 1530 ft.

Surveyed, transcribed and donated to the Washington County TNGen Web 9 Nov 2004 by Donna Cox Briggs and Betty Jane Hylton members of the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee.

Copyrighted 2012 by the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee. No part may be copied without written permission from the Cemetery Survey Team.

Additional information

Ola Miller is buried in an unmarked grave.
Hannah Stepp Beard, b. 18 Jan 1833 in Virginia, d. 20 Oct 1915 in Washington County, Tennessee is buried in an unmarked grave. TN death certificate #474.

Washington County, Tennessee History, 1988, p.80: Undoubtedly there were several Methodist churches, which were active for some period of time and later disappeared. Names of the cemeteries in Washington County identified as Methodist included the following, although churches no longer exist at some of the locations: Fall Branch, Mt. Zion, Pleasant Grove, McKinley, Barnett/Timber Hill, Uriel, Eden, Speedwell, Bethesda, Earnest’s Chapel, McAllister.

[The following will and marriage record may be clues to the name of this cemetery.]

p.37 Lawrence Earnest, August 25, 1837 Wife, Hannah. Sons: Jacob B. Earnest, Lawrence W. Earnest, Jonah W. Earnest. Children: Wesley, Elizabeth Coon, Syntha, Axley, Marilla Broyles, Antamond? Payne, Rebecca Payne, Lavinia Barnett, William S., Jonah W., Jacob B. and Lawrence W. Earnest. Executors: Brother-in-law Nathan Barnes, E.L. Mathes. Wit.: William, William G. and Jesse R. Payne. Probated May Session, 1838.

Washington County Tennessee Marriages by Goldene Burgner

p.17 Westly Earnest to Mary Payne, md. 21 October 1819 by Nathan Barnes

History of Washington County, Tennessee, 1988 by the Watauga Association of Genealogists.

p.319-320 Lawrence Earnest (second son of Henry Earnest b. 1732 Zurich, Switzerland, d. 1809 Greene County, TN. m. Mary Stephens, 1760 Frederick Co., VA) born 1763 Frederick County, Virginia, died after 25 August 1837 (will) in Washington County. He married (1) Rebecca North [dau. of John & Esther North] 11 September 1795 and (2) Hannah Payne. Her father, Jesse Payne, had will recorded in Washington County.

Lawrence Earnest was a delegate to 1822 Greene County Convention from Nolichucky Branch for Tennessee Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves. Children of Rebecca and Lawrence Earnest: Wesley, Elizabeth, Synthia, Marilla, Artamicia, Rebecca, Lavina, William, Josiah, Jacob, Lawrence, Jesse, Henry.

DEEDS –
Deed Book 1, Page 223 (1784) – State of North Carolina to Robert Gentry.
Deed Book 4, Page 70 (1789) – Robert Gentry to James Cunningham.
Deed Book 6, Page 514 (1799) – James Cunningham to Ebenezer John Cunningham.
Deed Book 22, Page 260 (1837) – Ebenezer John Cunningham to Josiah Earnest.
Deed Book 24, Page 187 (1840) – Josiah Earnest to McCracken Meeting House Trustees – “…..appropriate it to a place of public burial…..”  The trustees of the McCracken Meeting House were:  Nathan Barnes, Elijah Shannon, William Payne, James Biddle, John Biddle, Samuel Stevens, and Adam A. Broyles.  
Deed Book 24, Page 188 (1840) – Josiah Earnest to McCracken Meeting House Trustees.  Conveyed a nearby but not adjacent parcel for “…..a house or place of worship for the use of the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church…..”  
Deed Book 82, Page 207 (1899) – Trustees of the M.E. Church to Alex M. Payne – “…..dispose of a certain church property known as Earnest’s Chapel…..”  Trustees shown as Rev. W.P. Mitchell, G.M. Gillespie, and J.B. Klepper.  
Deed Book 26, Page 287 (1845) – Josiah Earnest to William Middleton.  This parcel includes the area allocated to the meeting house and to the burial ground, but does not mention same.
Deed Book 40, Page 102 (1865) – William Middleton to John F. Smith.  This parcel includes the area allocated to the meeting house and to the burial ground, but does not mention same.
Deed Book 43, Page 138 (1872) – John F. Smith to William Middleton.  This parcel includes the area allocated to the meeting house and to the burial ground, but does not mention same.
Up to this point, the deeds included the area of the graveyard.  William Middleton began to parcel out the larger tract and deeds coming forward called around the burial ground. 

Deed research donated to the Washington County TNGen Web August 2016 by Gordon M. Edwards, member of the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee.
Copyrighted 2016 by the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee. No part of this work may be copied without written permission from the Cemetery Survey Team.

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