Descendants of early settler Merrimon Featherstone bought and erected a plaque in 2004 noting the names of persons buried at the historic family cemetery.
Early settler Merrimon Featherstone was an English prize fighter, according to historians and family records. He fought throughout Europe and came to America as the Revolutionary War began.
In 1799, he married Amelia Mills, daughter of Ambrose Mills and half-sister to William Mills, another early settler.
The Featherstone family was listed on the 1800 census in Rutherford County and by 1810 he bought land in the Clear Creek community of today’s Henderson County.
At one time he owned about 1,500 acres in the Clear Creek community and ran a grist mill on Featherstone Creek. His lands adjoined the lands of Edward Shipman and James McMinn.
Old stories and legends state that he was a Tory in the Revolutionary War, but this has not been proven.
His great-grandson, Ambrose Mills Featherstone, established Brookside Camp, which was a resort area at one time. The road leading to the old camp is now known as Brookside Camp Road.
Family Bible records state at least six graves were at the cemetery, which is located within Featherstone Meadows Subdivision in a grassy circle of a subdivision road.
Only one stone was located there in 2004.
Richard Featherstone states that there were eight graves in the grassy area. In 1968, he could not find the cemetery because it was so overgrown with brush, trees and barbed wire, he said.
“I cleaned it up and have maintained ownership,” he said.
The only legible marked headstone he found was that of his father’s sister, Clara. But he found eight other stones in the cemetery. He could not make out the names on the markers.
“A neighbor agreed to cut the grass if we took down the markers,” Featherstone said. “But the graveyard was left intact.”
Family members and the Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society compiled a list of persons known to be buried in the cemetery.
In 2004, family members and volunteers tried to locate and reconfirm the location of the graves.
Descendants then bought and erected the plaque.
The graves of Merrimon Featherstone and his wife, Amelia Mills Featherstone, are known to be located within the cemetery.
It is also known that at least one Confederate veteran was buried in the family cemetery.
Ambrose A. Featherstone enlisted in the 25th N.C. Infantry Regiment, Co. A, Edney’s Greys, on 5-15-1861. He served through the war. He died in 1913.