Off Twin Springs Road in Naples, not far from Interstate 26, is found the Revolutionary War marker for Elijah Williamson, born 1755 in Virginia. He later moved to the Ninety-Six District of South Carolina.
He served three periods of service during the war, his pension records state. He served in the spring of 1778 near the Saluda River, policing the Cherokee Indian frontier.
In the summer of 1778, he spent three months near the Reedy River. In the fall of 1780, he served six months under Col. Levi Casey’s Regiment of mounted horsemen in the Upcounty of South Carolina.
The first land deed for Elijah Williamson was on March 3, 1788, when he enters land on both sides of Mud Creek that empties into the French Broad River, includes “improvements where he lives.” The next day Williamson enters more land on the west side of the French Broad River “above Boilston’s entry.”
On July 20, 1791, Elijah Williamson enters more land on the “western waters of Mud Creek above Hermon (Harmon) Rides (Reed’s).”
Williamson was born Feb. 11, 1755, and died Sept. 29, 1837. His wife, Sarah R. Williamson (1764-1850) is buried in the cemetery also.
Williamson is said to have planted five sycamore trees, naming each for one of his five daughters. Minerva married Preston Fidelia Patton. Rachel married Benjamin Posey. The Rev. Humphrey Posey was their son. Rebecca married William Kimzey. Stacy married Joshua Taylor. Melinda married John Henry.
The graves of Lucretia C. Patton, age 29, died March 1869; and Minerva W. Patton, 1806-1880, have visible headstones in the old cemetery.
The cemetery was badly overgrown in 2004 and a large pine tree was down across graves.
When the cemetery was surveyed in 1992 by the Henderson County Genealogical and Historical Society it was noted that nine to 12 known graves were not found.
In 2004, stubs of about 15 stones were located.
There is no access to the cemetery without crossing private property. In 2004, the old trail to the cemetery was not located.
But the cemetery itself is not located on the property of surrounding property owners.
The cemetery was, at one time, listed by the county as the Hatch Cemetery. On May 15, 1939, E.S.P. Hatch and husband, J.A. Hatch, sold the surrounding land to Annie Cogdill, but the cemetery was not sold.
“Excepting a strip of land reserved for the present old family graveyard, which is 100 feet long and 100 feet wide,” the deed states.
The Hatch couple had bought the property in a public sale in the early 1900s from the estate of W.I. Pender.
By 2006, descendants of persons buried at the land-locked Williamson-Patton Cemetery petitioned the clerk of court for access to visit, clean and maintain. Access was granted across private property for a trail to reach the cemetery with an access and maintenance schedule established for visitation.