A ceremony to rededicate two more restored military grave markers of United States Colored Troops in the City of Henderson’s historic Fernwood Cemetery is set for 1 p.m. this Saturday, April 26.
They are the most recent tombstones in the cemetery’s Section 18 to be restored in a project managed by the Genealogy and Local History department at Henderson County Public Library and the Friends of the Library. Last fall, five markers were restored and re-dedicated.
The two new markers are those of:
- Sgt. Thomas Payne, 118th Regiment, Company G, who enlisted on July 1, 1864, and died on April 25, 1917.
- Rev. Lewis B. Posey, 118th Regiment, Company G, who enlisted on Sept. 19, 1864, and died on June 21, 1921. Following his military service, Posey was pastor at Norris Chapel Baptist Church.
There were about 25 grave markers in a condition that made them candidates for restoration through the project, said Donna Spencer of the HCPL’s Genealogy and Local History department, noting that the goal is to re-do about six per year as funds allow. Four more will be re-dedicated later this year.
“This historic section (of the cemetery) is the focus for the project,” she said. “It needs the work done and it’s important to Henderson’s history.”
HCPL got the ball rolling with a 2023 restoration and rededication ceremony after completing research about the headstone of Paul Horace Kennedy, a well-known 19th century pastor in Henderson who earlier in his life served with the USCT during the Civil War. Descendants of Kennedy were located and were able to attend.
The physical restoration work on the stones is done by Kristy and Mark Vanderpool of the local organization Vanderpool Restorations and is funded through the Friends of the Library Monument Restoration Fund.
Some of the seed money for the restoration fund was generated through annual historic walking tours of Fernwood Cemetery, and other funds have been generated through donations.
Part of the process of rededicating the markers is doing genealogy work to locate descendants of the soldiers to not only include them in the rededications but potentially collect family history information.
HCPL’s Glenn Riggs said that step is an important one that can add content to the community’s historic archive and in this case expand the story of the USCT.
Riggs said a new statewide website devoted to capturing information about the lives of USCT has been launched, and the library’s work can be added to that archive as well. That web site is KyUSCT.org.