A Brookhaven family is working hard to make sure their heritagewill be remembered for generations to come.

Descendants of Isham Smith Sr. and Emily Allgood Smith, bothborn in the 1820s, recently erected a tombstone near the couple’sgravesite, which had been unmarked for a number of years.

While researching their history, family members discovered thatthe gravesite was located on Cade Lane about 1,200 feet from theSmiths’ home place.

“I’m glad to learn a little history about this land. It’s niceto finally know some of the people who were buried here,” saidAlice Jeter, who now owns the land where the gravesites arelocated.

The graves were at one time marked with two large and one smallsandstone, signifying three people were buried in that area. Theidentity of third has not been discovered yet.

Jan Melancon, a great-great-granddaughter of the Smiths, and herhusband, Steve, located the graves with the help of Howard Nevels,the Smiths’ great-grandson.

“Howard remembers his mother, Anna Smith Nevels, taking him tothe gravesites,” said Melancon during a special ceremony heldrecently to honor the deceased.

Another story the family passed down during the ceremony wasabout the Civil War. They remembered hearing of how Union soldierscame to the Smith home in search of food. Emily Smith gave themsome corn bread through the window.

John Paul Smith, a local genealogist, helped the family byproviding them with some background information on the family ofIsham and Emily Smith.

He found information about their marriage and the numerouschildren they had before their deaths, of which dates are notknown.

John Paul Smith believes other families in the area could haveancestors buried in the same area as the Smiths.

“According to my mother, there were a lot of tombstones here atone time,” he said.

He plans to continue his genealogy work, hoping to find moreinformation on the history of families in Brookhaven and LincolnCounty.