52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 – Week 40: Cemetery

NOTE: I accepted the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge headed by fellow genealogy blogger Amy Johnson Crow. The idea behind this challenge is that you will receive email prompts, a word or phrase, every week, and you find something about your research or family history to write about.  Click HERE to read my first 52 Ancestors blog post in 2019.

This family history journey has taken me to many family cemeteries. Most of them have been in Jackson County, Arkansas. The majority of my family on both sides of my family are in cemeteries in and around my hometown of Newport, Arkansas. I have walked around those cemeteries honoring my ancestors by cleaning their headstones, piecing together moments in my family’s lives, and documenting their headstones with photos.

Yet there are still cemeteries I haven’t made it to, and one of those cemeteries is Eason cemetery in Grays, Woodruff County, Arkansas. This is the town of my maternal grandmother, Ernestine Wright Hatchett. Her family lived in this county for over a hundred years. Even though the Grays is no longer an incorporated city, there are still connections to my family there like this cemetery. Cemeteries are often a reminder that my family history is never finished. Even with all the research I have done, there are still places I need to go, cemeteries I need to visit, and stories waiting to be uncovered.