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Re: old Methodist cemetery, Massey, MD?
Posted by: Marge Fallaw (ID *****5922) Date: September 30, 2005 at 23:51:54
In Reply to: old Methodist cemetery, Massey, MD? by Ernie Mabrey of 450

I slightly recall this cemetery from 1985-86, when I was working on the Kent County Historic Sites Survey and doing fieldwork in this section of the county. I was not involved in any way with the transcriptions of the recent Tombstoning book. I do have a (not very good) photocopy of the 1972 typescript you mention, where this cemetery is mentioned, pp. 98-100. The county historical society probably has a version that is easier to read.

I see only one Voshell inscription there, on p. 99:

"Mary F. daughter of
John F. [? P?] and Hennella [sp?] Voshell
died June 21, 1888 aged
1 month"

There are 11-13 transcriptions (can't be sure where one starts and another leaves off). But I doubt that I saw that many stones still there in the 1980s, as the church is gone and I vaguely recall a house nearby with children and animals likely a hazard to the remains of the cemetery.

St. Clement's Episcopal Church (brick) is the only surviving old church in Massey, near the crossroads, with its own cemetery adjacent. The old Methodist church was farther away from the intersection/crossroads, eastward along the road to the Delaware line (in fact, may be called the Md.-Del. Line Rd.). A parsonage was just to the west of the Meth. church. It may or may not be where I vaguely recall a family living in the 1980s. Both of these are on the north side.

Slightly farther to the east of the Meth. cemetery, on the same north side of the road, is a shallow, good-sized rectangular depression in what is now part of the front yard of a quite large modern house (maybe a 1960s-70s split level). (My guess is that the building family just "appropriated" the church lot, de facto adding it to property they may well have purchased.) That's the location of the predecessor to St. Clement's Church (though with a gap of many years between), it was for a good-sized brick (I think) chapel of Shrewsbury Parish, built in the mid-18th century. Its cemetery was/is to the east, now severely overgrown, a real tangle. I didn't try to enter it. I believe the 1970s gravestone transcribers did and noted some stones.

I got out of my vehicle and looked at what was left of the old Meth. cemetery, a few stones, as I vaguely recall (with maybe some broken). But I just don't recall much.

The 1877 atlas of Kent Co. shows the parsonage, Meth. Church., and P.E. Church on the 1st District map (Millington District). You might be able to get a copy of that map via the historical society (hskcmd@friend.ly.net; www.hskcmd.com). On my rather beaten-up several-generations-copied version of the 1860 Martenet map that I used for fieldwork, smaller scale than the 1877 maps, it appears that the Meth. Church and P.E. Church/Chapel are there, shown pretty much side by side, with no parsonage shown. Off the top of my head, I can't recall how long the P.E. Church/Chapel was used or stood. The info is probably in the well-done 1980s history of Shrewsbury Parish, but I haven't got time to look for it now. I don't know that the author (Kathy DeProspo) did anything with researching the virtually adjacent Methodist church, which if it had been founded early enough, would have been a competitor to the P.E. church and partly responsible for its decline.

When I was working on the survey, there was at least one household of Voshells living in Massey (whose house was included in the survey), though that may no longer be the case--one or both may have died. They no longer seem to be listed in the phone book.

I can't recall if I ever learned the name of that particular Methodist church--I may not have, or maybe I've just forgotten it.

There is only one person still around/living who was in the small group that did the 1972 typed publication. He might have more information/remember more, as he can be a real treasure-trove of county information. I'm quite sure he does not do e-mail or the Internet in general.

Sorry that some of this is so vague, but I haven't been there for about 20 years. Hope that this is at least some help.


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