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Submitted: 11/30/07 • Approved: 8/20/13 • Last Updated: 8/23/13 • R2363-G0-S3
Alexander Brandon Clingman has two gravestones at Jones Valley Cemetery near Caddo Gap, on land belonging at one time to his daughter Jane and son-in-law Dr. Alfred Jones. The one stone, which is probably the original, lies flat on the ground. Surmounted by a Masonic emblem, it gives his name as Rev A B Clingman. The primitive engraving reads exactly like the one pictured except that he is titled "Rev" This second stone, which matches that of his wife and is decorated with an open Bible, reads,
“Dr A B Clingman born in Surry Co, NC Nov 22, 1806. Married in 1829, and moved to Tennessee thence to Arkansas in 1835. Joined the church of Christ in 1833. died a consistent member thereof on Sept. 18, 1881. Unfortunately, his death year cannot be seen in the photo. There are also footstones engraved with Dr and Mrs Clingmans’ initials, A B C and A M C
Jones Valley is just less than a mile from the Indian monument in Caddo Gap. Driving southeast toward Glenwood on Highway 8, take the left turn onto Jones Valley Road. Once on Jones Valley Road, take the right fork and you will pass the cemetery, which is on the left and uphill from the road.
The Clingmans are not buried in the cemetery where their gravestones have been installed. Some descendants, fearing that the old Old Bethel Cemetery near Glenwood where the Clingmans are buried would be bulldozed, moved the Clingman stones to Jones Valley, the cemetery and land around it being owned by family members.
The actual burial place is on land owned (1997) by Mrs Polly Sorrels of Amity, in the Northeast ¼ of the Northeast ¼ of Section 17, Township 5 south, Range 23 West in Pike County, an area that was once part of Colbath Township in Clark County. Across the road is land owned (1997) by a couple named Sloan. Although the cemetery is overgrown and its old woven-wire fence has fallen down, one can see that there are depressions where graves are located and some plants that are obviously not native. A couple of large fieldstones remain, and I wonder whose graves they mark. (In addition to this old Old Bethel Cemetery there is an Old Bethel Cemetery, and a Bethel Cemetery that is called ‘new’)
Contributed on 11/30/07 by LilaGarner
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Record #: 2363