CEMETERY IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE:
Mrs. L. Jane Troy,
Mrs. Ella Troy Smith,
Mrs. Mayme I. Smith
Liberty, N.C., April 10, 1907
This circular letter is addressed to the descendants of John Balfour Troy, who lived and died in Randolph County, North Carolina. The object in sending the letter is to call the attention of the numerous and and widely scattered descendants of John B. Troy to the honorable source of their family and to extend to each one of them an opportunity of contributing to a fund to be used exclu-sively for the purpose of improving the plot in which our distinguished grandfather and a number of his immediate family are buried.
This burying ground is situated two miles from Liberty, N. C., in the cemetery of Bethany M. E. Church, South. and on land that was probably donated by John B. Troy, since the cemetery adjoins the old Troy homestead, and grandfather and grandmother Troy were not only the most active members of Bethany church, but the principal factors in the establishment of the church.
In the Troy plot are buried John B. Troy and his wife Nancy Lane Troy, and six of their children—~Nancy Margaret (Long) Patterson, Alfred L. Troy, Thaddeus L. Troy, Thomas S. Troy, James A. Troy and Albert Clay Troy: also, Jesse B. Julian, Albert Jillian, Mary Alice Julian, Henry Clay Troy, James T. Troy. Alpha Balfour Troy, Thaddeus Samuel Troy and an unnamed infant of William Troy. And last but not least, Isabella Troy. This makes seventeen of the family buried in the old church yard.
Each of the graves has a suitable stone except that of the infant of William Troy. The stone over the grave of Isabella Troy is of soapstone and is rapidly falling to pieces. It should be replaced by a substantial marble stone.
The Troy burying plot has no enclosure, indeed the graveyard itself is entirely unprotected. After consultation among a number of the family connection it has been decided to put a sub-stantial railing about the plot; also to put a marble stone over the grave grave of old grandmother Isabella Troy. The cost of doing this will be about One Hundred and Twenty-five ($125.00) Dollars. The plot when enclosed will contain room for about twenty more graves.
A word as to Isabella Troy. She was the daughter of Col. Andrew Balfour, a Scotchman who came to this country, espoused the cause of the Colonies, was the first member elected to the legislature from Randolph county, and was brutally murdered in his own house on a Sabbath morning in the presence of his ten-year-old daughter, Isabella, and his maiden sister, by the notorious Tory, David Fanning. Isabella, whose nick name was “Tibbie,” and whose history is celebrated in the records of the State (see Caruthers‘ History of North Carolina) married John Troy of Salisbury, N.C. and became the mother of John Balfour Troy, with whom she spent the latter years of her life, dying at the ripe old age of seventy-four.
The Committee purposes having the soap-stone over her grave cut into pieces and to send a piece to each member of the family who contributes to this fund, as a sacred memento from the grave of our historic ancestor —Tibbie Balfour.
The Committee whose names appear at the head of this letter have the matter in hand and will acknowledge the receipt of any monies sent to either of them.
CEMETERY IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE.
A scanned copy of this letter is available as a .pdf copy in The History of Bethany Methodist Church.
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