St. Paul's Lutheran Church Cemetery
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, located in Alamance County, is the oldest Lutheran church in the county. The church is believed to have been originally called "Graves Church" after the family that donated the land for the church, and it was originally a union church with the German Reformed. [Note: The Graves who donated the land may have been John Jacob Graves (#103). He died in 1820 and is buried at Stoners Cemetery]. According to a St. Paul's Lutheran Church history document, although worship was conducted there as early as 1745, the earliest documented date for the organization of the church is 1770. In 1800, the German Reformed members moved to Old Steiners (Stoner's) Church and to Der Klapp Kirche (Brick Church).
Directions to get to St. Paul's: From Greensboro, NC travel I-40 E. Merge onto NC-49 S via Exit 145 toward Liberty. Travel 3.2 miles. Turn Right onto Bellemont-Alamance Rd/NC-1136. The address of the church is 2719 Bellemont-Alamance Road, Burlington, North Carolina. Telephone: (336) 227-5345. The GPS reading is 36° 1.396 ' N., 79° 28.699' W.
Tombstones located in this cemetery include: Catherine "Katie" Loy (#110), John Ludwick Albright (#111) and his wife Elizabeth Sharp (#112). The tombstone of Daniel A. Albright (#109), husband of Catherine Loy, was not located, but church records show that he is suppose to be buried here. Daniel “Flat Rock” Albright, son of John Ludwick Albright and Elizabeth Sharp and brother of Sarah "Sally" Albright (#56) is buried in the cemetery. His wife Sophia is buried next to him.
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Below: Mary Lue Finch, one of Catharine's Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaughter's, holds up Catherine "Katie" Loy (#110)'s broken stone. Blue chalk rubbed on the stone allows it to be read.
"CATHARINE
Wife of
DANIEL ALBRIGHT
BORN
May 13, 1772
DIED
Sept. 23, 1856
AGED
83 yr’s 4 m’s & 16 d’s"
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Below: Mary Lue Finch rubs chalk on the stone of John Ludwick Albright (#111).
Below: Three views of John Ludwig Albright's tombstone: The first photograph shows what is thought to be the original tombstone with a great deal of inscription. Note: the new stone states that he died on April 29, 1861. That date is not correct. The date was April 29, 1816 according to the original stone. He was 55 years old at his death, not 100 years old.]
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Below: Three views of Elizabeth Sharp (#112)'s tombstone. Note that the more recent stone states Elizabeth's maiden name was Sharpe. That is incorrect. The "e" was not added to the family name until it was done so by more recent generations of the Sharpe family.
Below: This photograph shows Elizabeth Sharp(e) Albright's and John Ludwick Albright's new tombstone, provided in 2016 by a descendent, Don Stanford. Don wanted the tombstones to match new stones that had been provided in the cemetery for others a few years earlier. According to Don, St. Paul's has four Revolutionary War Patriots, but John Ludwick Albright is the only one who was a soldier. The Alamance Battleground Chapter SAR plans to dedicate the 4 Patriot grave sites on November 4, 2023, which is the date of the church's annual BBQ dinner. [Note that the date of Ludwig's death is correctly engraved on this new stone as 1816.] [ According to James Andrews, another descendent, the original stones were placed onto a display rack (with others) inside St. Paul's Fellowship building.] (Photograph is Courtesy of Don)
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Below: Daniel "Flat Rock" Albright's tombstone.
In
Memory
of
Daniel Albright
Born
June 20, 1792
Died
Nov. 10 1846,
Aged 54 Years
4 Months
21 Days
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Contact person for this website is Susan Snyder: susanleachsnyder@gmail.com
