"Seventeen Stones" Cemetery

This cemetery is a small, abandoned rural burial ground adjacent to an iron furnace in Pedlar, Amherst Co. Virginia which operated from the Civil War to the mid-1880s. The cemetery passed from its last owner to George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in 1916, and was the subject of the 2005 doctoral dissertation of Rachel Malcolm-Woods, who in 2003 claimed to have found "a system of graphics that to the outsider looks like a decorative design....in African American quilts as early as 1750".  Malcolm-Woods was also cited as the expert who had "translated" the embroidery on a crazy quilt from the African Akan language, a claim she has neither confirmed or denied.

Illustration of "woman" and "congress" headstones (dissertation p.3)

The basis of Malcolm-Woods's dissertation is her conclusion that the cemetery's headstones are engraved with "Nsibidi, an ancient Ejagham writing system from Nigeria" (dissertation p.2) demonstrating "the existence and survival of an Igbo community despite the subjugation of slavery" and "the maintenance of African rituals and beliefs in antebellum Virginia" (dissertation p.1) Approvingly citing Hidden in Plain View (so far as to use the book's title as the heading for Chapter 4 (dissertation p.104),  she draws a connection between the "quilt code" symbols and the marks on the headstones (dissertation p.41). Malcolm-Woods obtained the assistance of James Madison University and a Virginia Foundation for the Humanities grant to have the stones conserved and removed to the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia.  Her resume lists numerous presentations on the cemetery; she received a Distinguished Dissertation fellowship from the University of Missouri/Kansas City, whose Media Relations department actively promoted the project, and has applied for a NEH Grant for a PBS documentary on Igbo symbols.

By her count (dissertation p.13) the cemetery has been featured in at least 75 national and international news stories; it has also appeared in journals including Black Issues in Higher Education and Folk Art Messenger (the journal of the Folk Art Society of America). African-American Heritage Virginia included the cemetery among those listed on its website (screenshot here).

Malcolm-Woods says that only two headstones in the cemetery are inscribed with names and dates. One of these (and the only one Malcolm-Woods transcribes) is among four identical headstones whose backs are carved with what she identifies as the nsibidi "journey" symbol (dissertation p.131). This stone belongs to "Mrs.SA. Downey," born 1839, died 1894 (dissertation p.163). 

Malcolm-Woods notes (dissertation p.10) that a Downey descendant (whom she does not identify by name or race) told her that the cemetery's last owner was C.E. (elsewhere she says C.M.) Wood, that Mrs. Downey's maiden name was Wood, and that she wanted to be buried with her own family. In an endnote (dissertation p.256), Malcolm-Woods indicates the grave is probably that of the wife of white furnace worker Samuel Downey (one of several Downeys so employed, all of whom are white), adding that one source says Mrs. Downey was related to William Wood. In the text itself, she states that evidence of Mrs. Downey is "nowhere to be found in census, marriage, birth or death records" (dissertation p.163) and that census records "show Samuel Downey listed but not his wife."

Malcolm-Woods concludes that since a slave named Charles owned by William Wood worked nearby in the 1820s (dissertation p.113-115, 163), and decades after her death Mrs. Downey's husband and children were buried in another county, both C.E./C.M. Wood and Mrs. Downey were black (dissertation, p.256). That conclusion, according to Malcolm-Woods, simultaneously supports and is supported by the appearance of the carved headstones, despite what she admits are fundamental differences from Igbo stones in overall design, motifs, execution and carving methods (dissertation p. 134 (image of Igbo stone), 137 (image of Igbo nsibidi) 150-162).

With the encouragement of Robert Farris Thompson (among whose acolytes is Maude Wahlman, coordinator of the Art History doctoral program in which Malcolm-Woods was enrolled), she pursued the project.  However, the two archaeologists Malcolm-Woods cites say they repeatedly expressed serious doubts about any African connection.   Contrary to the the scenario implied in the dissertation (p.2), archaeologist and African-American cemetery specialist Lynn Rainville says Malcolm-Woods contacted her, asking about African cemetery symbols.  Rainville told her she had never seen any but gave her drawings of two stones she had only recently seen and whose engravings she had not yet identified.  Forest archaeologist George Tolley says he even pointed out Downeys in a later census, asking Malcolm-Woods what she would say if it could be proven the cemetery was actually from a Euro-American family.  He says she responded that "if so, they would have been engrossed in the African culture and thus used the symbols on the tomb stones.")  Malcolm-Woods mentions only Tolley, and only as evidence of how "rarely do white locals give proper credit for antebellum historical contributions made by African Americans" (dissertation, p.4) 

To those familiar with American vernacular architecture, the cemetery's "nsibidi" stones' dimensions, motifs, and chamfered edges bear a striking resemblance to the parts of a conventional mantlepiece in the ubiquitous "Italianate" style introduced in the 1870s by English architect Charles Eastlake and found throughout American and English interior design.  Such an origin would not be surprising. Malcolm-Woods herself notes that beginning in the 1870s a slate mantlepiece manufacturer operated in the area. 

Left, from top:  The burial ground headstones, identified by Malcolm-Woods as "woman", "congress" and "journey" nsibidi.  Right, from top, carving and chamfering on three late 19th century stone mantlepieces, the top three in Eastlake style.

Contrary to Malcolm-Woods's assertions, in both the 1870 Pedlar and 1880 Braxton, WV censuses the wife of furnace worker/laborer Samuel (hence "Mrs. SA.") Downey does indeed appear - directly below his name. Susan Downey was born about 1838-39, and like her five children, is described as white. In 1870 and 1880 Samuel's younger brother and family are living with William Wood and his son, who are white. No 1890 census exists, but the 1900 Pedlar census shows Samuel is a wagoner; he has remarried (his new wife, also named Susan, was born in 1874), consistent with the 1894 death date on the headstone. Charlotte Brown, whose cousin is Samuel Downey's great-great-grandniece, reports that the Downeys arrived in Peddler from Botetourt Co.,Virginia around 1860.  Samuel was the son of Pennsylvania coal miner Archibald Downey and his wife Sarah (probably Haun), who settled in Alleghany Co., Virginia in the 1820s.  Brown says she has found no evidence Susan was African-American.

Since Malcolm-Woods lists Amherst furnace workers (dissertation p.128-129) in the same order in which they appear in the 1870 census (Pedlar census p.28, 29,30), it is hard to understand how Susan Downey could have been overlooked. Equally puzzling is Malcolm-Woods's conclusion that Susan was black. The Forest archaeologist says he pointed out that Downeys in later censuses were white, and descendant responses to Malcolm-Woods's ancestry.com query indicated "Cable or C.M. Wood of Pedlar Mills" (the only man by that name in the entire 1910 Virginia census) was also white.  

It would appear that the antebellum Igbo graveyard with Nsibidi engravings is most likely the late 19th century burial ground of the white Wood/Downey family, whose poverty after the Amherst furnace shut down in 1884 likely caused them to fashion headstones from parts of a locally-manufactured slate mantel.

This information was sent to the archaeologists, the Frontier Museum, UMKC and Malcolm-Woods in late October 2007.  A spokesman for the Frontier Museum said that it was never convinced of the validity of Malcolm-Woods's conclusions about the stones, soon realized that her knowledge of Igbo culture "was a bit sketchy" and, after its brief association with her ended, returned the headstones (which it emphasized it had never accessioned or exhibited) to the Forest Service.   In early November 2007, African-American Heritage Virginia removed the cemetery from its website.  

Archaeologists Tolley and Rainville said they hope that the publication of the foregoing will help correct the historical record regarding the cemetery, its occupants, and the "symbols" on their gravestones;  Rainville observed that Malcolm-Woods "appears to have picked her dissertation topic based on the drawing I handed her in 2003 and forced the data to fit her interests."  

To date UMKC has not commented. On November 12, Malcolm-Woods posted a lengthy response on  the H-Slavery listserv. She did not address the findings described above.