OLD LADY WEATHERMAN

By Marshall McClung
Graham Star Correspondent

There is a grave in the Carver Cemetery with an inscription on the headstone that reads “Old Lady Weatherman”, with no dates of birth and death or any other information.  I have gone to this cemetery since I was a young child, at first with my parents to visit the graves of relatives.  Invariably, I would be drawn to the Weatherman grave.  I would stand there and wonder who she was, and what was her story?   Now, many years later with an avid curiosity, the internet, the input of a relative, census records, and property transfer records, the mystery may be solved.

One account has it that there was an elderly lady who stayed with folks in this area known only as “Old Lady Weatherman”.  When she died, people were at a loss as to what to do.  They didn’t really know who she was, or where any of her relatives might be located.  W.M. (Dock) Carver owned the property that is now Carver Cemetery, and gave permission for her to be buried there.

Contact with Lucille Weathermon (note difference of spelling in last name), provided much more information.  Mrs. Weathermon said that “Old Lady Weatherman” was her great aunt and that her name was Catherine Carmilla, the wife of James A. Weatherman.  In the process, I also learned a geography lesson.  I always thought that Weatherman Bald on the Cherokee County-Clay County line southeast of Andrews was called that because of some old timer who was sort of a weather forecaster.  In fact, the mountain which rises 4,980 feet in elevation was named for Lucille’s great grandfather, Henry Weatherman, who fought in the Civil War.

The Weathermans first came to North Carolina in 1786, and settled in Surry County.  The 1900 Census for Graham County shows a Weatherman living here: In the household of  Elmore Howell and Catherine Bailey Howell a Cornelia (Camilla?) Weatherman, age 84, grandmother is listed.  Other records show her being born June, 1815, and the date of death as best as we can determine was probably 1902 at age 87.  There are no other records of any other Weathermans living in Graham County.

Some old land records show Elmore Howell, one of the first delegates of Atoah Freewill Baptist Church , and his wife Sousand (Susan?) Weatherman Bailey buying fifty acres of land on West Buffalo for $300 from Thomas Carver and his wife, Edie Carver.  The date of the deed is September 26, 1900.  This was the people “Old Lady Weatherman” was with in the 1900 Graham County Census.  The land was  described as adjoining the property of Samuel Lovin, Gugs, Lankford, and others.  Another deed dated September 27, 1905 lists Elmore Howell, wife Myra Howell, S.E. Bailey of Spavinaw Indian Territory, John Hill and wife Hettie Hill, H.F. Lovin 4 ¾ acres of land on West Buffalo for $20.  Still another deed dated December 15, 1910 by Elmore Howell and wife Elmira Howell, S.E. Bailey of Mayes County, Oklahoma – Amanda Jane Crisp $225 for 50 acres of land on West Buffalo.

All of this helps tie the Howell family and “Old Lady Weatherman” to the West Buffalo area.  Lucille Weathermon said that Ron and Nancy Johnson were very helpful in helping her obtain some of this information.

It is not known who Catherine Carmilla, “Old Lady Weatherman was staying with when she died.  It is possible that she died before the rest of the Weathermans moved to Oklahoma.  It seems unlikely that they would have moved off and left her at her advanced age.  There may have only been an unmarked stone on her grave at first, with the present one being added later.   When someone asked who was buried there the reply “Old Lady Weatherman”?  With the rest of her family gone, that is all they would have known to put on the stone.  It may have taken a century since her death; 1902-2002 to solve the mystery of who she was, but I think we now know.  Lucille Weatherman is in the process of having the rest of her name and date of birth and death added to her headstone.