{"id":37568,"date":"2014-10-03T15:37:35","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T15:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=37568"},"modified":"2014-10-03T15:37:35","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T15:37:35","slug":"remains-will-stay-in-old-family-cemetery-in-bedford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=37568","title":{"rendered":"Remains will stay in old family cemetery in Bedford"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remains will stay in old family cemetery in Bedford<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The News & Advance<\/a>
\nLynchburg, Virginia
\n2014-10-01<\/p>\n

Alex Rohr<\/strong><\/a>, Beat Reporter<\/p>\n

BEDFORD<\/a> \u2014 The remains of at least 20 people buried in Bedford will stay interred despite a request by the Bank of the James to move them.<\/p>\n

The bank\u2019s request to the Bedford County<\/a> Circuit Court, challenged by David Lowry a descendant of former Bedford County plantation owners, was denied after a hearing that lasted about four hours.<\/p>\n

The cemetery \u2014 which may be the final resting place of slaves \u2014 was overgrown with trees and undergrowth when the bank acquired the land in a 2009 foreclosure. The property, just east of Applebee\u2019s on U.S. 460 in Bedford, was covered until March.<\/p>\n

Judge James Updike\u2019s decision drew applause from over a dozen members of the extended Lowry family who were present during the hearing…<\/p>\n

…Charles Lowry, a witness and relative of James W. Lowry, looked to the heavens in thankful prayer after Updike made his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod works in mysterious ways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Charles Lowry, who is black, and David Lowry, who is white, believe they share ancestors…<\/p>\n

…Brent Staples<\/a>, who has written about his family history for The New York Times<\/em> editorial page, traces his lineage to the area and a woman named Somerville who birthed several children by Marshall Lowry, a white farm manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a son of Virginia<\/a>, and a son of Bedford County and as a descendent of slaves on the Lowry plantation, my concern would be there if they were not blood-related,\u201d Staples said…<\/p>\n

…David Lowry, Charles Lowry and Staples said they intend to get DNA tests to verify whether they are related. Combining oral and family history, they are confident the results will be in the affirmative.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Somerville\u2019s story is accurate, then I am his cousin,\u201d Staples said on the stand, pointing at David Lowry…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remains will stay in old family cemetery in Bedford The News & Advance Lynchburg, Virginia 2014-10-01 Alex Rohr, Beat Reporter BEDFORD \u2014 The remains of at least 20 people buried in Bedford will stay interred despite a request by the Bank of the James to move them. The bank\u2019s request to the Bedford County Circuit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,459,8,6940,20,693],"tags":[18018,18015,18016,18013,18014,18017,18012],"class_list":["post-37568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-history","category-media-archive","category-slavery","category-usa","category-virginia","tag-alex-rohr","tag-bedford","tag-bedford-county","tag-charles-lowry","tag-david-lowry","tag-news-advance","tag-the-news-advance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}