Mysteries of Magnolia Cemetery

Magnolia Cemetery is one of Charelston, South Carolina's most beautiful gravesites. Surrounded by other cemeteries, there is no lack of intricate stones. What separates Magnolia from surrounding cemeteries is the amount of family plots. One that really stood out to me was the Gruver family plot. Charles Laney Meyer, a doctor of Charleston, was born January 17th, 1927 and died on December 31, 1895. His epitaph reads "Blessed is he that considereth the poor. His name shall live after him." His memorial also features an urn, books, and drapery, these symbols indicatie he was well educated.  The other marker on the plot belongs to Lucille Simons Meyer Gruver, she was born December 8th, 1835 and died May 28th, 1898. Her epitaph is illegible, but her cradle gravestone is adorned with flowers.

Grucer plot

Another thing I noticed was how beautiful the space was, the city of Charleston can often feel overwhelming and loud, but walking a couple miles from downtown and into this area is like an escape. In the cemetery, there is a saltwater pond where you can walk across a bridge and see fish jumping while enjoying the sounds of various birds. There is also a beautiful view of the marsh surrounded by the sculpted stone.

View from the bridge

Before visiting Magnolia, I had never heard of a receiving tomb. In his book, In the Arms of Angels, Patrick Harwood defines the purpose of this receiving tomb as a place "to keep the departed safe and secure until their gravesites could be completed." This tomb is one of the original buildings in the cemetery and has been preserved to the immaculate condition it is in today.

Receiving tomb

Magnolia Cemetery is like a hidden escape that humbles and allows creative thought. With countless important lives hidden in its many acres,  the possibilities for new knowledge and research are endless. Findagrave.com, ancestry.com, and In the Arms of Angels by Patrick Harwood are all very helpful resources for digging deeper into the mysteries Magnolia has to offer.

Class photo

The Grave of My Ancestors

Ivan Kabanuk, a Russian immigrant, portrayed how real the American dream could become with hard work and dedication. Kabanuk was born in Russia (what is now the Ukraine) in October of 1895. He immigrated from Russia to Cortland, New York with his pregnant wife, Mary Kabanuk, in 1913. The United States of America offered hope and new opportunity that pre-revolutionary Russia didn’t. At the time of their immigration, Russia had experienced a significant growth in population and industrialization; while this growth would eventually lead to higher wages and standards of living, the Kabanuks didn’t stay long enough to find out.

 After migrating to New York, Ivan and Mary Kabanuk bought a townhouse at 24 Pine Street in Cortland, New York. The house has been passed down, so my grandfather, mother, and I have all been raised there; the connected residence was given to my great uncle who passed it down as well. In Russia, Ivan worked in the steel wire mill. In New York he began working at a factory until he bought his own bar, “Ivan’s”, named after himself, that still exists in Cortland.

Ivan died in November of 1975 and was buried in Cortland Rural Cemetery with his wife, Mary, who died in 1997. They lay in a public 19^th century rural style cemetery, with a flush marker style headstone. 

I chose to research my great-great-grandfather Ivan Kabanuk because I grew up hearing stories about his immigration with Mary Kabanuk. My mother often talked about how strong Mary must have been to board a ship while pregnant and move to a new country not knowing what to expect when she got there. I began my research using Ancestry.com, this offered many records, offering insight on occupation, migration, life, and death. I then went to Findagrave.com to find their cemetery and gravestone. Once I had this information I looked deeper as to what style cemetery and gravestone, as well as asking relatives for more personal knowledge. Lastly, I researched pre-revolutionary Russia to understand what was happening culturally and if that may have had an effect on their decision to migrate. 

An Expert Lecture from Ruth Miller On Religious History and How It Effected Grave Markers

When the Carolinas started evolving, religion was a central part of daily life, and tolerance allowed a variety of beliefs. These beliefs can be seen in the symbols and writings that encase their memorial markers. An expert on the variety of religious branching and evolution throughout the Carolinas is Ruth Miller. Recently, I had the pleasure of hearing a lecture from Miller about South Carolina's religious history and how it shaped various Charleston graveyards. Her impeccable knowledge of historic events helped explain the branching of religion, the geographical separation of the colonies, and the cultural traditions that influenced the grave styles of the eightteenth century.

Although Miller mainly focused on South Carolina's history in the lecture I attended, she seemed to be an expert on the history of many diverse gravesite locations. She began by telling the story of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, an English businessman. The Carolinas were given to Cooper, and it was his job to make the colony prosper. Since it was just beginning to be populated, He would give land as an incentive for people come live there and work. Miller even said, “Men who came were given more incentive to bring slaves than their wives.” 
From the beginning of migration into South Carolina, everyone was welcomed with religiously tolerance. Miller described it as, “more liberal than our tax laws.” And up until the Jim Crow laws were unjustly passed, African Americans could attend any church of their preference. Miller continued to described how the Protestants, who were protesting either the Catholic or Anglican churches, descended into the Puritans. While first generation Puritans were firm about their beliefs and protest, the later generations eventually died out.

            After explaining how the different religions migrated, formed, and in some cases, died out, Miller talked about their burial and grave-marking traditions. She described the evolution of skull engravings that turned to cherubs as the styles of the time period changed. She also shed light on all of the bodies buried under the city of Charleston, paved over, and forgotten; even the MUSC land plot used to be a burial ground for those who died of mass epidemics.

            Ruth Miller had a fascination that grew into a vast passion for the history of gravesites and the stories behind them, her lecture was very informative and I would highly recommend attending one!

Ruth Miller