Husband of Martha J. Womac. They had at least two children: Mary Lou Sifford Hager (31 Aug 1880-22 Sept 1960)and Lee Adron Sifford (31 Jan 1883-28 Feb 1972). Mary Lou and Lee are also buried at Martha's Chapel.
Martha's Chapel building was built as a memorial to Albert's wife Martha. The following narrative of Rebecca Killian, a niece of Martha's, tells the story of Martha's Chapel. It is from http://education.uncc.edu/more/Narratives_CNCC/N_month/June_2004.htm
"...And Aunt Martha, I don't know exactly how old she was when she died, but she was young enough that both of her parents were still alive, and in September on the day of her funeral, the whole family was gathered in the parlor waiting to go to the cemetery, um, they had the horses lined up out front for a, a funeral procession and the cemetery was only about half a mile up the road from Grandpa Sifford's white farm house. And, about that time when they were getting ready, a bad cloud came up, and it got worse and worse,.....lightning hit the buggy and it killed both of the horses standing there in their harnesses right, right on the spot, so the storm kept on
going, worse and worse and worse, and they had to cancel the funeral even though the cemetery was only about a
half mile away because there was no shelter at the cemetery. The, the cemetery was really old, it had been part of an old Methodist church called Salem, but that church had been torn down and moved to another location, ... But the storm raged on for a couple a days, and, that, it must have been really traumatic having to hold off on burying Aunt Martha for that long, um, .... So finally a, a day came that was nice enough to go to the cemetery and have the funeral, and have the burial, um, my
grandfather went to the second funeral also. On that day, he was leaving the, the funeral, he was alone, driving
down the road in his horse and wagon, and as he was driving through an area of open field, he saw a woman
walking slowly along the road. She was all dressed from head to toe in white, and she had on this funny kind of
old fashioned bonnet that they wore down and had her head down. He pulled up beside her and asked if she would,
if she would like a ride somewhere but she kept her head down, never acknowledged him, just kept walking, so he
went on, but he didn't go very far before it really started bothering him, he, he didn't understand this and, you know I guess just coming from the funeral it, it bothered him more so he turned around in his horse and wagon and went back, and there was no one in sight anywhere, even there were, though there were open fields for a great distance on either side of the road there was no sign of the woman, and of course after he started thinking about it he started thinking about how, how she really did look like Aunt Martha, and, and the more he thought about it the the more he worried and worried about this. So, Aunt Martha's ghost was apparently pretty busy because supposedly the ghost also appeared to her husband, Uncle Ab, and the story with that is that Martha came to Uncle Ab and said, "You've got to build a church by the gate," and whether or not Ab saw her ghost, um, he did build a church. It was built in 1908 the next year, it was called Martha's Chapel, and it was, it was not where the old church had been across the road, instead it was under some oak trees right beside the cemetery. So this was a little white clapboard church,..... and the land was given by Nancy and Starling, Nancy and Starling Womack. They were Martha's parents. ...."
(Note: Nancy was actually Martha's stepmother. Martha's mother died when she was about 8 years old.)
Martha's Chapel building was built as a memorial to Albert's wife Martha. The following narrative of Rebecca Killian, a niece of Martha's, tells the story of Martha's Chapel. It is from http://education.uncc.edu/more/Narratives_CNCC/N_month/June_2004.htm
"...And Aunt Martha, I don't know exactly how old she was when she died, but she was young enough that both of her parents were still alive, and in September on the day of her funeral, the whole family was gathered in the parlor waiting to go to the cemetery, um, they had the horses lined up out front for a, a funeral procession and the cemetery was only about half a mile up the road from Grandpa Sifford's white farm house. And, about that time when they were getting ready, a bad cloud came up, and it got worse and worse,.....lightning hit the buggy and it killed both of the horses standing there in their harnesses right, right on the spot, so the storm kept on
going, worse and worse and worse, and they had to cancel the funeral even though the cemetery was only about a
half mile away because there was no shelter at the cemetery. The, the cemetery was really old, it had been part of an old Methodist church called Salem, but that church had been torn down and moved to another location, ... But the storm raged on for a couple a days, and, that, it must have been really traumatic having to hold off on burying Aunt Martha for that long, um, .... So finally a, a day came that was nice enough to go to the cemetery and have the funeral, and have the burial, um, my
grandfather went to the second funeral also. On that day, he was leaving the, the funeral, he was alone, driving
down the road in his horse and wagon, and as he was driving through an area of open field, he saw a woman
walking slowly along the road. She was all dressed from head to toe in white, and she had on this funny kind of
old fashioned bonnet that they wore down and had her head down. He pulled up beside her and asked if she would,
if she would like a ride somewhere but she kept her head down, never acknowledged him, just kept walking, so he
went on, but he didn't go very far before it really started bothering him, he, he didn't understand this and, you know I guess just coming from the funeral it, it bothered him more so he turned around in his horse and wagon and went back, and there was no one in sight anywhere, even there were, though there were open fields for a great distance on either side of the road there was no sign of the woman, and of course after he started thinking about it he started thinking about how, how she really did look like Aunt Martha, and, and the more he thought about it the the more he worried and worried about this. So, Aunt Martha's ghost was apparently pretty busy because supposedly the ghost also appeared to her husband, Uncle Ab, and the story with that is that Martha came to Uncle Ab and said, "You've got to build a church by the gate," and whether or not Ab saw her ghost, um, he did build a church. It was built in 1908 the next year, it was called Martha's Chapel, and it was, it was not where the old church had been across the road, instead it was under some oak trees right beside the cemetery. So this was a little white clapboard church,..... and the land was given by Nancy and Starling, Nancy and Starling Womack. They were Martha's parents. ...."
(Note: Nancy was actually Martha's stepmother. Martha's mother died when she was about 8 years old.)
Husband of Martha J. Womac. They had at least two children: Mary Lou Sifford Hager (31 Aug 1880-22 Sept 1960)and Lee Adron Sifford (31 Jan 1883-28 Feb 1972). Mary Lou and Lee are also buried at Martha's Chapel.
Martha's Chapel building was built as a memorial to Albert's wife Martha. The following narrative of Rebecca Killian, a niece of Martha's, tells the story of Martha's Chapel. It is from http://education.uncc.edu/more/Narratives_CNCC/N_month/June_2004.htm
"...And Aunt Martha, I don't know exactly how old she was when she died, but she was young enough that both of her parents were still alive, and in September on the day of her funeral, the whole family was gathered in the parlor waiting to go to the cemetery, um, they had the horses lined up out front for a, a funeral procession and the cemetery was only about half a mile up the road from Grandpa Sifford's white farm house. And, about that time when they were getting ready, a bad cloud came up, and it got worse and worse,.....lightning hit the buggy and it killed both of the horses standing there in their harnesses right, right on the spot, so the storm kept on
going, worse and worse and worse, and they had to cancel the funeral even though the cemetery was only about a
half mile away because there was no shelter at the cemetery. The, the cemetery was really old, it had been part of an old Methodist church called Salem, but that church had been torn down and moved to another location, ... But the storm raged on for a couple a days, and, that, it must have been really traumatic having to hold off on burying Aunt Martha for that long, um, .... So finally a, a day came that was nice enough to go to the cemetery and have the funeral, and have the burial, um, my
grandfather went to the second funeral also. On that day, he was leaving the, the funeral, he was alone, driving
down the road in his horse and wagon, and as he was driving through an area of open field, he saw a woman
walking slowly along the road. She was all dressed from head to toe in white, and she had on this funny kind of
old fashioned bonnet that they wore down and had her head down. He pulled up beside her and asked if she would,
if she would like a ride somewhere but she kept her head down, never acknowledged him, just kept walking, so he
went on, but he didn't go very far before it really started bothering him, he, he didn't understand this and, you know I guess just coming from the funeral it, it bothered him more so he turned around in his horse and wagon and went back, and there was no one in sight anywhere, even there were, though there were open fields for a great distance on either side of the road there was no sign of the woman, and of course after he started thinking about it he started thinking about how, how she really did look like Aunt Martha, and, and the more he thought about it the the more he worried and worried about this. So, Aunt Martha's ghost was apparently pretty busy because supposedly the ghost also appeared to her husband, Uncle Ab, and the story with that is that Martha came to Uncle Ab and said, "You've got to build a church by the gate," and whether or not Ab saw her ghost, um, he did build a church. It was built in 1908 the next year, it was called Martha's Chapel, and it was, it was not where the old church had been across the road, instead it was under some oak trees right beside the cemetery. So this was a little white clapboard church,..... and the land was given by Nancy and Starling, Nancy and Starling Womack. They were Martha's parents. ...."
(Note: Nancy was actually Martha's stepmother. Martha's mother died when she was about 8 years old.)
Martha's Chapel building was built as a memorial to Albert's wife Martha. The following narrative of Rebecca Killian, a niece of Martha's, tells the story of Martha's Chapel. It is from http://education.uncc.edu/more/Narratives_CNCC/N_month/June_2004.htm
"...And Aunt Martha, I don't know exactly how old she was when she died, but she was young enough that both of her parents were still alive, and in September on the day of her funeral, the whole family was gathered in the parlor waiting to go to the cemetery, um, they had the horses lined up out front for a, a funeral procession and the cemetery was only about half a mile up the road from Grandpa Sifford's white farm house. And, about that time when they were getting ready, a bad cloud came up, and it got worse and worse,.....lightning hit the buggy and it killed both of the horses standing there in their harnesses right, right on the spot, so the storm kept on
going, worse and worse and worse, and they had to cancel the funeral even though the cemetery was only about a
half mile away because there was no shelter at the cemetery. The, the cemetery was really old, it had been part of an old Methodist church called Salem, but that church had been torn down and moved to another location, ... But the storm raged on for a couple a days, and, that, it must have been really traumatic having to hold off on burying Aunt Martha for that long, um, .... So finally a, a day came that was nice enough to go to the cemetery and have the funeral, and have the burial, um, my
grandfather went to the second funeral also. On that day, he was leaving the, the funeral, he was alone, driving
down the road in his horse and wagon, and as he was driving through an area of open field, he saw a woman
walking slowly along the road. She was all dressed from head to toe in white, and she had on this funny kind of
old fashioned bonnet that they wore down and had her head down. He pulled up beside her and asked if she would,
if she would like a ride somewhere but she kept her head down, never acknowledged him, just kept walking, so he
went on, but he didn't go very far before it really started bothering him, he, he didn't understand this and, you know I guess just coming from the funeral it, it bothered him more so he turned around in his horse and wagon and went back, and there was no one in sight anywhere, even there were, though there were open fields for a great distance on either side of the road there was no sign of the woman, and of course after he started thinking about it he started thinking about how, how she really did look like Aunt Martha, and, and the more he thought about it the the more he worried and worried about this. So, Aunt Martha's ghost was apparently pretty busy because supposedly the ghost also appeared to her husband, Uncle Ab, and the story with that is that Martha came to Uncle Ab and said, "You've got to build a church by the gate," and whether or not Ab saw her ghost, um, he did build a church. It was built in 1908 the next year, it was called Martha's Chapel, and it was, it was not where the old church had been across the road, instead it was under some oak trees right beside the cemetery. So this was a little white clapboard church,..... and the land was given by Nancy and Starling, Nancy and Starling Womack. They were Martha's parents. ...."
(Note: Nancy was actually Martha's stepmother. Martha's mother died when she was about 8 years old.)
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epitaph:
His words were kindness
His deeds were love
His spirit humble
He rests above
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