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The first time I was told about the Saunders cemetery was in August of 2016. A cousin, Jerry Irby from Ohio mentioned the cemetery in an email. His grandparents, which are my great grandparents are buried here. My grandfather Ashford T. Irby, the son of Braxton Brag Irby (B B Irby) and Martha Washington Irby passed on when I was only a year old. My grandmother Irby never mentioned anything about this cemetery. Jerry said as a young boy when him and his parents would make the trip from Ohio and visit Grandma Irby they would go to Sauders cemetery. Cousin Jerry was a little confused to where the cemetery  was. At first he said it was between Chatham and Gretna and then later said it could be between Chatham and Altavista.

Recent correspondence with Jerry Irby in Ohio has given me another bit of information. The final resting place for William Ashford Saunders and Winifred "Winnie" Keesee Saunders is the Saunders Cemetery, Martha Irby's parents. They are Jerry Irby's great grandparents, which makes them my great great gandparents.

A friend and myself made a trip the the office of the county records but hit a dead end searching through the records. I also thought I had found the cemetery through searching the internet and went to several family cemeteries only to be dissapointed.  A neighbor which was a retired librarian was able to locate the cemetry through his searches on the net.

To my surprise the cemetery had been well taken care of. It was in a a cow pasture and fenced in. When I paid my first visit to the cemetery I was able to meet up with the land owner. He told me who was taking care of the cemetery and I was able to talk to him. Martha's headstone had settled over the years and had fell off the base. I talked a friend, Bruce Gibson into helping me dig up the base, dig deeper and put down a good rock dust base, clean and reset the base and headstone.
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