Monthly Archives: February 2014
Protected: United States Colored Troops of First Baptist Church – Northampton County, Virginia
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February 17, 2014 · 2:23 amPortsmouth, Virginia: At Proctor Grave – October 18, 1958
Nelson Proctor grave site, Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Portsmouth Va.
“At Proctor Grave,” in the October 18, 1958 edition of the New Journal and Guide. From the caption: “Three unidentified persons are shown looking at the grave of the late (Nelson) Proctor (1846-1910), one of the five colored citizens who have served on the Portsmouth City Council.” A native of Camden County, North Carolina, and trustee of Emanuel A.M.E., Mr. Nelson Proctor, a Civil War veteran, was a member of Company C, 2nd Regiment, U. S. Colored Infantry. He is buried in Mt. Calvary Cemetery. Thank you, Mr. Proctor, for your service, to the community, and to Portsmouth.
Filed under Civil War, North Carolina, Portsmouth, Slavery, Tombstone Tales, U. S. Colored Troops, USCT Diaries, Virginia
Portsmouth, Virginia: Matilda Ella Hale Nakano, Mount Calvary Cemetery
Matilda Hale Nakano – Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Portsmouth
One of the most talked about gravestones in the Mt. Calvary Cemetery Complex is for Mrs. Matilda Ella Hale Nakano. The daughter of Granville and Emma, I’ve traced her family roots to the late 18th century, in the counties of Hertford and Bertie, North Carolina. She married Charlie Kosuke Nakano in 1923, a recent immigrant from Kagoshima (prefecture), Japan. After she passed in 1927, Mr. Nakano remarried, but lost his second wife in 1936.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, and the signing of Executive Order 9066, Mr. Nakano was sent to an internment camp near Santa Fe, New Mexico. I’m still piecing together the rest of his story.
Ella rests in Mt. Calvary Cemetery near the grave sites of several members of her extended family, including her grandmother, Christianna, who was born in 1818, Bertie County, North Carolina. Of additional interest are the inscriptions and symbols on her grave stone. Thanks to Mike Tretola and family, we know that the bottom inscription (kanji) indicates that Mr. Nakano made the headstone for Ella. At the top are representations of ivy, denoting eternal life or affection, and a crown and cross, representing redemption through faith, or the Kingdom of Heaven.
