Researching the family of Q. T. Shelton, Sr., Evergreen Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia. Q. T. Shelton, whose gravestone is on the right, is the 11,000th interment in our Evergreen Cemetery database. His family story will be featured in my upcoming book on the cemetery.
This post first appeared on The Historic Oak Lawn Cemetery Foundation
Introducing Cpl. William Parks, a newly found African American veteran of the Civil War. Nadia Orton, historian and secretary of the Historic Oak Lawn Cemetery Foundation, first uncovered the gravestone of Cpl. Parks over Decoration Day (Memorial Day) weekend in 2018. Cpl. Parks was born about 1843 in Mobile, Alabama. He enlisted on May 5, 1865, at the Ridgeway Depot in Warren County, North Carolina. At the time of his enlistment, he was described as five feet, seven inches tall, with a “yellow” complexion, black eyes and hair. Cpl. Parks mustered in on May 5, 1865, at Washington, D. C. He was promoted to Corporal on June 1, 1865 by special order, and mustered out four months later on October 23rd, at Louisville, Kentucky.
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