The oldest known burial site in the Cemetery is dated 1701. The remains of Willis Wilson and his parents are buried, or possibly re-buried, at the altar end of the church building.
It is known that the Wilsons owned the 50 acres on which the 17th-century port town of Hampton was built, and it is probable that they gave the one-and-a-half acres for the new Elizabeth City Parish Church, which was completed in 1728.
The epitaph of the original stone was remembered and given by a Union soldier, who was encamped with his company in the church yard after the burning of Hampton on August 7, 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War.
Originally published in St. John’s Epistle, Summer 2011.