The Straughn Family Cemetery is located in the NW section of Conecuh County, between Belleville and Nichburg communities. The land description states that the cemetery is in Township 6N, Range 9E, Section 23, on the old Straughn Plantation, southeast of Bermuda, a mile south of the old Nichburg School.
     In this cemetery lie the remains of Fielding and Lavinia Straughn, some of our earliest pioneer settlers to Conecuh. Mr. Straughn was born in Chatham County, NC in 1783 and Mrs. Straughn was born about 1785 in NC. As a young bride, she came to this wild and new country, bore several sons, two of which lived to adulthood, marrying and having families of their own.
     According to our archives, the earliest known interment in the Straughn Family Burial Ground is that of their son, Brantley Straughn, born in 1814 and died in 1826 at the young age of 12 years old. There is also a son, John, listed as a son, born in 1812 and died in Conecuh in 1829. How incredibly sad it must have been to have brought your children from so far, only to bury them in their youth. The two remaining sons were James, an early surveyor for Conecuh; and Pinckney, a successful planter and business man in his own right. The Straughn Family was considered to be prominent and wealthy planters in the Belleville area, as well as near Bermuda and Nichburg.
     Fielding Straughn, according to Rev. B.F. Riley, was an “extraordinary man”, defying all the difficulties of early pioneer life in Conecuh. He was a man who loved pancakes and molasses; a master marksman; proficient with a bow and arrow; crafted his own hickory and pegged furnishings for his home; participated in religious assemblies; and served as a long-term county commissioner. Fielding died in 1867 at the age of 82 and was laid to rest by his beloved Lavinia, who had passed away 11 years earlier at the age of 71.
     Today, the Sessions family of Conecuh Sausage Company is descendants of this early pioneer family as well as others who live in nearby and faraway states. If you’re interested in learning more about this family and other pioneer families, please visit the Lucy C. Warren Heritage Section of your local library.
     *Please note that there may be misspellings, as there were several different accounts of the names of those earlier settlers to Conecuh.

Source: Reprinted from Written In Stone column in the Evergreen Courant, 27 July 2006 - Sherry Johnston