Unfortunately, that link requires a subscription or registration in order to read it, so I will paraphrase it below, trying to avoid violating any copyright laws or committing any plagarism.
Basically, local resident Brandon Wilson helped restore a family cemetery this summer and that included a large stone for his ancestors John Wilson and his wife, who is not named in the article. John was a Civil War veteran, but both he and his wife had been slaves in both Virginia and Kentucky. (This article describes him as a "decorated Civil War veteran" and I am accepting this story at face value, though I hope to do more research on it.)
Brandon Wilson, with help from family friends and local business Peoples Funeral Home, cleaned the area and raised the stone, which the article says weighed a full ton. The article also includes a nice picture of the stone with Mr.Wilson and a representative from the funeral home next to it.
It is a neat story that Mr. Wilson is taking such an interest in preserving his family's history after the cemetery and stone had been neglected for so long. It also certainly caught my attention to see a story of a local African-American who had gone from bondage to warrior.
Unfortunately, John Wilson is a common name and the article included no other clues about his service, so I have very little additional information. I do have the newspaper clipping (yes, a real piece of paper from a real newspaper, not an online story) on my desk as a reminder of this research project. Hopefully I'll be able to dig into this a bit more in the upcoming weeks and try to illustrate John Wilson's story more than I can do now, but I thought this story as is deserved attention and recognition.
The cemetery is just south of Falmouth, a town in the northern part of Kentucky, connected to Campbell County where I live. See the map below.
Good job, Brandon Wilson and friends on this project.
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