THE STATE AND THE COLUMBIA RECORD-Columbia, S. C., Sunday, Aug. 14, 1966

Mammoth Monument  'Tells’ Of Tragedy

By FOY STEVENSON

From the rear border of the cemetery at Capers Chapel Methodist Church near Chapin, an imposing monument looks down upon all the others. Its massiveness-it is 8 feet tall, 43 inches wide, and 10 inches deep-draws the eye and Its inscription of over 300 words holds it fast.

The marker tells a tragic story of lifelong family separation and points to an ultimate reunion in death 37 years later. Here is the story of Tonsho Careve (pronounced "Carve") told in his own words on granite for all the passing world to read:

Father-in-Law

John R. Kelly

1852-1945

Mother-in-Law

Martha Lever Kelly

1853-1920

Wife

Florida Kelly Careve

1893-1922

Inside of these three solemn and austere

Graves my three kins were laid about two

and thirty years ago since the very day

The stone artist on this gray monument

Did engrave their names: "My father-in-

law , Ke11y. my mother-in-law

and my wife, Florida.” There ye doth lie! There  thou

Of, wife, dost lie! In the gloom of winter,

Summer, spring. But Ah! That ,word gloom

Brings thee back in the light of thy vigor

Again when thou and I walked in the streets

On Octob'r nine, nineteen hundred twenty year,

When thou carri'd Baby Paul with cap o'er: ear

In the train and held him in thy gentle arm:

When I left food clothing, kiss to thy charsm

Bidding thee farewell thy trip from city Miles,

Montana, to Chapin, S. C. with smiles.

Home went I began quickly selling,

In a few years all and each belonging

Sold, took the road southeast for going to thee, Florida dear to Wis., Milwaukee,

But no further. Thee to reach I did fail.

B'cause got sick, locked in confinement-jail.

Was unable write thee for many year. But when

Got well out I wrote thee. Soon th' once babe-boy young man,

Paul, came, said: "She died!" With tears cried I

Cried for thy loss that lives in memory. I

Cried for thee, thy upright, virtuous parents,

Whose earthly lives had been saintly as saints

And whose righteous and preciously high

Souls, as Godly spirits that never die, .

For them God I beseech from death to raise;

Happily keep them alive in blessed Paradise.

While there though shall be waiting for my soul to thee fly

After I arrange it whenever I die,

They'll carry-bury me by the side of thy grave's

Dust to rest my dust, I: Tonsho Careve:

This monument th' Muse shall consecrate to fame

'Midst the planets inscribed in Florida's name.

Written in poetic, old-English style, the language is picturesque but labored, as though not the author's native tongue. Curiosity besets the reader!

How did a girl in the backwoods of Lexington County, World War I noy yet over, become united to a man obviously not American-born and find her way' with him to the opposite side of the continent?

Tonsho Careve-what nationality does the name imply Mexican, Spanish-Japanese even?

What misfortunes could keep a man from communicating with his family for so many years?

Could the confinement have been war-induced?

Why was it that in the end the son, then grown, located the father, instead of the other way around?

Closer scrutiny of the dates shows that the mother-in-law died the same year Florida, her daughter, returned home. Was it her mother's illness that caused Florida to make the long journey home with her baby?

Another look at the dates shows that Florida herself died only two years after her mother. Could she have pined away from worry at not hearing from her husband, not even knowing whether he was dead or alive? And what became of Baby Paul, his mother and grandmother both dead and he no more than two or three?

The visitor naturally turns to residents of the community for answers to such questions, but he will not easily find them there. The story on the monument begins in 1920 and during the course of 45 years many who might have supplied information have passed away. Former pastors, serving a four church circuit as they did, kept few records and were not a necessary point of contact for each burial, marker raising, and church event. Paul, the son, has left the State.

Like a large number of those who lie buried in Capers Chapel churchyard, the Kelly’s were not members of the congregation and present-day members know nothing of them. They remember only that the graves of John R. and Martha Lever Kelly and their many children had gone neglected and unmarked for thirty years or more, then one day the monument was suddenly there. No advance arrangements or special ceremony heralded its arrival. The only notice was given by a stranger to the community, who called on one of the church trustees to say that a marker far exceeding others in the cemetery was soon to be placed there.

Careve's wife came from the Kunkcle Branch area of Lexington County. Her parents, John R. (better known as "Scott") and Martha Lever Kelly had 15 children, but tuberculosis claimed the lives of several. The middle child only now, Mrs. Robert Lee (Susie) Padgett, 83. She lives in a brick home across the road from the old Florida was the next-to-the-youngest child in the Kelly household_ In a day when early marriages were the rule, she found  herself at 26 still unmarried. No doubt she had despaired of finding a mate in the community, for she turned -:': a Lonely Hearts advertisement for romance. After a period of correspondence, she brought to her sister Susie, who had married at 14, the photographs of two suitors and asked her advice in deciding which one to marry. At Susie's suggestion, Tonsho Careve -of ~Miles, Montana, was chosen. He was of medium height, had dark hair, weighed around 200 pounds, and at the time was around 40 years of age.

After Tonsho and Florida Careve married, they lived in Montana, where their son Paul, was born. On October 9, 1920, according to the inscription on the monuments, Tonsho,. put his wife and son on the train for Chapin, while he remained behind to sell his property, with the  plan of rejoining them later. Mrs. Padgett, Florida’s sister, gives ill health and an offer from her mother of help with the baby as Florida's reasons for returning to South Carolina.

Tonsho's narrative does not coincide with the account of a neighbor. Jesse D. Frick. Frick states that when he .was about 16 years of age he saw Tonsho, who had Just arrived at Little Mountain by train with his wife and baby, walking past his home on the way to the Kelly’s'. This is evidence of Careve's presence in South Carolina on at least one occasion. Nor can the story on the monument of Tonsho's illness, imprisonment, and inability .to communicate be verified. Some believe him to be Hungarian, but Mrs. Padgett says he was German was suspected of being a spy, and interned. Others suspect 'that he was a victim of amnesia. Albeit, by the time he did write to his, wife, she was dead and Paul, then grown to manhood came to him and brought the news. Paul West Careve was reared by his grandfather, aided by his Aunt Susie.

The next authentic record of Tonsho Careve is his employment as watchman for the Chicago Surface Lines, one of the predecessor companies of the Chicago Transit Authority. He, worked there from May 16, 1943, until he retired on March 1, 1952, at the age of 73. His retirement must have brought thoughts of his impermanence, for about this time he communicated to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Susie Padgett, who once' visited him in Chicago, his desire to' erect a monument for the graves of his wife and her parents .. In response. to his request Mrs. Padgett visited G. T. Whittle Memorial Works, Gilbert S. C. to discuss an appropriate marker. Later, Careve' wrote Whittle direct sending the inscription he composed himself and a sketch' of a possible marker. Whittle conferred with Phillips Granite Company of Rion, S.C., and placed with them an order for the stone and carving. Mr. Joe Lemon an employee of the company, prepared a sketch of the monument and submitted it to Careve for his approval. The monument was delivered to Whittle and he set it in place on September 10, 1954.

The Whittles never met Careve but came to admire him during, their business dealings by mail. He was obviously quite intelligent and had the ability to put a great deal of meaning in very few words. He was prompt in payment, always settling his account with cashier's checks, and consistently pleasant. The monument and coping around the entire Kelly plot must have represented an expenditure of at least $2,000. Since he could not see the monument in person, the Whittles had a professional photographer take a large photograph of it for his benefit. At one time Careve wrote that he would like to see the monument before he passed away. The Whittles offered to meet him at the Lexington County airport and drive him to the cemetery, but he was never able to make the trip from Chicago. In May 1956, a little more than a year before he died, Tonsho Careve wrote Whittle to ask about the cost of adding a mausoleum and sculptured likeness of himself. Whittle gave an estimate of $2,500 but Careve did not carry out the plan.

On December 15, 1957, Tonsho Careve died of heart disease at his home in Chicago at the age of 79. THE STATE carried a notice of his death and funeral. He was a Roman Catholic and Msgr. Martin C. Murphy of St. Peter's Catholic Church, conducted the service on December 28 at Dunbar Funeral Home in Columbia and Capers Chapel cemetery at Chapin, where he was buried beside his wife.

It is a strange paradox that a man who bared intimate details of his personal life to the world for all time remains, in the end, a man of mystery. Tonsho Careve's birthplace, parents' names, citizenship, marital status, business, usual occupation, military record, Social Security status are all filled in as "Unknown" on his death certificate. Some say he was a medical doctor, others that he owned extensive real estate in Chicago and amassed some degree of wealth. In any event, he came at last to rejoin his wife, who had long awaited him in death, as in life.