My mother is Judy Rimell-Proctor, the daughter of Cecil and Francis Rimell. Her late brother is the second J.C. Rimell mentioned, the one who passed away in 1968. The cemetery is located in the middle of what is now a large farm owned by the Sigmon family. However, up until the mid 1900's this farm belonged to the Rimell family. From what we know, John and Elisabeth Rimell, my great-great grandparents on mom's side, were the first Rimells to live on that farm, and they started the cemetery. They built a house which was located on the present site of the Sigmon home(The original Rimell home was torn down in the 1940's.)

We do not know for sure why John and Elisabeth settled here, or how they came to own the thousands of acres that, according to stories handed down in the family, once made up a large tobacco and hemp plantation. We know that John hid a large number of livestock on a remote ridgetop overlooking Roundstone creek, during the Civil War when Union Troops were passing through this area. That account was published in a very good book on the history of the area, Rockcastle Recollections, which was written by John Lair a local and very well known country music promoter and historian.

J.C. Rimell (the one who passed away in 1933) was the son of John and Elisabeth, and was my great grandfather. He was known by the nickname "Lum Rimell." Lum was the only surviving son of John and Elisabeth, and Lum's son Cecil was the only surviving son of Lum and Samantha Rimell. However, both of those generations had numerous daughters who survived. As a result, the large Rimell plantation had decreased in size considerably by the time my grandfather, Cecil Rimell reached adulthood in the 1930's. This was because all of the daughters for two generations had, as was the custom, received a "Dowery" of land when they were married.

When Lum Rimell passed away, the remaining hundred acres or so of the Rimell plantation were sold to Tom Sigmon to settle Lum's estate.

Samantha Rimell was permitted to live in the Rimell home until her death. At that time, in the 1940's, Tom Sigmon took posession of the farm, and tore down the original Rimell home, building the Sigmon house that stands there today.

Cecil and Francis, and their children, including my mother, continued for two generations up until the present day, to live in this general area. I was born in 1977. In fact, many members of both sides of my family are buried in the Rimell Cemetery. (I am Jason Proctor, son of Brad Proctor and Judy Rimell, and many members of the Proctor family are also buried there in the Rimell Cemetery.)

That is pretty much what I know about the Rimell family, as was handed down in stories to my mother and other family members. The one thing that has always puzzled many of us is why and how John and Elisabeth came to be here. Cecil had told my mother that he had heard stories that said that John and Elisabeth came here from Tennessee, and that some of John Rimell's ancestors (possibly his father) had received a large land grant for fighting in either the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812. This seems possible, since John Rimell was born in 1810.

But, due to no written family records that go back beyond John and Elisabeth, we’ve never known for sure. Also, the Rockcastle County Courthouse burned in the late 1800's, destroying any records that might have given us a clue as to why John and Elisabeth settled here.

I hope that perhaps a member of the mailing list might have further information that would shed light on how my Rimell ancestors came to be here. The only clue we've been able to uncover so far is one my mother and I found in a book at the Rockcastle County Public Library.

This is a book of mortality records from the 1800s. We found the record of John Rimell's death. On his death certificate, it said that John Rimell's parents were a Jacob and Nancy Rimell, from Tennessee. That small bit of previously unknown information would seem to possibly confirm the family stories. We would just like to find some written record that would tell us for sure where in Tennessee Jacob and Nancy lived, how they came by the land here in Kentucky, and why their son John Rimell and his wife Elisabeth came here and settled.

I hope my family history has been of interest and that someone out there will be able to shed some light on the parts we don't already know about.

Text received from Jason Proctor on 26 February 2000

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