Erwin Cemetery at Belvidere
Research and interpretation by Dalton Walters
President, Historic Burke Foundation
2026
The Erwin Cemetery preserves several generations of the Erwin family and their close relations - a network of connected families that played a central role in the military, political, and social development of early Burke County. Through marriage and public service, the Erwins were closely allied with the Avery, McDowell, Sharpe, and Reese families. Many additional children and descendants of the Erwin family are not represented here; this document addresses only those individuals known to be buried in this cemetery.
Founding & Revolutionary Generation
Captain Arthur Erwin (1738–1821)
Arthur Erwin was born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland in 1738 and immigrated to the American colonies as a young man. He settled in North Carolina prior to the American Revolution and served as a captain in the North Carolina militia, a role combining military command with local civil authority. Militia officers were responsible for organizing defense, maintaining order, and often supporting early county courts. Following the Revolution, Arthur established himself as a landholder and community leader in Burke County. He married Margaret Brandon, and together they laid the foundation for a family that would remain influential for generations. Through their descendants, the Erwin family became closely connected to the Avery family of Swan Ponds, including the line that produced William Waightstill Avery, one of North Carolina’s most prominent 19th century political figures.
Margaret Brandon Erwin (1740–1832)
Margaret Brandon Erwin was likely born in Rowan County, NC during the colonial era. As the wife of Captain Arthur Erwin, she managed household and family affairs while her husband served in military and civic roles. Women of her generation were central to frontier survival, overseeing domestic labor, child-rearing, and religious life. Margaret lived under British rule, witnessed the American Revolution, and spent her later years in the young United States. She died at Belvidere and was buried here among her family.
Colonel William Willoughby Erwin (1764–1837)
William Willoughby Erwin, son of Captain Arthur Erwin and Margaret Brandon Erwin, was born in colonial North Carolina and came of age during the early years of the Republic. He rose to prominence in Burke County and held the rank of Colonel in the local militia, reflecting both military responsibility and elevated social standing. Colonel Erwin established Belvidere and was a substantial landholder and community leader during a period when militia officers often served as magistrates, justices, or informal political authorities. He served as Burke County Clerk of Superior Court for many years, a key administrative role in early county government that placed him at the center of Burke County’s legal and civic life, overseeing court records, land transactions, and probate matters. He married Matilda Sharpe, strengthening alliances between two influential families. Many individuals buried in this cemetery were his children or grandchildren.
Matilda Sharpe Erwin (1769–1843)
Matilda Sharpe was born in North Carolina into the Sharpe family, a prominent colonial and early statehood-era family involved in landholding, commerce, and politics. The Sharpes were closely associated with Revolutionary War service and legislative leadership in North Carolina. Her father, William Sharpe (1742-1818), served in the North Carolina Provincial Congress, represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress, and held the rank of colonel in the militia during the Revolutionary War. Her marriage to William Willoughby Erwin united two influential families. As matriarch of the second Erwin generation, Matilda oversaw a large household and raised children who lived through the War of 1812, westward expansion, and the growth of plantation agriculture in western North Carolina.
Catharine Ruth Reese Sharpe (1744–1826)
Catharine Ruth Reese belonged to an early North Carolina family and was the mother of Matilda Sharpe Erwin. The Reese family was an early and well-established colonial lineage in North Carolina. Their name appears frequently in 18th-century land grants, probate files, and church records, indicating their early settlement, landownership, and participation in civic and religious life. She died at Belvidere and was buried here among her family.
William Alberto Erwin (1790–1847)
William Alberto Erwin was born in North Carolina during the early years of the new Republic and grew up at or near Belvidere. As a son of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin, he was raised within a household shaped by militia leadership, landownership, and civic responsibility. William lived through the War of 1812 and the steady expansion of agriculture and commerce in Burke County. He opened a general store in Burke County around 1820. While no record exists of him holding high political office, menof his social standing typically served in local capacities such as militia service, jury duty, road oversight, and church or community leadership. He died in 1847 and was buried in the family cemetery.
Mary Elvira Erwin (1796–1863)
Mary Elvira Erwin, a daughter of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin, was born in Burke County and spent her life within the Erwin family’s social and geographic orbit. Known to some of her family as “Little Mary” due to her small stature, she was raised at Belvidere and lived during a period of increasing sectional tension that culminated in the Civil War. Family tradition records that Mary requested an unmarked grave, asking instead that the money be given to the “poor and destitute,” a choice that reflected her strong religious humility. Her death in 1863 came during the darkest years of the war, a time when Burke County families were deeply affected by loss, uncertainty, and economic strain.
Post-Revolution Leadership & Expansion
Elizabeth Bushrod Marable Erwin, most often called “Eliza,” was born in North Carolina near the close of the 18th century. She was a daughter-in-law of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin, wife of their son, Leander Arthur Erwin (1791-1845). Together, she and Leander had three children – one of whom was Marcus Erwin, a member of the NC House of Commons and Senate and later United States Assistant District Attorney. Eliza’s life was cut short at approximately thirty-five years of age, a reminder of the medical realities faced by women in the early 19th century. Even within prominent families, illness and complications of childbirth claimed many lives prematurely. She was laid to rest among her family at the Erwin Cemetery.
Elizabeth Bushrod “Eliza” Marable Erwin (1798–1833)
Elam Alphonzo Erwin was a son of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin. His youth coincided with Burke County’s growth from frontier settlement into a more stable agricultural community. Elam died at just twenty-seven years old. Sudden adult deaths in this period were often caused by infectious disease, accident, or conditions now considered treatable. His early death would have represented a significant personal and economic loss to the family.
Elam Alphonzo Erwin (1803–1830)
Alexander Hamilton Erwin, named for the celebrated American statesman, Alexander Hamilton Erwin, a son of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin, lived a long life spanning some of the most transformative years in American history. He witnessed the height of the antebellum plantation system, the devastation of the Civil War, and the difficult years of Reconstruction that followed. Alexander’s longevity suggests adaptability through profound social and economic change. Like many men of his class, he likely participated in local civic life and community affairs, even as the world he had grown up in was fundamentally altered. His twin sister, Cecilia, is buried in the same grave as Alexander at Belvidere.
Alexander Hamilton Erwin (1808–1877)
Cecilia Erwin, twin sister of Alexander, lived into old age and witnessed nearly the full arc of 19th-century Southern history. Raised in a slaveholding society, she later lived to see emancipation and the profound restructuring of Southern life following the Civil War. Women like Cecilia carried family memory and continuity through periods of upheaval, maintaining households, kinship networks, and traditions even as political and economic systems collapsed and reformed around them. Her long life made her a living link between the Revolutionary-era generation and the postwar South. Cecilia died at Maplewood, the home of her nephew, Hamilton Erwin, after sustaining a serious fall. Her funeral and interment were held at Belvidere, where she shares a grave with her twin brother, Alexander.
Cecilia Erwin (1808–1884)
Margaret Caroline Erwin was born at Belvidere in 1801, a daughter of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin. She married Colonel James Moffett McDowell, son of Colonel Joseph McDowell, a Revolutionary War hero and political leader often referred to as “Pleasant Gardens” McDowell (first cousin of “Quaker Meadows” McDowell), whose service at the Battle of Kings Mountain helped secure American independence. Through this marriage, Margaret’s life connected the Erwin family directly to another cornerstone lineage of regional and national importance. Margaret died young, at just thirty years of age, in 1831. Her early death underscores the vulnerability of young women in the 19th century, even within families of wealth and status. She was buried at Belvidere among her Erwin kin.
Margaret Caroline Erwin McDowell (1801–1831)
Margaret E. McDowell Erwin (1830–1860)
Margaret E. McDowell Erwin was born in 1830. She was a daughter of Colonel James Moffett McDowell and Margaret Caroline Erwin McDowell. She died in 1860 at the age of twenty-nine. Like many women of her generation, Margaret lived under the constant risks posed by illness and childbirth, realities that claimed many lives prematurely in the 19th century. Her burial in the Erwin Cemetery reflects her close familial ties and the continued use of Belvidere as a family burial ground.
John A. McKesson was born in 1814, the son of James McKesson and Anna Finley McKesson. In the early 1830s, his father was living in Wilkes County, and John had recently completed his schooling when he traveled to Burke County to visit family connections at Belvidere. While there, he suddenly became ill and died after a very brief sickness, at only twenty years of age. Contemporary accounts note that John was an uncle of C. F. McKesson, Esq., a later and well-known Morganton attorney, underscoring the family’s continued presence in the town’s civic and legal life. The McKesson family was well established in western North Carolina and appears frequently in Burke County land, court, and probate records. John’s father, James McKesson, Esq., was a respected lawyer and public figure who moved from Wilkes County to Morganton following his son’s death and remained there until his own passing shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. While the exact nature of his relationship to the Erwin family is unknown, John’s burial in the Erwin Cemetery reflects close ties and reinforces the role of Belvidere as a place of refuge and family connection during moments of sudden loss.
John A. McKesson (1814–1834)
Children of the Erwin Family
The Erwin Cemetery contains the graves of numerous children, a poignant reminder of the realities of family life before modern medicine. Even within prominent and well-established households, childhood mortality was heartbreakingly common due to infectious disease, accidents, and limited medical knowledge.
Algernon S. Erwin (1829–1830)
Algernon S. Erwin, a grandson of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin, lived less than a year. He was a son of Sidney Stanhope Erwin (1797-1849) and Caroline Ruth Carson Erwin (b. 1805).
Marcus Lorenzo Erwin (d. 1824)
Marcus Lorenzo Erwin, a grandson of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin , lived to 11 months old. He was a son of Adolphus Lorenzo Erwin (1789-1855) and Mary Gertrude Simianer Erwin (1798-1875).
William Walstein Erwin (1817–1821)
William Walstein Erwin, a grandson of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin, lived to the age of four. His death illustrates the prevalence of childhood illness during this period. He was a son of Adolphus Lorenzo Erwin (1789-1855) and Mary Gertrude Simianer Erwin (1798-1875).
Justina Louisa Erwin (1810–1811)
Justina Louisa Erwin was born and died within a single year. She was a daughter of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin. Her brief life reflects the fragility of infancy in the early 1800s. Justina’s is the oldest known grave in the Erwin Cemetery.
Edward Hamilton Erwin (1856–1858)
Edward Hamilton Erwin, a grandson of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin, lived only two years. Named in keeping with family traditions, his short life and burial at Belvidere reflect the continuity of the Erwin family’s use of the cemetery across generations. He was a son of Adolphus Lorenzo Erwin (1789-1855) and Mary Gertrude Simianer Erwin (1798-1875).
Arthur Erwin
(1855–1857)
Arthur Erwin, a grandson of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin, was born mid-century and represents a later generation of the family. His death in early childhood shows that, even decades later, families continued to face the same medical uncertainties. He was a son of Marcus Erwin (1826-1881) and Margaret E. McDowell Erwin (1930-1860).
Catherine Amelia Erwin (1836–1840)
Catherine Amelia Erwin lived to the age of four. Her death occurred during a period when childhood illnesses such as scarlet fever and pneumonia were common and often fatal. She was a daughter of Adolphus Lorenzo Erwin (1789-1855) and Mary Gertrude Simianer Erwin (1798-1875).
Eliza W. Erwin
(1829)
Eliza W. Erwin, a granddaughter of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin and Matilda Sharpe Erwin, died in infancy, likely the same year she was born. She was a daughter of Sidney Stanhope Erwin (1797-1849) and Caroline Ruth Carson Erwin (b. 1805).