Lucy Adaline Gresham

Lucy Adaline Gresham. In the long long ago, there was a beautiful girl who was referred to as “Sweet Adeline”. She was the daughter of Thomas W. and Charity Grimes and became the wife of a brilliant young lawyer by the name of Albert Gresham. , No one now living knew any of the people who were connected with this narrative but the tradition that has been handed down is well-authenticated; and has to do with the grave of this young wife who was born in Greensboro in the year 1806. , In the center of the old part of the Greensboro cemetery, there is an old-fashioned bricked up grave on top of which rests a marble slab some six feet in length, and bears the following inscription:

Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Lucy Adaline Gresham , Consort of Albert Y. Gresham Esq. , And daughter of Thomas W. and Charity Grimes , Who died in Greensborough , April 16th 1826 in the 20th year of her age

Back in those days, Greensboro boasted of a bakery and candy factory, the name of the owner is immaterial: but the bakery was in the cellar, under the stores now known as Greensboro Florist and Greensboro Jewelers. This underground bakery had a sales room for customers, but few people had access to the workroom therefore the secret process of baking and candy-making was carefully guarded by the owner. , Shortly after the death of Lucy Adaline Grimes Gresham, Mrs. Grimes ordered a marble slab to mark the grave of her beloved daughter. Sometime after the slab had been placed over the grave, it mysteriously disappeared and no trace of it could be found. If any knew where it was, they were as dumb as a clam. However, the old saying that “murder will out” proved true in this instance. , In some way, Mrs. Grimes learned that there was a suspicious looking marble slab in the underground bakery, and which was being used in making candy. She immediately paid the bakery a visit and demanded that she be shown the slab. Whether willingly or unwillingly, the baker led the way to the secret chamber where the slab lay upside down upon a table. The surface revealed nothing more than a smoothly polished marble slab. She demanded that she be shown the under-side, and Alas! it revealed the name of her beloved daughter. , “They say” Aunt Charity engaged in some conversation that her name did not imply; and that the baker did not misunderstand her meaning, and that her ultimatum was, that if the slab was not thoroughly cleaned and placed where it belonged by daybreak the next morning, the aforesaid baker would find himself in the old Rock Jail that stands just behind the courthouse. The slab was immediately put where it had been stolen from.