Our History

During the years of slavery, my great-uncle, Wil Nesbitt, was a rebellious, stubborn, and independent slave. He was often punished for insubordination by being whipped while tied to a stake. After one misdeed, he was beaten mercilessly, so severely that he decided that once he was cut loose, he was going to rebel. When he recovered, he got an axe and went to his plantation master's house to demand his freedom. He found his master sitting on the lawn. He approached his master and angrily demanded that he sign his freedom papers, or else he would be killed on the spot. His master knew that Wil meant business, so he agreed to sign his freedom papers on one condition: that Wil would join the local militia. Wil agreed and joined the militia.

After joining the militia, the Civil War began, and the local militia became a part of the Confederate Army. Being the low man on the totem pole, Wil's job was a trench and ditch digger. During the battles in which the Confederate Army lost many men, his job was to dig graves and bury the dead. While burying these Confederate soldiers, he noticed that many had gold fillings in their teeth, which was the custom in those days. Being enterprising, Wil decided to extract those fillings and save them. After being discharged from military duties, he went to New Orleans and cashed in the gold fillings he had acquired during the war. It amounted to a small fortune for a 'colored' man in those days.

Wil returned to his home in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, and, being a free man, was able to buy farmland. He hired his family to operate the farm and opened a blacksmith shop where he shod horses. He later noticed that the blacks needed someone to bury their dead. He bought a mule and buckboard wagon, and began building caskets to bury the local deceased on his farm property. This became the area's first colored cemetery. Soon afterwards, he bought a building, put up a sign, and went into the 'undertaking' business. This was the first Nesbitt Funeral Home, established in 1877. He soon began burying most of the blacks in the Spartanburg area. This is the origin of Nesbitt Funeral Home and has continued in the family until the present.