♪

(narrator)
The search for our ancestry

has never been easier.

With the advent
of massive databases,

the digitizing
of millions of records

both public and private,

and even the widespread
availability of DNA testing,

someone with enough gumption
can find out

just about anything
about their distant past.

But what if the cold glow
of a computer screen

or the musty smell
of old documents

isn't enough to satisfy you?

What if you find out
that part of your past

is hidden in a tomb
and it's out there somewhere?

Meet J.R. Robinson

and his cousin
Alan Matthews,

descendants of a family

long gone from this
southern tip of our state

near Ocean Isle,
the remarkable Gause Family.

Uh, William Gause, Sr., uh,

started off in Horry County,
South Carolina.

He was the patriarch
of the Gause family.

It all began with him.

He moved to Brunswick County
and bought a--

thousands of acres
of land, uh,

and started
a turpentine business.

Of course,
they had plantations, and, uh,

the roads here, uh--
Brick Landing

was where they imported
brick from England

to build their homes

and as well as this tomb
behind us, uh.

William Gause, Jr., uh--

he, uh, fought
with George Washington

in the Revolutionary War,
and, uh,

George Washington
went on a southern tour

that went through here,

and he went
14 miles out of his way

to spend the night
and have breakfast

with our grandfather,
William Gause, Jr.

(narrator)
J.R.'s cousin Bobby Matthews

was the original
family historian,

and he found evidence
of a lost tomb.

(J.R.)
My cousin Bobby told me.

He said, "There's a tomb;
the tomb is out there.

You know,
it's hard to find."

We searched
and searched and searched,

and our other cousin
Dickie Carmichael was with him,

and they were about to give up
tryin' to find the tomb,

and Dickie said,
"I found it."

And he went over,
and they looked it over,

and he told me,
he said, you know,

"You really
gotta see this."

He says,
"This thing is a--

it's a work of art,"
you know.

"It's something
that you're never--

you're not gonna see
another, uh--uh,

structure like this."

I saw this.

I knew it was
something special.

I knew it was
one of a kind.

We didn't actually find it
the first time we were here.

It was so thick,

and everybody's,
"Don't go out there.

The snakes
are gonna bite you."

To be honest, I stood
at the adjacent field,

and I looked this way.

I said,
"I bet it's right there.

"From what I been told
and reading maps

and the marks,
it's right there."

And I was right.

You could stand...

right here
and not see the tomb.

It was that thick.

Uncle Bob,
when he saw it,

actually said to me
that he was standing--

and I surmise
this was in the '70s--

he said to me that he was
12 feet from the tomb

and did not know it.

(J.R.)
And was on his hands
and knees.

And was on his hands
and knees penetrating
the brush.

It was definitely
hidden away
and forgotten.

[piano chords
playing in background]

(narrator)
Now, this was not the tomb
of William Gause

or his son,
William Gause, Jr.

No one is sure
where they rest,

but it could be near

the massive
George Washington Tree

that stands guard
over the probable site

of the Gause home.

[strings support
gentle piano melody]

What J.R. and Alan discovered

was the tomb of William's
direct descendants,

John Julius Gause
and his extended family.

(J.R.)
And John Julius Gause

was a public servant
here in Brunswick County.

He was the, uh,
county clerk

for Brunswick County, uh,
as well as, he served

in the North Carolina
House o' Commons.

Today we call it
the House of Representatives,

I think,
in most states, um.

John Julius Jr.'s father,
John Julius Sr.,

also was the sheriff
here in Brunswick County,

and because of his age--
he was very young.

Actually, on record,
he's the--

he is the youngest sheriff
on record

to ever serve that position
here in Brunswick County.

So there was concern

whether he would do a good job
because of his age.

And he wound up doin'
an excellent job as sheriff.

(narrator)
So J.R. had work to do.

First of all,
the tomb was in bad shape,

and more importantly,

he didn't own the land
it rested on.

That land belonged
to the charming Mrs. Rae Cox,

who was the first woman
to live on Ocean Isle Beach

almost 50 years ago.

(Rae) There was nobody
over there but us.

We were the only
permanent family for 16 years.

We were
in the Encyclopadia Britannica

'cause I bought those
for my children then

'cause they didn't have
Internet and everything then.

One year was smallest town
in the United States

with four people--
that was my family.

And the next year
it came out--

well, about five years later,
it came out five--

I had another baby--
heh, heh, heh!

(J.R.)
But she was not aware
of a lot of how--

how much was here, you know?

I mean, who would?

If you can't walk--

You don't know
what you can't see.

(Rae)
J.R. came to Brunswick County.

Went to the county and found
who owned this land.

He called me and wanted
to do somethin' with it.

So we met;
we shook hands.

We talked;
we liked each other.

I told him,
"Do whatever you wanna do."

That was it,
and he's done it!

And he's done a good job;
it looks wonderful!

(J.R.)
I was wanting to bring,
before the tomb,

the first thing I needed to do

was bring the cemetery
back to life, so to say,

and that's to get it
cleared out.

Let's recognize
that there's graves here.

Let's recognize
that there's people

buried all around this tomb,

and--and then, uh--
but she--she was--

has been phenomenal--

phenomenal
of our relationship.

(narrator)
Scattered around the tomb

were the fragmented remains
of several gravestones.

This was an active
burial ground.

But who was buried here?

Anthony Clemmons
is a well-known historian

of this part
of North Carolina.

(Anthony)
Oh, years ago, um,

family cemeteries
were private.

And we were surprised to find
some, uh, tombstones, uh,

located here
whose names was Frierson,

which is really foreign
to Brunswick County,

and, uh, also, the--
the Russ.

And with a little bit
of research,

I traced the Friersons
back to Charleston

and found out that the--

the Russes had a, uh--

large plantations, uh,
to the east of here

that adjoined
the Gauses' plantation.

And there's a pattern
back then of, uh,

joinin' plantations, uh,

the children intermarryin', um.

A lot of 'em
went to the same church, uh.

There's an old sayin'
back then, uh--uh,

when you visit somebody.

It says, we'll see you
if the good Lord's willin'

and the creek don't rise.

So believe it or not, uh,

the swamps
and the water bein' impassable

[chuckling]
had a lot to do
with intermarriage back then.

(narrator)
There had long been
rumors in these parts

that almost a century back,

grave robbers
had entered the tomb.

To their dismay,

J.R. and Alan
found this to be true.

(J.R.)
But in the back corner
of the tomb,

there was a vent,
and then--

and the robbers
chose to bust the vent out

and attempt to go through
what they--

what they had nicknamed
the robber's hole.

And, uh, so a--
a lot of the damage

and vandalism
and theft and desecration

had already been done
back in the 1920s.

(narrator)
Who can say
what the grave robbers stole?

But J.R. and Alan did make
an amazing discovery--bones.

And so another mystery
presented itself:

Just who was buried
in the Gause Tomb?

(J.R.)
When John Julius
died in 1836, uh,

this was not built.

It was ordered
to be built.

It--while it was being built,
John was entombed in a--

in a vault somewhere here
in Brunswick County, uh,

maybe very close from here--
maybe even on these grounds--

we're not sure--
along with two deceased wives,

two deceased children.

He also invited the in-laws
from his second wife

to be entombed here.

So I would have to say, uh,

it would have been
John Julius Gause, two wives,

two of his children
that died of a disease, and--

and two in-laws--
at least that many people.

(narrator)
J.R. hired local brickmason
Ricky Clemmons

to repair the tomb,
and Clemmons expertly matched

the vaulted brickwork style
of nearby Fort Caswell.

Other members of this
Brunswick County community

pitched in to help,
even using a dowsing rod

to find more graves.

[choral vocalizations
support chiming vibraphone]

(J.R.)
We put in the flagpoles today,

and you noticed earlier,
we put in two flagpoles.

One flagpole was, uh--uh,
of the United States flag

because, you know,
John Julius Jr.

was a public servant.

He was
a government official, uh.

The other flag
is a United States flag of--

they call it
the 25-star flag, uh.

It was the flag of 1836
because that was the year

the tomb was built,
and, of course,

under that flag,

it's the state flag
of North Carolina.

(narrator)
News of J.R.'s efforts
made its way

to other members
of the Gause family,

and the clan
gathered at the site

in late June of 2016,
traveling from South Carolina,

Texas, and Tennessee.

One special guest

is a direct descendant
of John Julius Gause.

(man)
John Julius Gause,
who died and is buried--

was buried in that tomb, uh,
died in 1836,

and he was my great-
great-great-grandfather.

And his children,

including
my great-great-grandfather,

Samuel Sidney Gause,

picked up
and sold their lands here

and moved
to west Tennessee.

I have Samuel Sidney Gause's
family Bible in my house.

[harp leads]

And that...
you know, that goes

all the way back to his father,
John Julius Gause.

Well, Alan,
here we go.

Beautiful day.

It is, and
we're heading

to the UNC at
Wilmington, uh,

to take, uh,
our human remains

of those we found
in the floor of the tomb.

Today's a big day.

These bones were
all in the floor
of the tomb.

Found something that looked
to be part of the--

a foot bone...

part of the, uh,
calcaneus there.

Sometimes, the fragments
are kinda small,

so it's difficult
to get an idea

of exactly
what part of a bone,

but what I'm pullin' here
is a child's vertebra.

So we have two adults, um,
a male and a female,

and two children based on
some of these fragments

of hip bone and the ulna

and two vertebrae right here

at different
developmental stages.

I'm glad we're able to provide
that sense of connection.

(narrator)
More work remains to be done

on the bones
found in the tomb,

and yet, for his prodigious
efforts to date,

J.R. was honored

by the Wilmington
historical foundation.

(woman)
To undertake the preservation
and restoration

of this one-of-a-kind
family resting place.

(narrator)
But perhaps the real honor

was found among
the pine needles and thorns

of this forgotten cemetery,

where a family's legacy
has been restored...

for good.

[vibraphone leads
sustained strings]

♪