Cemetery Saturday - Abraham Smith Keener

Today's headstone is for Abraham Smith Keener and his wife Elizabeth G. Hume Keener. Abraham is my 3rd Great Grand Uncle, or the brother of my 3rd Great Grandfather. Abraham was the son of George W. Keener and Margaret Miller. He was born June 29, 1830 in Taylor County WV, and died on Oct 3, 1921 also in Taylor County.

Abraham married Elizabeth G. Hume in Taylor County in about 1853.
The couple had 11 children*:
Thomas Jefferson Keener born 1853
George W. Keener born 1855
John Addison Keener born 1858
Mary Margaret Keener born 1860
Susanna J. Keener born 1862
Emily J. Keener born 1866
Alice L. Keener born 1868
Hannah Keener born 1869
Agnes D. Keener born 1873
Eva Keener born 1876
Martha E. Keener born 1871



The top of the stone shows the details for Abraham, the lowest area on the front of the stone has the details of Elizabeth, she died May 21, 1916.

This stones and many others of this line of the Keener family can be found on private property in the Keener Cemetery, in Taylor County WV. A great big thanks to Melissa Wisen - a distant Keener cousin of mine, who photographed the stones in that cemetery and made them available on the Find A Grave website and gave permission for me to use them here on my blog.

See all of Melissa's memorials here, or visit Find-a-Grave to search for your own ancestors.



*some information in this post was obtained from another researcher's work and has not been confirmed or denied.

Cemetery Saturday - Abraham Keener

This is the headstone of Abraham Keener, my 1st cousin 4x removed.

Abraham was born about 1843 and died Apr. 17, 1852. He was the son of John M. Keener and his wife Margaret Johnson Keener. He is buried in the Keener Cemetery in Grafton, Taylor County WV.

A great big thanks to Melissa Wisen - a distant Keener cousin of mine, who photographed the stones in that cemetery and made them available on the Find A Grave website and gave permission for me to use them here on my blog.

See all of Melissa's memorials here, or visit Find-a-Grave to search for your own ancestors.

Cemetery Saturday (a bit late) - Frances Bellew

Who arranged burial of Frances Bellew? I may never know...

Frances Bellew was the daughter of Patrick and Elizabeth Hall Bellew. She was born in Preston, Lancashire, England in 1894, and died in Preston in 1951. Frances was alone when she died - well, at least she had no family remaining in the area. Her siblings had all died or gone to America and both of her parents had already passed away.

So, who arranged for her burial? This question came up when I was trying to determine who John Bellew (see the previous two posts about him) was left with when his Mother left the country. My thoughts turned to Frances and the possibility that maybe John was with her - his Aunt on his father's side. I had a photo of her headstone that a very friendly volunteer sent to me about 8 years ago. When I pulled out the records it dawned on me - her headstone reads ".. a dear friend" A dear friend? She was never married, all family gone... who was the friend that put this stone up for her? I am attempting to contact the office at the cemetery where she's buried again, hoping that maybe they could tell me who purchased her headstone or arranged for it to be erected. Notice her stone among the others, it's not much but probably all her friend (or friends) could do for her - and for that I am very thankful.

This family plot was purchased by Frances' father Patrick. He purchased it when Frances' brother William died in 1910. The other family members buried there are beneath Frances.
In 1910, her brother William died at the agae of 19
In 1923, her father Patrick Bellew died at the age of 59
In 1927, her mother Elizabeth Hall Bellew died at the age of 63

Frances died at the age of 56 - apparently she was a dear friend who was truly missed. I hope I can find out by whom.

Cemetery Saturday

Mabel Frances (Jenkins) Kidwell
b. July 7, 1910
d. Oct 1, 1928

When I first visited Flint Hill Cemetery in Fairfax County Virginia I was overwhelmed at the number of Kidwell family headstones that were there. My mind raced with thoughts "are ALL of these people related to me in some way?" I've been to that cemetery on three different occasions, always photographing and noting the Kidwell stones that I come across and this one happened to be one of them. Mable Kidwell (not to be confused with my Great Grandmother May/Maybell/Mable Kidwell) was among a group of 3 headstones that I photographed one afternoon. I had no idea how she was connected to me, or if she even was. Turns out, she is my 1st Cousin 3x removed in-law who died after the birth of her first child. She was married to Earnest Kidwell Jr.

Cemetery Saturday - Do I have the RIGHT to visit that burial site?

I am curious about the rights to visit burial sites of our ancestors. Is there some legal right or not? I certainly would not march up to some farmer's property and start poking around without permission from him, but do I have an actual legal right to gain access to a cemetery of my ancestors on his property?

My 10th Great Grandfather James Thomas lived in Charles County Maryland in the mid-late 1600s. His family owned a large tobacco plantation they called "Ware". This property, was then transferred to his wife by his will, signed in 1701. Over the generations, Ware was divided up among sons and daughters, and part was eventually was owned by my 8th Great Grandmother Anna Mary Thomas who was married to James Kidwell Sr.

In a deed dated June 9, 1772, Anna Mary Thomas Kidwell and James Kidwell sold 50 acres of Ware back to the Thomas family, 1/4 acre of the property was listed as a burial ground.

It is believed by many Kidwell researchers (and there are MANY of us) that James and Anna Mary Kidwell are both buried on the property, along with other various Thomas and Kidwell family members. Question is - do we have a right to view them?

I have a hand drawn map, made by another researcher using various documents stating the exact location of the property and sure enough, when I look at this area on google earth, there's a power plant smack in the area of where he's drawn the property on this map. I am still curious if this is actually the correct location of the plantation but for now, I'll take his word for it. I have heard from other researchers and would-be visitors to the area that they have written to the power company for permission to visit the location and have been told that due to security reasons, they would not be permitted access to the property.... is this legal?

I myself have written to this power company, requesting that if I cannot visit the burial location of my ancestors, would they mind searching the property for a burial ground or cemetery? And, if I'm still not permitted access, would they photograph the area for me? Not surprisingly, I have not yet heard back from them but I'm confident that they'll at the very least send me a kind "no" notice. I actually don't expect them to photograph it, but what does it hurt to ask?

In the meantime, I've been searching for information related to the laws about burials and allowing access to family members to family cemeteries. On rootsweb I found an interesting bit of info related to Maryland law on this matter.
Most interesting to me was the following statement, found on the page "Applicable Laws in the Annotated Code of Maryland and the Maryland Rules"

"To gain access to a cemetery located on private property: To facilitate access to a cemetery, Section 14-121 of the Real Property Article provides that any person in interest (as defined in the Section) may request the owner of a burial site or of the land encompassing a burial site, that has been documented or recognized as a burial site by the public or any person in interest, to grant reasonable access to the burial site for the purpose of restoring, maintaining, or viewing the burial site. An access agreement form can be executed similar to the one that is printed in the text of the law. The law provides that except for willful or malicious acts, the owner of a burial site or of the land encompassing a burial site is not liable for damages in a civil action to a person who enters on the land for injury to person or property."

I'll have to look into this matter to get more detailed info, such as who do they refer to as a "person in interest, as defined in the Section"? Would an 8th great grandchild be a "person in interest"?

Realizing of course that I cannot simply walk into their office and demand access to the property, I don't think it's too much to ask if proper arrangements are made with them.

Watch for updates if/when I receive something from the power company I'll be sure to post my disgust.

Cemetery Saturday (or Sunday :-)

These are the headstones of George W. Keener, and his wife Margaret Miller Keener; my 4th Great Grandparents.

George was born in 1772 in Shenandoah County Virginia. He was the son of Samuel Keener & Catherine McCullough. He died May 22, 1863 in Taylor County WV.

Margaret Miller was born in 1788 in Bath County Virginia, she was the daughter of John Miller & Eva Burns. She died April 26, 1860 in Taylor County WV.

Both are buried in the Keener Cemetery in Grafton, West Virginia. The cemetery is located in the woods on private property, but I understand that the owner is very welcoming to family members who wish to visit these graves. I have not yet had the pleasure of visitng the cemetery myself - these photos were taken by Melissa Wisen, another descendant of this couple, who has photographed many of the stones located there. To view the other burials at this cemetery (79 in total entered), you can visit the Keener Cemetery page at Find A Grave. Or to view other listings created by Melissa, you can view her stats page here.

Cemetery Saturday (a wee bit early) - Leonard Cleveland Anderson

Not sure if I'll get around to posting tomorrow so I wanted to share a headstone today of my Grandfather - Leonard Cleveland Anderson.

Leonard was born on Feb 25, 1896 in Virginia and died Aug 6, 1978 at the VA Hospital in Martinsburg WV. He was the son of Charles William Anderson and Sallie Virginia Holt. Leonard was in the army for a short time during WWI, but never saw any action due to several illnesses and a chronic back problem.

He was married to May Kidwell in Fairfax Virginia, who I understand left her first husband for him. Together they lived in DC until she died in 1933 as a result of the birth of their final children (twins). Together they had 5 children. He was then married to Edna Keener, together they had 3 children.

Leonard is buried at the Lewinsville Presbyterian Church in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia; along with other members of the Anderson, Holt and Keener families. In this second photo, beneath the bush on the left is the stone of his Grandmother, Mary M. Holt (mother of Sallie Holt).

Mary M. Holt and Leonard were the only two headstones in the area but I wanted to know who else was in the vicinity of their plots. The records at this cemetery were not readily available when I requested them. As a matter of fact, I was originally told that they could not be found. Several days later the gentleman called me back "Someone above must be smiling down on you" he continued - "I picked up a book this afternoon and out fell the records for your family plot." He promised to send information via email which is outlined here;
Our records show that in 1924 Leonard C. Anderson obtained rights for Lot 5 in our cemetery, which consisted of 12 burial plots. 6 of those were used, the other 6 were returned to the church in 1988 - at this time my Grandmother had re-married and moved to Florida.

Also buried in this lot, without stones, are Sallie Virginia Anderson, Charles William Anderson, Pauline Keener Harrington and Richard Cleveland Anderson. There was also a note about a child burial, possibly beneath Sallie, but the records gave no details - not even a date about this burial. We believe it is a child of Sallie & Charles' who died when very young.

Cemetery Saturday

Today's stone is again from Uvilla Cemetery (link to Find-A-Grave listing) in Jefferson County WV. This is the headstone of Nelson Edwards. Nelson was a resident of Shepherdstown in 1920, at the time living in the home with his wife Adeline (who proceeded him in death according to his death certificate), a stepson and two grandchildren.

I've found a death certificate for Nelson and posted it here as well. Vital records for many counties in WV are available on line and are in a searchable database here. Nelson is not part of my family and I see no further Edwards family headstones in the cemetery.






Enjoy this exerpt of Cemetery Saturday.

Cemetery Saturday

Ever see a bumper sticker that says "I stop at any and all cemeteries?" I should have one. I can't help myself - when I see a cemetery, especially a field with very old stones, I feel the urge to stop. Some people think it's weird, I think it's just plain cool to go stomping around a bunch of old headstones, regardless of who's buried there.

Last fall, my family visited a pumpkin patch. On the way, at one street corner there was a small field, very overgrown with weeds and such but specked with headstones. My husband asked on the way out of the place - "You wanna stop at that cemetery?" Do you really have to ask????

I was amazed at the overgrowth in the place, there were vine plants that trip you as you walk and I was planning to call the people who carefully placed a sign on the street claiming to care for this location. Turns out I didn't need to, just two days later someone came and cleared it.

There are none of my family members in this cemetery but I took photos anyway, and posted them on Find A Grave where you can look through thousands of cemetery burials and many photos of headstones. I've been back to the cemetery one time since that last visit and took more photos. Every Saturday I will post a headstone from a cemetery that I've visited, calling this post Cemetery Saturday. If I have info about the burial, I'll post that as well.

Today, I'm posting the headstone of Mary Thornhill who died Feb 18, 1896. The stone is in amazing condition for it's age. Because of the weeds I cannot make out what the lower portion of her stone says - must go back and check that out! I don't know anything about Mary Thornhill, only finding one Thornhill family in the county in the 1880 Census - she was not listed in that family. But she could have been in another area in 1880. There are two Thornhill burials in this cemetery, and 39 total burials recorded at this cemetery on Find A Grave - Uvilla Cemetery in Jefferson County WV.