WestVirginiaCemeteryPreservationAssociation

What's New?


April 2015:

Sad news - on April 8, 2015, historic Warner Chapel in Mason County burned to the ground. While the exact cause of the fire is still unknown for sure, there was a severe thunderstorm that passed through the area around the same time as when the fire would have started, and lighting may have caused the fire. The Leon Fire Department responded to the blaze, but unfortunately, the church was fully consumed by the time they arrived. As can be seen in the photos below, there was only minor damage done to the cemetery fence where the back wall of the church fell on it, but the church building is a total loss.

Warner Chapel - April 2015 Warner Chapel - April 2015 Warner Chapel - April 2015 Warner Chapel - April 2015

January 2014:
  • Many more cemetery readings with tombstone photos, obituaries, census records, etc. have been added over the past year in Jackson, Mason, Kanawha, Putnam and Roane counties, thanks to the work of WVCPA volunteer George Scott. The database he has been working on for us has grown significantly, and the number of tombstone photos and associated documents like obituaries, marriage records, death records and more, totaling over 14,000 have been added to our website over the past 18 months! One of the latest additions, that we're particularly excited about, is the Fairplain (a.k.a. Shinn) Cemetery from Jackson County - the pages for the cemetery include aerial photos and links to map markers identifying the specific location of each grave in the cemetery... visit the page and see what we mean. It's awesome! George put several months work into this feature and other supporting research documents on many of the people buried in this cemetery that he happens to be related to.
  • Also recently added, updated, are the cemeteries located at Pleasant View Church in Jackson County. At this location, there are three distinct sections of burials, containing graves of persons relocated here from the former Clendenin-Fisher and Carney Cemeteries, along with original burials old and new identified as being at "Pleasant View Church". Complicating matters further, there appear to be different caretakers for the different sections that we have not been able to identify fully. Our apologies for any confusion that may arise, as it was our initial intent to refer to all three sections as "Pleasant View Church Cemetery", but we have been encouraged by local family researchers to identify the sections separately. If you have family buried in the graves located by Pleasant View Church, we encourage you to visit all three of these pages when conducting your research and use your best discretion when identifying the name of the cemetery in your documentation.

January 2013:
  • Dozens upon dozens of cemetery readings with tombstone photos, obituaries, census records, etc. have been added over the past few months - particularly in Jackson and Mason Counties, but several others as well. All of these, thanks to the hard work and dedication of WVCPA volunteer George Scott, who along with his son, took several thousand tombstone photos. George has been designing and building a database for us, along with a computer program that will help us build and update web pages faster using the database. He's been creating all of these new pages with the program as part of the process of working out any and all 'kinks' for us. As part of the pages, he's been gracious enough to also provide additional background research of many of the people buried in the cemeteries he's worked on, including the supporting documents noted above. We've been greatly blessed by his generous work, and look forward to the many more pages that he'll be providing for us over the coming months!

June 2012:
  • Added a link on our Resources page for Obscurely Famous - A series of television programs produced for West Virginia Public Television by West Virginian Jack Crutchfield. In the series, he documents 'obscurely famous' folks, like Mark Twain's grandfather, Titanic survivor Eloise Hunt, and one of the Civil War's youngest boy soldiers buried in West Virginia cemeteries. The Mason County episode is being aired on June 24, 2012 at 7 and 11 pm on WV Public Television, for those of you in the viewing area.
     
  • We've been working 'behind the scenes' with one of our dedicated volunteers (who also happens to be an excellent programmer) to get a program developed that will allow us to get cemetery pages online and updated much faster than the tedious manual method we've used up 'til now. We're hoping to start including several additional exciting features to our pages that we'll keep you in suspense about for now! As Joel & my lives have changed and the demands on our time have given us much less time personally to dedicate to our passion for cemetery preservation and getting these photos and readings online over the past couple of years, we're very thankful that this 'angel in disguise' has stepped forward and offered to help us out in getting the web site going much more as we'd envisioned it to be. The first live trials will be starting later this summer, so do check back regularly. When we've got the routine all worked out, we could be seeing as many as 150 cemeteries being added to our online page selections, with photos and more!

March 2012:
  • This month we added a page for Webb Cemetery in Putnam County, thanks to faithful volunteer Terry McCallister's photo survey of the cemetery in 2010.

February 2012:
  • This month we added pages for Baptist Grove Cemetery in Jackson County,  Sunset Memorial Park in Kanawha County, and Cross Creek Cemetery in Putnam County, thanks to volunteer George Scott's most capable help. There have also been added several tombstone photos and names to lists for cemeteries throughout Jackson, Mason, Kanawha and Putnam counties. If you haven't checked on your family cemeteries lately, you may want to check them again if they're in any of these counties!

January 2012:
  • Added many, many photos to the Otterbein Cemetery pages in Jackson Co., WV, thanks to photos and all of the html editing done by WVCPA volunteer George Scott. He also took photos of the cemetery, and has done so for many cemeteries across the state and he'll be working with us to add pages for those over the next months. George has been a real blessing to us, as catching up and keeping up with everything can be a challenge. He has stepped in and built pages for us and made it super simple to transfer his photos and web pages directly to our web server. A big round of applause to George, and watch for more of his handiwork in the coming months.
     
  • This month we also added pages for Greenwood Cemetery in Ohio County, Parrish Cemetery in Jackson County, Markham Cemetery in Putnam County, and updated pages for Independence Cemetery in Jackson County, all thanks to George Scott's help.
     
  • Over the past couple of months, we've also been receiving hundreds of photos from a few of our more proliferate contributors for Kanawha, Jackson and Putnam counties, along with dozens for Mason County. We will do our best, as always, to get these photos online. In the meantime, if you see that a cemetery you're interested in is listed as "In Progress" on our site but no photos or perhaps even a web page have yet to be posted for the cemetery, do contact us, as we may have photos available that just haven't made it online yet.

January 2, 2012:
  • If the WVCPA web site is of value to you, and if you have never made a contribution or have not done so in a long time, we ask for your help, however modest, in supporting the site's existence. Readership has continued to expand dramatically, with nearly 3,000 visits, over 10,000 page views, and over 2,000 individual readers on average in 2011. Donations will be deeply appreciated.
     
  • Remember, too, as we begin 2012 to continue make use of the GoodSearch search engine at www.goodsearch.com, specifying "WVCPA" as your designated charity.  GoodSearch is a search engine with a unique social mission. It’s powered by Yahoo, so you get the same great search results. GoodSearch donates 50% of their advertising revenue to the nonprofits and schools selected by their users. For this past year, WVCPA will soon be receiving a check for $143.96 from GoodSearch as a direct result of your use of the search engine in 2011! Now you, our supporters, can make a difference in the work of WVCPA simply by changing the way they search the Internet!  Anytime anyone uses the GoodSearch site to search on the Internet and specifies WVCPA as their favorite charity, GoodSearch will set aside a portion of their revenue to contribute WVCPA (an average of $.013 per search the past three years). Over the years, many of you have expressed the desire to donate to WVCPA, but have not had the means - now you can without it costing you a penny!  Check out GoodSearch for details, and tell your friends and family so they can help contribute as well!
     
  • Happy New Year! As the old year passes and the New Year opens up before us, Joel and I want to wish WVCPA's faithful viewers, and especially our dedicated volunteers and contributors from across the country, a very Blessed New Year. We look forward to continue working with you in 2012 to rescue the precious old burial grounds of West Virginia. Thank you for your loyalty to us and to the mission of the West Virginia Cemetery Preservation Association!

    Joel & Donna Duprey

September 2011:
  • Added several photos and status update to the Long Hollow Baptist Church page in Jackson Co., WV, thanks to photos that long time volunteers, Charlotte and Steve Iman sent us this past year. They also took photos of the church cemetery, and we'll be adding a page for those in the not too distant future.
  •  Thank you for your patience as we continue to catch up after our sabbatical in 2010 & 2011!


To view "What's New" log entries from 2010-11, Click Here
To view "What's New" log entries from 2009, Click Here
To view "What's New" log entries from 2008, Click Here
To view "What's New" log entries from 2007, Click Here
To view 2006 "What's New" log entries,
Click Here

To view "What's New" log entries from 2003-2005, Click Here

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 Updated: 19 April 2022