West Virginia Cemetery Preservation Association: J.O. Sayre Cemetery, Jackson Co., WV

Cemetery Reading

Cemetery Name:	J.O. Sayre
County:	Jackson
USGS Quad:	Cottageville
Coordinates:	38.7714ºN 81.7990ºW
Maintained by:	not maintained
Land owner:	unknown
Date added to WVCPA register:	May 2007
Condition of cemetery**:	Poor (May 2007)
Accessibility:	The cemetery is located on a high hilltop southwest of Round Knob in Jackson County, not far from the Mason County line. It is not easily accessible - ATV access is even extremely difficult in places, and it's a very, very long walk if going in on foot. See the comments section below for detailed instructions on how to find the cemetery, if you're the adventuresome type.
Condition of cemetery as observed on the given date - may not be representative of care at other times of the year Scale: Excellent - Good - Fair - Poor - Abandoned**

Last Name:	First Name:	Born:	Died:	Inscription:	Photo:	Source:
Hill	John W.	25 December 1867	2 May 1902	"Gone But Not Forgotten" [Though the tombstone says his birth year is 1867, his death records lists 1857 as his birth year. The tombstone is extremely worn]
	[Other information about him that was provided to family researcher A. Click from his relatives, and she has passed it on to us: Spouse: Loucetta Ward, their marriage date: 14 Aug. 1879 - Parents: John Harrison Hill and Lydia Ann Parsons Hill - Born in Jackson Co. at Rock Castle - John died while working away and his body was shipped back to WV for burial]
Sayre	Cleota		1902	"Aged 3 Yrs" ["Just a tiny monument with moss growing on it and surrounded by leaves from the giant white oak tree" - A.Click]
Sayre	Daniel Floyd	12 December 1862	12 September 1936
Sayre	Virena	1 April 1863	2 June 1924	[Wife of Daniel Floyd Sayre, nee Anderson]
Sayre	Everett Otto	14 December 1891	1939?
Sayre	Cora			[Wife of Everett Sayre - some researchers say this is Cora or "Corda" Barnett, b. in 1891 and died in 1914 - do verify with your own research]
Sayre	Stella Mae	20 September 1885	7 December 1885
Sayre	Thurman	26 April 1889	23 June 1890
Sayre	Verta	___ 1902 or 1903?	[same day]
Thomas	G.P.	1841	1924	[George P. Thomas, the son of Samuel and Juliet McKinney Thomas] [Husband and wife - shared stone] [Sarah J. Icenhour]
Thomas	Sarah J.	1842	1925
Thomas	Oliver J.	1875	1888	[Located within the same concrete walled-in plot as the Thomas graves - the young son of George and Sarah Thomas]
Many additional graves marked only with fieldstones - uncertain as to whose graves they may be. Those listed above are the only ones with identifiable inscriptions.

Comments:

Dates in Red are not inscribed on the tombstone and have either been calculated based on death date or are as a result of research on the individual.

WVCPA volunteer Alice Click has provided the latest access conditions for getting to this cemetery, based her recent trip in to this cemetery with her husband - starting at 13 Mile Creek just west of the abandoned Rock Castle Church in Mason County:

"Start at 13 Mile Creek -- go Bee Run Road to the High Point (Look Out). Take a right on the Donahew Lease Road -- come to a Y and proceed on left. Giant potholes -- mud holes made from ATVs. Come to the old house which has fallen in (WVCPA note: look out for an abandoned well there - we nearly lost Alice in it!). The cemetery is in the woods up on the hill. I believe if you don't backtrack you will come back to the Bee Run Road that goes into the Foster Ridge"

Alice is right as to the connection back to Foster Ridge - though it appears it's every bit as rough as the route she and her husband took in May. Take a look at the topo map for the area, and you'll see that if you continue northeast on the jeep trail, then keep to the right when it comes to the next "Y", which will lead you down a steep run to Roundknob Run and what is marked on the topo maps as "Danstown". At Roundknob Run at the bottom, take the jeep trail northeast (left). At the first "Y", if you take the Kay Hollow road to the right, it will lead you up onto Foster Ridge, but if you stay to the left and follow the dirt road out Roundknob Run, you'll end up back at the Sayre farm in Parchment Valley at the bottom of the hill where Mt. Moriah Church and cemetery is located. For those coming in from Jackson County, that might prove an easier route, though based on the conditions Alice and Karl found, we make no promises!

Alice also writes:

"Most of the markers are field rocks and funeral home markers that have information etched with a pocket knife on the metal. The fence has very few strands left, but that was the clue we got when searching through the trees and brush for the cemetery, which is situated up on a high knob from the old house that has fallen in. The house was standing in 1970 according to a relative."

Updated: 20 September 2014