Cemetery
Reading
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Cemetery Name: |
Elmwood |
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County: | Mason | |
USGS Quad: | Elmwood | |
Coordinates: | near 38.6935ºN -81.8528ºW | |
Maintained by: | Not maintained | |
Land owner: | Per 2004, PYXIS Resources Co. (Eastern Royalty Co.) | |
Date added to WVCPA register: | April 2005 | |
Condition of cemetery**: | Destroyed in early 1970's by coal mining operation. | |
Accessibility: | This cemetery was located in the field opposite the original Elmwood Church, both sites now encompassed by the abandoned Putnam Coal Mine on the south bank of Mud Lick Fork of Thirteenmile Creek at Elmwood in Union District. Exact former location of the cemetery has yet to be found, though it is reported to have been on the edge of the area that was bulldozed for the mine to the east of the mine silo currently standing at the site. The area is now used heavily by 4x4 riders as a recreational area. | |
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: |
Edwards | George, Jr. | abt 1844 | 2 April 1862 | "CO. F 8TH W.VA. CAV." (see bio for corrected military information) |
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Knapp | Elizabeth Harrison | abt 1802 | abt 1822 | [Dau. of Joseph & Isabella Harrison, wife of William Knapp, Sr. |
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Harrison | John C. | abt 1803 | abt 1835 | [Son of Joseph & Isabella Harrison, husband of Nancy Hill] |
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Harrison | Joseph | 1768 | 1828 | [Husband and wife - shared stone] |
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Harrison | Isabella Jeffers | 1772 | aft 1835 |
CLICK HERE to view biographies of these individuals
Comments:
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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. It is impossible to know the names of all who were buried here. It is known that Joseph & Isabella Harrison were buried here in the early 1800's, a time when many graves were simply marked with fieldstones. In recent recorded history, the only tombstones that were located here were those of George Edwards and Joseph & Isabella Harrison. Many of the Harrison family listed above are assumed buried here, as no other record of their burial locations have been found, and the fact that their immediate family was living very close to this cemetery that already contained the remains of other family members when they died. |
Work done under the auspices of WVCPA: | The
tombstone for Joseph & Isabella Harrison were last seen on a wooded
hillside overlooking the mine in the early 1990's by a highly reputable witness.
The tombstone for George Edwards was sited and photographed in the late
1980's
by WVCPA volunteers. As the volunteers recall, his stone was then
located somewhere on the hillside just to the west of the mine silo near a
barbed wire fence that has long ago been overgrown or removed.
WVCPA and others have done extensive research to try and locate the original location of this cemetery and identify the names of those interred there, and little concrete information has surfaced to date. There are some indications that this cemetery may actually have been a Harrison family cemetery due to its location, though it is apparent through the Edwards burial here that it was not exclusively Harrison descendants buried there. Any information or photographs you may have of this cemetery to contribute to WVCPA will be greatly appreciated. As there are no records of disinterment of the bodies when the mine was established in the late 60's-early 70's, and no stones remain for memorializing these individuals through replacement in nearby cemeteries, this web page is the only existing memorial to them at this time. WVCPA hopes to one day place tombstones in memory of George Edwards and Joseph & Isabella Harrison at the nearby Warner Chapel Cemetery where Joseph & Isabella's children and grandchildren are buried. As others are identified as having been buried at Elmwood, appropriate memorials will be considered for them as well in cooperation with their descendants. |
Updated: 07 September 2012