WestVirginiaCemeteryPreservationAssociation

Cemetery Reading - Partial

Cemetery Name:

Queen's Ridge Church

Queens Ridge Church and Cemetery, Wayne County, West Virginia

Click on photo above to enlarge

County: Wayne
USGS Quad: Kiahsville
Coordinates: 38.0226ºN  82.2673ºW
Maintained by: unknown
Land owner: unknown
Date added to WVCPA register: April 2006
Condition of cemetery**: Good (April 2006)
Accessibility: The cemetery is located on a ridge area in Wayne County (near the Lincoln/Logan/Wayne County lines - where they come together), known at the Queen's Ridge Cemetery.  One of the best known landmarks it is near is the Cabwaylingo State Park (which is located near Dunlow, in Wayne County). WVCPA contributor Della Lilly instructs: "Take State Rt 10 south from Huntington to Logan to Atenville, make a right-hand turn onto Little Harts Creek Road and travel paved country roads and reach the cemetery."

** 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:

** ONLY PARTIAL READING OF THIS CEMETERY **
Full reading still needed
If you can help, please contact WVCPA with the details

Copley Jay Walter 23 November 1928 16 April 1995 "We love and miss you" Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Copley Millar Fillmore 30 January 1911 22 June 1986   Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Copley Victoria  29 November 1886 17 January 1943 "A precious one from us is gone, a voice we loved is stilled; a place is vacant in our home, which never can be filled" Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Maynard Aaron W. 14 February 1846 27 August 1918     Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Perry James 8 September 18__ 24 April 19__ "Father"
"At Rest"
Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Perry Little Jimmie 17 March 1940 19 February 1944 "Naught can darken the light of his memory" Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Perry Malissie Toppins 21 May 1909 19 March 1935 "In Memory Of" Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Perry Tennessee 23 November 1917 17 October 19__   Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Perry Trestyn Joseph 25 April 1973 11 August 2003 "My Shining Star" Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Queen Absalom 8 August 1791 16 June 1870 [Husband and wives - shared stone]
"By F.I. Maynard and Ersel Queen"
Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Queen Nancy Murphy    
Queen Elizabeth Stephenson    
Queen App Franklin  1882 1935 "Gone, but not forgotten" Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Queen John A. 25 February 1855 28 February 1928 [Husband and wife - shared stone] Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher
Queen Mary E. 9 April 1861 30 August 1932
Toppins Harriette Queen 26 October 1879 16 September 1935 "In Memory Of" Click here to view a photo of the tombstone Source: WVCPA contributor and family researcher

 

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.

Della Lilly has posted extensive family research data online for this cemetery at the Find-A-Grave website - much more than we have listed here - that we can highly recommend visiting if you are doing research on those buried here.

Click images below to
view full size

 

WVCPA contributor, Della Perry Lilly, at her ancestor's grave
Della Perry Lilly at an ancestors' grave at Queen's Ridge Cemetery

 

 

 

 

 

Queens Ridge Cemetery, Wayne County, West Virginia
Queen's Ridge Cemetery

 

 

 

 

Flyer from earlier public meeting regarding protection of Queens Ridge Cemetery
Flyer from earlier public meeting regarding protection of Queens Ridge Cemetery

From WVCPA contributor, Della Perry Lilly:

"The land (on which Queen's Ridge Cemetery is located) was appropriated for a cemetery by one of my ancestors Absalom Queen (1791/1870), a settler from the John Queen of Loudon County, VA, family who, with his brothers, John and Walter Queen, came to what is now Wayne County.  The cemetery is well kept, has a church building in it, and buried there are Veterans/their descendents of  most all the wars as well as a full-blood American Indian lady and her descendents (I was told by a family member that some of them have their "certificates as being Native American).

My cousin and I "had a session" in June-August 2005 with Argus Energy who had applied for a permit to deep-mine in that area with the cemetery being "in their line of fire".  As we felt the cemetery/grave sites could be damaged by this, we opposed it and were able to get the topo map and the permit application stamped "No Mining Site".  This is a concern regarding our cemeteries as most persons are of the belief that a mining company cannot mine under a cemetery but, as there is no law on the books in the State of WV saying they cannot mine under a cemetery, they do deep-mine under cemeteries.  They have done so at some other cemetery sites in that area and I have been told the graves are sinking in and the headstones are turning over (I have not been able to visit these cemeteries to see this but have been told by family members).  Our attorney advised us the action we took "won't necessarily stop the coal companies but it will let the WV Dept of Natural Resources (the office from where the permits are granted) and the coal company know they are being watched".  We have also been told that cemeteries in the Logan/Raleigh/Boone County areas have been destroyed by the coal companies. My 90-year-old Dad said, "Now you girls are just getting upset about nothing - they don't mine under cemeteries" and, as I have talked to many persons regarding this matter, they are amazed that deep-mining can take place under a cemetery.

At the Wayne County Court House, one can have copies made of pages from the Wayne County Cemeteries, Vol. I and II book but I have not seen this cemetery listed on any web site.  I do have a listing (copied from one of those Volumes) of persons buried at Queen's Ridge Cemetery through probably about 1998/1999; however, several others have been buried there since those two volumes were published so the list does need to be up-dated.  Additionally, each year on the First Sunday in June, a church service is held in the church (singing, preaching), following which family members have picnic lunches either near the cemetery or at Cabwaylingo State Park. This church service has been held for many, many years and continues to be quite an event as persons travel from various states just to attend this event.

My cousin and I want to attempt to get some type of legislative ruling on the books which would prohibit the coal companies from deep-mining under the cemeteries but, as we both work full-time, our time to devote to this is very limited.  Also, we want to have the Queen's Ridge Cemetery designated as a historic site as there are approximately 250 graves in this cemetery.

My dad is still living at age 90 and he is also a descendent of Absalom and Nancy via his father's lineage.

I've been working on researching the history of the Queen's Ridge Church as, from what I remember my Mom telling me (had been handed down to her), the "church" was started many years before the building was erected - it may have been started by the Methodist, may have been started by a Rev. Spurlock, may have been started by the Silver Creek Baptist Church (still in existence) located in the Crum/Kermit area.  I remember her saying something about services being held in homes, then a building was erected, something happened to it, and then, perhaps in the late 'teens/early 20s, the building was erected at the Queen's Ridge Cemetery.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Della Perry Lilly

Descendent of Absalom and Nancy Murphy Queen;
Henry and Mollie Belcher Queen (s/o Absalom and Nancy);
John A. and Mary Ellen Preston Queen (s/o Henry & Mollie);
Lafayette Franklin and Victoria Queen Copley (d/o John A & Mary Ellen);
Tennessee Copley Perry (d/o "Lafe" and Victoria)"

 

Thank you for providing the information and photos for this cemetery to WVCPA, Della! We look forward to receiving more information on the cemetery, and updates regarding the preservation efforts!

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 Updated: 07 September 2012