Campbell-Beckner-Wertz Cemetery

Locality: Roanoke County Temporal Period: 19^th c., 1^st & 2^nd quarters

Realty Map: 77.09-4-52.3 20^th c.

USGS Map: Bent Mountain Cultural Affiliation: Euro-American

Grid Locus: L-2 Landform: Ridge bench

UTM Easting: 588090 Elevation: 1180 feet

UTM Northing: 4121160 Aspect: Flat

Site Dimensions: 45 by 56 feet

Survey Description: Site consists of a cemetery with at least 36 interments. At least 34 interments are enclosed by a wood post and chain link fence. The enclosure measures about 35 by 40 feet and does not have a gate or entrance. One grave marked with an uninscribed fieldstone marker was observed immediately outside the northeast corner of the cemetery, and an unmarked grave was observed six feet beyond the northwest side of the cemetery. Within the fence, 15 graves were marked with inscribed marble or soapstone headstones, eight were marked with uninscribed fieldstone markers, and 11 were unmarked. Other graves may be present inside or outside of the fence. Cemetery apparently meets periodic maintenance. Historic plantings include periwinkle ground cover, daffodils, and peonies. Orientation of graves varied from 104 to 110 degrees southeast of north. Site was field inspected, photographed, and headstone inscriptions were transcribed and compared to previous site documentation. Site size was estimated by pacing the horizontal extent of observed graves and the surrounding fence lines. Local realty maps record a smaller site size of 35 by 45 feet. Graves located outside of the enclosure were not taken into account when this smaller site size was measured.

Survey Date: 5/98

Field Notes: _X_Yes ___ No

Photographs: _X_Yes ___ No

Reference(s): Roanoke Valley Historical Society

1986 Roanoke County Graveyards Through 1920. Privately printed, RVHS, Roanoke.

Works Progress Administration of Virginia, Historical Inventory, Roanoke County, Virginia, Document #258.

Additional Comments: Assigned temporal period was based on death dates observed on inscribed headstones. These dates range from 1808 through 1929. The presence of unmarked graves and graves marked with uninscribed fieldstone markers may reflect an earlier or later use of the cemetery. Cemetery features a number of headstones fashioned from soapstone. Few headstones in Roanoke County were manufactured from soapstone. However, its use was more common in the Floyd County area where soapstone outcrops. Site is not marked on the USGS Bent Mountain map sheet, but is marked on local realty maps and labeled “cemetery.”

This cemetery was initially surveyed in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration of Virginia and recorded as the “Wertz, Campbell and Beckner Graveyard” in Document #258 of the Historical Inventory of Roanoke County, Virginia. The WPA file provided biographical information for five graves, and described the cemetery as “overgrown with about an acre or more of pine trees and other undergrowth. Some of the trees are from six inches to a foot in diameter. There are a hundred or more graves that can be located by stone markers.” Apparently, much of this cemetery was impacted by residential development to the immediate north and excavation for commercial development to the immediate south.

The site was also surveyed by the Roanoke Valley Historical Society (1986: 40-41) and the name of cemetery was modified to the “Campbell-Beckner-Wertz Cemetery.” Biographical information was derived from inscriptions
Campbell-Beckner-Wertz Cemetery (continued)

observed on 18 headstones. All of the headstones recorded by the WPA were also recorded by RVHS; however, one

of these headstones was not observed during the 1998 survey. The following biographical information was derived from headstones observed in the cemetery during the 1998 survey. Headstone inscriptions recorded by the WPA and RVHS surveys, but not observed during the current survey, are presented first.

Headstone inscriptions recorded by the RVHS but not observed during the 1998 survey:

Beckner / Mary S. / Born 15 Jan. 1908 / died 5 Jan. 1911

Benjamin, son of / C. & N. Wertz / Died Aug 6, 1863 / Age 3 yr. 11 mo. / 15 da.

Lucy, dau. of / C. & N. Wertz / Died Feb. 8, 1857 / age 6 mo.

Infant / child / C. & N. / Wertz

Headstone inscriptions observed during the 1998 survey:

Susanah Beckner Samuel O. Beckner Julia C.

Born Born Daughter of

Dec. 23, 1842 May 29, 1842 S.O. & S. Beckner

Died Died Born

Feb. 20, 1929 May 27, 1914. Jan. 24, 1867,

Blessed are the dead Blessed are the dead Died

Which die in the Lord Which die in the Lord Apr. 6, 1903

Peaceful be thy silent slumber

Peaceful in thy grave so low,

Thou no more will join our number

Thou no more our songs shalt know.

In memory of Christian Wertz Nancy,

Catherine John Born wife of

Consort of Noah F. Wertz Nov. 19, 1815. C. Wertz

Who departed this life Died Born

April 7, 1860, April 2, 1880. Dec. 15, 1812,

Aged Died

37 years 3 mo 1 day Jan. 1, 1894.

Aged 81 yrs., 16 das.

Eliza, Joseph D. Cary W.

Wife of Son of Son of

James A. Campbell Sam’l & Cath’e James & Eliza

Born Jamison Campbell,

Sept. 28, 1854 Born Aug. 14, 1870 Born

Died Sept. 4, 1879 March 1, 1879,

Died

Aug. 7, 1879.

Campbell-Beckner-Wertz Cemetery (continued)

In In In

Memory Memory Memory

Of of of

John, Wertz Elizabeth Elizabeth

Dedd. April . 12 Daughter Consort

1862 of of

Aged 94 years C. & N., Wertz John, Wertz

7 months, and Decd., Sept 5 Decd, 1808

20 . days. 1841 Aged ??

(soapstone) Aged 10 mo. (soapstone)

(soapstone)

In In Lydia E.

Memory, of Memory Wife of

Margaret of C. J. Beckner

Daughter, of Ann, Consort Born

J,V, A, Wertz of Nov. 14, 1874

Decd, July. 1818 John, Wertz Died

Aged, 4, weeks decd, aug 8, 1836 Mar. 21, 1916.

(soapstone) Aged 57, years,

3 months, v 21, Da

(soapstone)

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