Chapman Cemetery

Chapman Cemetery

 

Locality: Roanoke County                  Temporal Period:                  2nd, 3rd, 4th quarters 19th c.

Realty Map:          76.12-1-13                              Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Bent Mountain                     Landform:                              Ridge top

Grid Locus:            K-2                                          Elevation:                              1120 feet

UTM Easting:       587270                                    Aspect:                                  Flat

UTM Northing:    4121780

 

Site Dimensions:                  20 by 40 feet

 

Survey Description:  Site consists of a small family cemetery defined by six graves marked with formal headstones and  one grave marked with only the base for a missing headstone.  All of the headstones lie on the ground surface with inscriptions facing up.  Every stone is broken and partially covered with grass and sod.  Cemetery is located in the rear of an undeveloped lot between 4329 and 4337 Cordell Drive.  The front portion of the lot is cultivated with a vegetable garden.  Site is covered with mowed grass and historic plantings include yucca and one cedar tree.  The electric utility company recently removed a large oak tree from the site area.  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.

 

Survey Date:         4/98

 

Field Notes:           _X_Yes   ___No

Photographs         ___Yes  _X_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 #346.

 

Additional Comments:   Assigned temporal period based on range of death dates inscribed on headstones.  These dates range from 1845 through 1877.  An additional grave marked only with the base of a missing headstone may reflect an earlier of later use of the site.  Site is not marked on the USGS Bent Mountain map sheet, but it 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 “John S. Chapman Cemetery” in Document #346 of the Historical Inventory of Roanoke County, Virginia.  The WPA file provided biographical information for three graves.   The WPA file described the cemetery as “ . . . fenced, but not well kept.”

 

The site was also surveyed by the Roanoke Valley Historical Society (1986: 46) and the name of cemetery was shortened to the “Chapman Cemetery.” The RVHS report provided biographical information derived from inscriptions from six headstones.  All of the headstones recorded by the WPA were also recorded during the RVHS survey.  The 1997-1998 survey verified the inscriptions on the six headstones and documented a possible seventh grave marked by the intact base of a missing headstone.


Chapman Cemetery (Continued)

 

Marker Inscriptions:

 

In memory of                                                         In memory of                                         In memory of Mantilledees

John S. Chapman                                                 Charles W. Chapman                           Chapman

Born                                                                       Born                                                       Born Nov. 22, 1851

Oct. 8th, 1801                                                          Dec. 25, 1842                                         Died Mar. 1, 1854

Died                                                                        Died                                                        Aged 2 yrs. 3 mos. 6 days

Nov. 16th, 1854                                                      Apr. 1, 1845

Aged 53 years, 1 mo.                                           Aged 2 years 3 mos. 6 days

8 days

 

J. Milton Chapman                                               Walter C. Chapman                              In memory of

Son of                                                                    Dec. 1, 1853                                           Sarah Camper

N. & Louise                                                           Feb. 21, 1854                                         Daughter of

Born Nov. 5, 1859                                                                                                 C??? & Sarah

Died Feb. 5, 1877                                                                                                                  Camper

                                                                                                                                                Born May 10, 1851

                                                                                                                                                Died Mar. 4, 1854


 

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