Gearheart Cemetery

 

Locality: Roanoke County                  Temporal Period:                  4th quarter 19th c., 20th c.

Realty Map:          79.03-5-56                              Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Garden City                           Landform:                              Ridge top

Grid Locus:            I-2 / I-3                                   Elevation:                              1140 feet

UTM Easting:       596200                                    Aspect:                                  Flat

UTM Northing:    4121000

 

Site Dimensions:   120.5 by 420.5 feet

 

Survey Description: Site consists of a large cemetery which continues to serve the needs of the local community.  At least 192 interments are present including 116 with formal headstones made from marble, cement or rock, 64 with uninscribed fieldstone markers, 3 with wooden crosses, and at least 9 unmarked graves.  Other unmarked graves may be present.  All of the graves are oriented to the east.  A U-shaped gravel road surrounds site.  The site is maintained and covered with mowed grass.  Historic plantings include periwinkle, yucca, cedars, and a mixture of deciduous and evergreen trees.  Site was field inspected, photographed, and headstone inscriptions were transcribed and compared to previous site documentation.  Site size was derived from local realty/tax assessment map; however, pacing of horizontal distribution of graves provided a smaller size of 90 by 390 feet.

 

Surveyed By:        T. Klatka & D. Richardson

Survey Date:         9/97

 

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.

 

Additional Comments: Assigned temporal period based on observed headstone inscriptions; however, the presence of fieldstone markers and unmarked grass may indicate an earlier use of the site.  Death dates on observed headstones range from 1886 to 1997.  Site is marked on the USGS Garden City map sheet and on local realty maps.  Site features use of inscribed fieldstone markers that date to the 1920s and 1930s.

 

The RVHS surveyed this cemetery and documented biographical information from 26 headstones which predated 1920 (1986: 123-124).  The following information supplements the RVHS report with additional biographical information obtained from other headstones in the cemetery that  predated 1950.  During the 1997 survey headstones which postdated 1950 were counted but biographical information was not transcribed from them.  Interested readers should consult the RVHS report for additional information on this cemetery  Bold, italicized font indicate clarifications or corrections of the the transcriptions.

 

Marker Inscriptions:

 

W. E. Gilley                                                           A. F. Gilley                                            Clarence O. Gilley

Mar. 16, 1867                                                         Feb. 14, 1865                                         1893 - 1934

Oct. 26, 1942                                                          May 15, 1942

 

Virginia a. Gilley                                                   H.O. Hartbarger                                    Baby Smoot

Apr. 15, 1870                                                         1871 - 1935                                             1940        1940

Apr. 25, 1947


Gearheart Cemetery (continued)

 

Gearheart                                               Herbert R. Simmons                                             Vera Garnand

John Henry           Alice Wimmer                       Mar. 7, 1894                                                           Wife of

Dec. 10, 1855 Aug. 3, 1852                  May 6, 1940                                                           S.J. Truman

Dec. 30, 1932 Mar. 24, 1929                 Gone but not Forgotten                                      Sept. 22, 1908

(marble stone added to earlier                                                                                                            Apr. 14, 1927

inscribed fieldstone markers)                                                                                                             We will meet again

 

Cara Jane                                                                               Garnand                                                 Marshall F.

Gearheart                                                               John L.                   Martha C.                              Robertson

Apr. 17, 1893                                                         1871-1933               1868-1934                               Oct. 8, 1858

Dec. 1, 1949                                                                                                                                           Oct. 31, 1940

At Rest.

 

Gearheart                                               Elizabeth Ann Robertson                                   In Loving Memory

Elias Morgan        Della Layman                        Sept. 24, 1863                                                        Mordia L. McNutt

1874-1963               1878-1924                               Dec. 13, 1934                                                         June 21, 1877

July 4, 1935

 

Andrew A.                                                            Infant Daughter of                                               Boss S. Adams

(Sunken stone -                                                    Elizabeth Boulding                                               1880        1957

rest of stone                                                          Feb. 25, 1930                                                         (Metal marker)

could not be read)

 

Lewis L. Adams                                                    Elizabeth M. Boulding                                            Archie Boulding  

Born                                                                       Wife of                                                                   Wife of  

June 24, 1925                                                         James N. Blankenship                                         B. S. Adams

Died                                                                        Nov. 20, 1913                                                        1886 - 1945

Jan. 7, 1926                                                            Dec. 15, 1938

His memory is

Blessed

 

Martha Ann                                                          Eldridge Ray Weaver                                          W. Lee Weaver

Daughter of                                                           “Buck”                                                                   Oct. 13, 1874

W.L. & Blanche                                                    Aug. 7, 1923 - July 27, 1944                                Oct. 18, 1942

Weaver                                                                  Killed in Action

April 8, 1922                                                          119th Infantry 30th Div.

July 13, 1922                                                          Normandy, France

 

Issac N. Spradlin                                                  Nancy T. Wimmer                                                Lydia C. Spradlin

Died Aug. 14, 1926                                               Wife of                                                                   Sept. 27, 1890

Aged 65 Years                                                      Issac N. Spradlin                                                  Sept. 5, 1945

May 27, 1859

April 19, 1936

 

Ira F. Spradlin                                                       John E.                   Tempy E.                               Robertson

Oct. 14, 1896                                                          1875-1925               1870-1937                               Infant Baby

May 2, 1934                                                                           BLACKBURN                                       June 1940


Gearheart Cemetery (continued)

 

Robertson                                                             Sidney Lewis                                                        Royal Jeter

George Cecil                                                          Clark                                                                       Clark

July 1, 1928                                                            Sept. 2, 1883                                                          Feb. 12, 1937

July 5, 1928                                                            Oct. 14. 1946                                                          Feb. 12, 1937

 

Freda Shelvatine                                                  Herbert G.                                                              Henry J. Clark

Doss                                                                       Clark                                                                       Jan. 28, 1879

Aug. 25. 1938                                                        Sept. 6, 1908                                                          Mar. 2, 1946

June 22, 1945                                                         Jan. 1, 1933

 

Sidney F. Hendrick                                              James F. Palmer

June 12, 1890                                                         1860 - 1935

April 15, 1945

 

Michael Dase                                                        G. R. Garnand                                                       Curtis

May 23, 1830                                                         Sept. 1, 1855                                                         Son of J.L. & M.C.

July 9, 1897                                                            Sept. 1, 1899                                                          Garnand

Apr. 19, 1903

Feb. 18, 1904


 

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