Hays Cemetery

 

Locality: Roanoke County                  Temporal Period:                  2^nd half 19^th c., 20^th c.

Realty Map:          96.01-2-34                              Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Bent Mountain                     Landform:                              Ridge top

Grid Locus:            H-7                                          Elevation:                              1400 feet

UTM Easting:       584280                                    Aspect:                                  Flat

UTM Northing:    4116700

 

Site Dimensions:  75 by 170.35 by 75 by 231.5 feet

 

Survey Description:  Site consists of a  family cemetery with approximately 22 graves.  Observed graves include 10 marked with uninscribed fieldstone markers and 12 with inscribed headstones.  Orientation of the graves ranged  from 95 to 98 degrees east of north.  Historic plantings include oak trees.  Site was field inspected, photographed, and headstone inscriptions were transcribed and compared to previous site documentation.  Site size was derived from realty maps.

 

Survey Date:         4/98

 

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.

 

Additional Comments:   Assigned temporal period was based on death dates inscribed on observed grave markers.  These dates range from 1856 through 1995.  The presence of uninscribed fieldstone markers may reflect an earlier use of the site.  Site is not marked on the USGS Bent Mountain map sheet, but is marked on realty maps and labeled “cem.”  Much of the cemetery is not in use.  Observed graves are clustered in two sections which encompass an area estimated at 30 by 90 feet in size.

 

The RVHS surveyed this cemetery and documented biographical information collected from four headstones that predated 1921 (1986:  138).   The following information was transcribed from graves markers observed during the 1998 survey.

 

Marker inscriptions:

 

Julia A. Hays                                                        Louisa M. C. Hays                               Dosha M.

Born                                                                       Born                                                       Wife of

Nov. 3, 1850                                                          Oct 17, 1853                                           Madison Hays

Died                                                                        Died                                                        Born

Oct. 5, 1861                                                            Oct. 20, 1856                                          Oct. 17, 1810

                                                                                                                                                Died

                                                                                                                                                Nov. 3, 1891

 

Madison Hays                                                      Charles Edward                                    Gertrude Morris

Born                                                                       Garst                                                       Garst Barnes

Feb. 14, 1811                                                         Dec. 8, 1909                                           Dec. 10, 1912

Died                                                                        Feb. 11, 1963                                         Feb. 4, 1995

June 16, 1894

Hays Cemetery (continued)

 

Charles R. Garst                                                    Jeffrey Lee Garst                                  Olvin Wheeler Morris

Va                                                                           Sept. 11, 1964                                        1917    1972

S SGT US Air Force                                             July 17, 1980                                          (metal marker)

April 25  1930    Feb 26  1967                              Son of Charles R. and

                                                                                Doris S. Grant

 

Billie V. Morris                                                      At R___                                                 Arthur Walter Brady

(metal maker)                                                         ______ Morris                                     1914    1992

                                                                                _____ - 1986                                         (metal marker)

                                                                                (partially legible metal marker)

 

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