Sears Cemetery

 

Locality: Roanoke County                  Temporal Period:                  1^st quarter 20^th c.

Realty Map:          84.00-1-27?                            Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Bent Mountain                     Landform:                              Ridge Bench

Grid Locus:            C-4                                          Elevation:                              2440 feet

UTM Easting:       579010                                    Aspect:                                  Southeast

UTM Northing:    4119660

 

Site Dimensions:  16 by 22 feet

 

Survey Description:  Site consists of a small family cemetery with four graves enclosed by an iron fence.

The observed graves included two graves marked with large slabs of granite and limestone, one grave marked with a marble headstone, and one grave with uninscribed fieldstone marker.  Orientation of the observed graves varied from 96 through 102 degrees southeast.  No historic plantings were observed.  Site was field inspected, photographed, and grave marker inscriptions were transcribed and compared to previous documentation.  Site size was estimated by pacing the horizontal extent of the surrounding fence lines.

 

Survey Date:         8/98

 

Field Notes:           _x_Yes   ___No

Photographs:        _x_Yes   ___No

 

References:           Roanoke Valley Historical Society

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

 

Additional Comments:  Assigned temporal period was based on the 1902 through 1925 range of death dates inscribed on observed headstones.  However, one grave with uninscribed fieldstone markers may reflect an earlier or later use of the site.  The cemetery is not marked on the USGS Bent Mountain map sheet or on local realty maps.  Due to the rural nature of this cemetery its located was difficult to plot on maps.  It appears to be on the west side of parcel 27 in block 1 of map 84.00.  The RVHS surveyed this cemetery and documented biographical information derived from inscriptions on two headstones that predated 1921 (1986:  218).

 

Marker Inscriptions:

 

Sears                                                                      Hester Sears                                          Luke Sears

Mary Sears                                                            Born Dec. 18, 1939                               Born Aug. 20, 1831.

Died                                                                        Died Sept. 15, 1925                               Died Sept. 30, 1917

July 5, 1902                                                                                                                            Dearest Father thou hast left us

Aged 90 yrs.                                                                                                                         Here thy loss is deeply felt

Asleep in Jesus! Blessed sleep,                                                                                        But tis God who has bereft us.

From which none ever wake to weep.                                                                               He can all our sorrow heal.

 

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