Smith-Turner Cemetery

 

Locality: Roanoke County                  Temporal Period:                  4^th quarter 19^th c. – 1^st quarter 20^th c.

Realty Map:          64.01-1-56/57                         Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Glenvar                                  Landform:                              Knoll

Grid Locus:            I-14                                         Elevation:                              1360 feet

UTM Easting:       574280                                    Aspect:                                  Flat

UTM Northing:    4123730

 

Site Dimensions:  40 by 40 feet

 

Survey Description:  Site consists of a small family cemetery with at least three graves.  Previous survey of the site suggests that six or more graves are present in the cemetery.  All of the graves observed during the current survey had cement markers. Historic plantings included periwinkle ground cover, four large yews, and one boxwood.  A chain link fence encloses the cemetery.  Site was field inspected, and grave marker inscriptions were transcribed and compared to previous documentation.  Site size was estimated by pacing the horizontal extent  of the observed graves.

 

Survey Date:         10/98

 

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 1885 through 1925 range of death dates inscribed on observed headstones.  However, information documented by the RVHS suggests the earliest interment may date to 1883. The cemetery is not marked on the USGS Glenvar map sheet or on local realty maps.

 

The RVHS surveyed the cemetery, referred to it as the “Smith Cemetery IV,” and documented biographical information associated with five graves that predated 1921 (1986:  224-225).  It is not certain if the information provided by the RVHS was reported by informants or transcribed from grave markers.  During the 1998 survey only three grave markers were observed and none of the inscriptions on these markers matched the information documented in the RVHS report.   Perhaps the two Turner graves documented during the 1998 survey are associated with two of the three Turner graves documented by the RVHS.

 

Marker Inscriptions:

 

William Turner                                                      Turner                                                    Smith

Died 1885                                                               (cement headstone                              1925

(cement headstone                                              & footstone)                                         (cement slab)

& footstone)

 

Information documented by the RVHS:

Doyle, Infant (no dates)

Tetlow, infant of Daniel, Sr. and Maude Smith Tetlow died between 1912 and 1920

Turner, D.H. died 1884

Turner, Father of D.H., died between 1883 and 1884

Turner, Geneva, daughter of D.H., died soon after 1884

 

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