Locality:
Realty Map: 76.10-4-25 1st
& 2nd quarters 20th c.
USGS Map:
Grid Locus: I-2 Landform: Ridge bench
UTM Easting: 585760 Elevation: 1240 feet
UTM Northing: 4121380 Aspect: Flat
Site Dimensions: 35 by 40 feet
Survey Description:
Site consists of a small cemetery with at least 12 graves enclosed by a
modern fence of galvanized poles linked by a single strand of metal chain. Most of the graves were marked with incised
headstones, but two graves documented by previous site surveys are no longer
marked. All of the observed graves were
oriented to the southeast. Site was
covered with mowed grass and one boxwood remains in the cemetery. Site is located with a residential
development and is within ten feet of
Survey Date: 4/98
Field Notes: _x_Yes ___No
Photographs: _x_
Yes ___No
Reference(s):
1986
Works Progress Administration of
Document #341.
Additional Comments:
Assigned temporal period was based on death dates inscribed on observed
headstones and documentation of previous site inspections. Death dates ranged from 1826 through
1932. Site is not marked on the USGS
Bent Mountain map sheet, but is marked on local real estate maps.
This cemetery was initially surveyed in 1936 by the Works
Progress Administration of Virginia and recorded as the Abraham Statler
Cemetery in Document #341 of the Historical Inventory of Roanoke County,
Virginia. The WPA file provided
biographical information for five graves in the cemetery. Approximately 50 years later, the site was
surveyed by the RVHS and recorded as the Sedon Cemetery (1986: 218).
The RVHS provided biographical information derived from inscriptions on
nine headstones that predated 1921.
These included the five headstones documented by the WPA survey.
Some interpretive problems were apparent when this site was
field inspected in 1998. The graves of
Charles Seacat and Abraham Statler, documented by both the WPA and RVHS, were
not found. A small fragment of a
headstone with the partial inscription “Nov 2 / Died / Jan. 25” was observed
immediately in front of the Julia Sedon headstone. This appears to be all that remains of the
headstone for Abraham Statler. Also, as
noted in the RVHS report, two adjacent graves have markers for Catherine
Sedon. One marker is marble and the
other (with epitaph) is a hollow, cast metal marker of the mid –20th
century. This metal marker sits at the
head of a grave that has a footstone with the initials “G.A.S.” This grave may actually be the grave of
Catherine’s husband G. A. Sedon. If this
is true, then the headstone for G.A. Sedon is located on the wrong grave. This suggests that one headstone had been
removed in the past, a second headstone was added for Catherine Sedon, and the
headstone for G.A. Sedon was moved to another grave.
Statler-Seacat-Sedon
Cemetery (continued)
The following list includes biographical information
collected during the 1998 survey. Bold
italics indicate information documented by the WPA and RVHS surveys, but not
observed during the 1998 survey.
Marker Inscriptions:
Catherine Catherine G.
A. Sedon
Sedon Wife
of Died
Born G.A.
Sedon
March 24, 1819 Died
Feb. 25, 1900 Aged
Died Feb. 25, 1900 Aged
80 yrs., 11 mo. 73
yrs, 1 mo. 19 das.
(footstone: C.S.) She
sleeps beneath her native earth, (dislodged
headstone
and
near the spot that gave her birth. lying
next to intact
Her
youthful feet trod flowers that bloom base
of headstone. No
In
beauty o’er her early tomb. footstone
present.)
(footstone
G.A.S.)
David Lewis Nannie
M. In
memory of
Sedon Sedon Julia
Ann Sedon
Died Born Born
Nov. 28, 1930 Oct.
19, 1853 Died
Age 75 years. Died
(footstone: D.L.S.) Sept.
3, 1932 (maker’s
mark:
(footstone: N.M.S.) Gaddess,
Lynchburg.
it has fallen.)
Born Born
July 26, 1859 Jan.
20, 1801 Died
___ 1826
Died Died
(three
fragments of a toppled
(no date) une
7, 1849 &
fractured headstone were
(Footstone: L.M.S.) (no
footstone) observed;
top piece with
name was not
observed)
Charles Seacat Abraham
Statler
May 1772 Nov.
25,
1792
June 7, 1837