Turner-Day Cemetery

Turner-Day Cemetery

 

Locality: Roanoke County                  Temporal Period:                  1st half 19th c. through 20th c.

Realty Map:          95.01-2-20                              Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Bent Mountain                     Landform:                              Knoll

Grid Locus:            E-7                                          Elevation:                              1540 feet

UTM Easting:       581350                                    Aspect:                                  Flat

UTM Northing:    4116310

 

Site Dimensions:  67 by 157 feet

 

Survey Description:  Site consists of a small family cemetery with at least 40 graves.  Observed graves included 12 marked with granite or marble headstones, 25 marked with uninscribed fieldstone markers, and at least three unmarked graves.  It is likely that other graves are present in the cemetery.  All of the observed graves ranged in orientation from 85 to 90 degrees northeast by east.  Site is not enclosed by a fence but is surrounded by a mixed pine and deciduous forest to the west, north, and east.  A hay field borders the south side of the cemetery.  A chain link fence that measured 23.3 by 13.4 by 23.1 by 13.5 feet was located in the western part of the cemetery.  This fence encloses the graves for the Stump and Pendleton families.  The site is covered with mowed grass and historic plantings include boxwoods, yucca, periwinkle ground cover, and a variety of trees.  The trees include dogwood, white pines, hickory, walnuts, and oaks.  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 observed graves.

 

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.

 

Works Progress Administration of Virginia, Historical Inventory, Roanoke County, Virginia,

Document #333.

 

Additional Comments:  Assigned temporal period was based on the 1839 through 1962 range of death dates inscribed on observed headstones.  However, the presence of uninscribed fieldstone markers and unmarked graves may reflect an earlier use of the site.  The cemetery is not marked on the USGS Bent Mountain map sheet or on local realty maps.

 

This cemetery was initially surveyed in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration of Virginia and recorded as the “Gideon Turner Cemetery” in Document #333 of the Historical Inventory of Roanoke County, Virginia.  The WPA file provided biographical information for the 1844 grave of Charles L. Turner and the 1838 grave for an infant of Gideon and Ruth Turner.

 

The RVHS also surveyed the cemetery and documented biographical information derived from inscriptions from nine headstones that predated 1921 (1986:  233-234).  The two headstones documented by the WPA were also recorded by RVHS.  The RVHS renamed this cemetery the Turner-Day Cemetery.

 

Mr. Phillip Day and his son have been actively engaged in clearing dense vegetation from the perimeters of the site.  As a result of this work numerous fieldstone markers have been uncovered and the boundaries of the cemetery have been enlarged.  It is possible that continued work will uncover additional graves and permit a more accurate assessment of site size.


Turner-Day Cemetery (continued)

 

Marker Inscriptions:

 

Ethel Alene Stump                                               Pendleton                                              James E. Day III

Wife of                                                   Charles Burton     Emma Stump                         Son of

Richard A. Nichols                              1890-1945               1889-1949                               James E. II & Katie L. Day

Nov. 27, 1931                                                        At Rest                                                  Oct. 22, 1930 – April 19,1939

June 24, 1951

 

Pattie Ann Lavinder                            Charles Edward Day                                            Claude W.

Wife of                                                   Apr. 30, 1859                                                         Son of

Charles Edward Day                            Apr. 13, 1928                                                         Lewis & Estelle

Aug. 29, 1873 – Dec. 1. 1962                                                                                               Turner

                                                                                                                                                Dec. 27, 1929

                                                                                                                                                Feb. 21, 1930

 

Mary A.                                                 In memory of                                                         Infant child

Wife of                                                   Charles L. Turner                                                 of

L.H. Arthur                                            Died Sept 18                                                          Gideon &

Born                                                       1844                                                                        Ruth D. Turner

Mar. 10, 1833                                         Aged 1 Yr. & 5 M.                                                Died Dec. 8th

Died                                                                                                                                        1839

July 7, 1887.

Aged

54 Yrs. 3 Mo. & 27 Dy.

 

Our Mother                                           John                                                                       Farewell

Mary L.                                                  Son of                                                                    Our Father

Arthur,                                                   Gideon & Ruth D.                                                Gideon Turner

Born                                                       Turner.                                                                   Born

June 28, 1853                                         Born                                                                       Oct. 29, 1809

Died Dec. 18, 1899                                June 18, 1838.                                                        Died

It was an angel                                     Died                                                                        March 27, 1889.

                                                                (marker’s mark: Gaddess, Lynchburg)

 

In memory of                                         In memory of                                                         Susan C.

Ruth D. Turner                                     Samuel F. Turner,                                 Wife of

Born April 20, 1812;                             Born Aug. 21, 1831;                                             Lewis Kirkwood

Died Septr. 15, 1867.                            Died Nov. 15, 1867.                                              Born

Aged                                                      Aged                                                                      July 5, 1842,

55 years, 4 mos. & 25 days 36 years 2 mos. & 15 days                                  Died

(marker’s mark:                                     (marker’s mark:                                                     Dec. 10, 1873.

Gaddess, Lynchburg)                          Gaddess, Lynchburg)

 

Mary A.

Wife of

L.H. Arthur

Born

May 10, 1833

Died

July 7, 1887


 

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