Walton Cemetery

 

Locality: Roanoke County                  Temporal Period:                  1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd quarters 19^th c.

Realty Map:          55.04-1-71                              Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Salem                                      Landform:                              Ridge Bench

Grid Locus:            C-12                                        Elevation:                              1200 feet

UTM Easting:       579850                                    Aspect:                                  Northwest

UTM Northing:    4125810

 

Site Dimensions:  50 by 50 feet

 

Survey Description:  Site consists of a small family cemetery with at least 22 graves.  Observed graves included 17 with inscribed marble markers, one with an uninscribed fieldstone marker at the foot of the grave (headstone not observed), and four unmarked graves identifiable as ground surface depressions.  Two uninscribed rocks on the site may represent fieldstone markers dislodged from associated graves.  All of the identified graves were oriented approximately 55 degrees east of north.  Cemetery is covered with mowed grass and is located in a small grove of walnut trees.  Historic plantings were not 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 observed graves.

 

Survey Date:         12/98

 

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 #85.

 

Additional Comments:  Assigned temporal period was based on the 1824 through 1856 range of death dates inscribed on observed headstones.  However, the presence of fragmented headstones with illegible dates, the presence of possible fieldstone markers, and the presence of unmarked graves may reflect an earlier or later use of the site.  The cemetery is marked on the USGS Salem map sheet, but is not marked on local realty maps.  It is located at 2920 Green Hill Drive, Salem.  The new owners of the property cleared overgrown vegetation from the site.  Fortunately, no one has attempted to reset any of the fallen stones.  Subsurface testing will be necessary to accurately replace fallen stones.  Some of the fallen stones are partially covered with grass.

 

This cemetery was initially surveyed in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration of Virginia and recorded as the “Walton Cemetery” in Document #85 of the Historical Inventory of Roanoke County, Virginia.  The WPA file provided biographical information for the graves of Mary L. Walton, John B. Walton, William Walton, and Nancy Walton.   The WPA file described the cemetery as “not well kept and several stones are down.”

 

The RVHS also surveyed the cemetery and documented biographical information derived from inscriptions on 11 headstones (1986:  235-236).  The cemetery was described as “unfenced, neglected, and overgrown.”  All of the headstones recorded by the WPA and the RVHS were also observed during the 1998 survey.

Walton Cemetery (continued)

 

Marker Inscriptions:

                                                               

In memory of                                                         In memory of                                         Virginia

Willie H. Neville.                                                  Mary W. Neville                                   Lewis Pitzer

Born                                                                       Departed this                                        Born Jan’y 14th

Oct’r 5^th 1819                                                         life April 6^th                                            1850.  Died Mar

Died.                                                                       1846. Aged 8 mo.                                  29^th 1853.

Jan’y 20^th 1856                                                      & 9 days.

(maker’s mark:

Gaddess, Lynchburg)

 

Frances W. Walton                                             In memory of                                         In memory of

Departed this life.                                                 Mary L. Walton                                    Robert Craig

March 10, 1839.                                                    Wife of                                                   He was born in the

Aged 21 years                                                      Wm. M. Cook                                       County of Montgomery

(footstone: FWW)                                               Died Feb. 22, 1850                                in the Year 1792 and

                                                                                Aged 28 yrs                                          died at Greenhill 1852.

                                                                                (toppled, fractured marker,

                                                                                marker’s mark – Fagan, Salem)

 

M  O  C                                                                  Sacred                                                    William Walton

(Inscribed marble headstone                              To the memory of                 Departed this life.

has fallen, no other inscrip-                                Mrs. Nancy L. Walton                        Jan’y 29^th 1845, 

tion, fieldstone at foot of                                    Departed this life                                  Aged 96 yr.

grave)                                                                     Sept’r 20 1856                                       (footstone: WW)

                                                                In the 60^th year of her life

(footstone: NW, toppled

                                                                and fractured headstone)

 

Mary L. Walton                                                    In memory of                                         Mary A. Lewis

Departed this life                                                  Wm. Henry                                            Wife of

Aug 21^st, 1824 Aged                                            Shanks                                                  Henry A.

66 yrs.                                                                    Born Nov. 22                                         Edmundson

(footstone: MLW)                                               1838  died                                              Died June

Oct 11^th 1840                                          1848 Aged 28 yrs.

                                                                                                                                                (stone has fallen)

 

In memory of                                                         John B. Walton                                    _emory of

Eugene                                                                   Departed this life                                  ALO

McDaniel Pitzer                                                    March 27^th 1836                                    (headstone carved in relief,

Born Aug. 11, 1851                                              Aged 78 yrs.                                         Only four small fragments

Died Sep. 28t, 1851                                                                                                               were found.)

Not lost,                                                                 Melinda Craig Rice

But gone before                                                   Consort of                                             In memory of

(footstone: EP)                                                     Rev. James M. Rice                              Robert Craig Shanks

Born July 5^th 1827                 Born January

                                                                                Died August 28^th 1853                         24^th 1847 (?)

                                                                                ___ are the dead                                  Died January

                                                                                Whom die in                                         16^th 1853

                                                                                The Lord.              

 

 

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