Wills-Walton Cemetery

Wills-Walton Cemetery

 

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

Realty Map:          76.12-2-34                              Cultural Affiliation:              Euro-American

USGS Map:           Bent Mountain                     Landform:                              Ridge top

Grid Locus:            K-2                                          Elevation:                              1120 feet

UTM Easting:       587290                                    Aspect:                                  Flat

UTM Northing:    4121690

 

Site Dimensions:  33 by 56.1 by 55.87 by 58.88 feet

 

Survey Description:  Site consists of a small family cemetery with about 12 graves.  Five graves were marked with marble headstones, six were marked with uninscribed fieldstone markers, and one surface depression appears to represent an unmarked grave. Other graves may be present.  Due to previous damage to the cemetery it is difficult to ascertain the exact number of graves in the cemetery.   This cemetery is covered with mowed grass and historic plantings include a large oak tree, four cherry trees,  one yucca, periwinkle and English ivy.  Site was field inspected, photographed, and grave marker inscriptions were transcribed and compared to previous documentation.  The south and east borders of the cemetery are marked by a wood “stockade” fence, the west border is lined with a chainlink fence and the north side is open. Site size was derived from local realty maps.

 

Survey Date:         6/99

 

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 1877 through 1911 range of death dates inscribed on documented headstones.  However, the presence of uninscribed fieldstone markers and one unmarked grave may reflect an earlier or later use of the site.  The cemetery is not marked on the USGS Bent Mountain map sheet but it is marked on local realty maps.  It is located in the rear lot of 4335 Fontaine Drive. The cemetery was abandoned and overgrown then used as a recreation area by neighborhood children.   Following damage to the cemetery its use as a recreation area was discontinued.  Neighboring resident, William Duff, maintains the cemetery.  He has conducted extensive documentary research with manuscript census schedules, as well as birth, marriage, and death records.  He has also received information from Oakey’s Funeral Service, responsible for the last burial service in the cemetery.  Oakey’s records refer to this cemetery as the “Trout Cemetery.”

 

The RVHS (1986: 24) initially surveyed the cemetery and documented it as the “Wills-Walton Cemetery.”  Headstone inscriptions were used to record biographical information for five interments in the cemetery. 

The RVHS documented inscriptions from a marble die-on-base monument that marked the graves for Argie and H.L.A. Trout.  The heads of these graves are still marked with uninscribed fieldstones that flank a marble base without a headstone.  It is uncertain if the associated headstone fell and was covered by grass or if it was removed from the cemetery.  Six uninscribed fieldstone markers in the northern part of the cemetery were interpreted as marking two graves with headstones and footstones and two graves with only headstones.  However, this interpretation may be incorrect.  The six uninscribed fieldstones may mark six individual graves.

 


Wills-Walton Cemetery (continued)

 

Marker Inscriptions:

 

James E. Wills                                                       Eliza                                                        Argie Trout

Born Jan. 22. 1822.                                               Daughter of                                           Born Oct. 7, 1855

Died Nov. 27. 1888                                               H.L. & Eliza Walton                             Died July 31, 1885

Mary F. Wills                                                        Sept 28, 1876                                         H.L.A. Trout

Born Feb. 26. 1825                                                Dec. 21, 1877.                                        Born Aug. 12, 1877

Died Jan. 7. 1911                                                                                                                   Died June 10, 1878

Blessed Hope.                                                                                                                      (Headstone recorded by

(manufacturer’s mark:                                                                                                          RVHS.  Headstone not

By Conelly)  One grave                                                                                                       observed during 1999

marked with small marble                                                                                                    survey but base is present.)

stones at head and foot while

other grave marked with

fieldstones at head and foot.

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