ALLEGHANY COUNTY, VA - CEMETERIES – Hoke Cemetery ----¤¤¤---- Source: Library of Virginia Digital Collection LVA Titled Files: Survey Report, Hoke cemetery: 1937 Aug. 20 Research made by Mary S. Venable Cemetery Location: 14 miles northwest of Covington, Virginia From Covington, take Route #60 to intersection with Route #662 at Callaghan; thence 4 miles on Route #681; thence 6 miles to old Sproule Tavern; thence cross the road and go northwest on the old White Sulpher Turnpike. Alleghany County OWNERS: Josiah Hoke Lewis Watts O.W. Sizemore Hardin Sizemore DESCRIPTION: While Hoke Cemetery is a public burial ground, the majority of those buried there-in are of the Hoke family or their relatives. It is not enclosed and is in bad condition, and briars and small bushes abound. There are no engraved stones but some have names crudely marked on native stones. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Josiah Hoke and his wife are buried in the Hoke Cemetery. In an interview with Mrs. Daniel Hoke, aged about 75 (in 1937) at the old Sproule Tavern site, the following information was obtained: “Josiah bought here a long time ago. He was the father of my husband, Daniel Hoke (Daniel II). He got a lot of land around here, and there is a cemetery just across the road on the top of that little knoll. It belongs to Hardin Sizemore now, but it was at one time the Hoke land. “Everybody that dies around here uses it, but there are other family graveyards, this is not the only one. There are headstones but they are not out with the names, tho some have the names scratched on them. Dan is cutting out a stone now for one of the Kincaids. “Sam Cox lived around here long ago. I do not know his first name, but one of the grandchildren is Ruth Hilton, who lives on the Cove Road. She was Matthew Cox’s daughter, turn off at the Ike Bostick place to go to her home. Charlie Cox lives up the follow from the Samuel Mayberry Filling Station. “Susan Byers, Dave (N) Byers’ wife, was a Hoke, and Catherine Hoke married Nice Bess. They lived in Richwood. One Hoke woman married an Ayers, and John Lockhart’s wife was a Hoke. “John Lewis’ sister was the mother of my husband. The John Lewis home was on the way to Ruthie Hilton’s. John Lewis’ mother was Haley Lovely, they had one child, Bogey. If that was not his real name, I never heard any other. When he got up in years he went to Union and lived with his daughter. He married Martha Howard. Henry and Lee Lewis were the sons of John Lewis. One of the Howards married Lee Robinson, one married Masters, and one married a Counts. “There are a lot of people buried in that cemetery across the road, nobody knows how many. It is OLD. Some few lived around here and asked to be buried there because it was close, but most of them are Hokes or related to the Hokes. So many children, more children used to die young than do now. (Turning to her grandson who lived about a half-mile away, Did you come down here ALONE? “Yes’m” I don’t see what your mother means by letting you go that road by your self when she knows there’s been bear tracks for the past week. (To the Field Worker) You know if a hungry bear got after a child, it could not get away. Field Worker: “Do you really mean that bears are still around here?” Mrs. Hoke: “Yes, nearly every year pigs or something are carried off by bears. Some bears will not fight. The men are not afraid of them but if it is a bear with cubs, she will fight when met on the road.” Note: Mrs. Hoke’s philosophy of life, was cheerfully doing one’s best without doubt in an All-Wise-Director. The evidence of years of hard toil had not doomed her kindliness to neighbors nor her smile to strangers. She took the Field Worker to the cemetery, and to an old neighbor’s who was 87 years of age. The following names and inscriptions may be seen in the cemetery: Owen Sizemore “an old man at the time of his death” Susan Byers “who was a Hoke and lived in Rich Wood” Wife of Daniel Hoke I (Daniel II now living - 1937) “who was a sister of John Lewis. Her mother was Haley Lovely” The Lust children, name and date of deaths unknown Mary Elizabeth Gillispie daughter of Mary Kincaid, date unknown E. Floyd Kincaid died 1937, age 57 years Mary Kincaid died 1937, age 57 years Ella Sizemore died 1916 Raymond Howard Sizemore John Owen Sizemore Lula Catherine Sizemore dau. of Floyd Sizemore Two infants of Nelson Sizemore Matthew Cox, a pioneer, “lived one mile up the road” Elijah Tanner a suicide he wrote a note stating that: “The troubles of this world I can’t stand. Goodbye to all my friends.” SOURCES OF INFORMATION: Informants: Mrs. Daniel Hoke, age about 75 years Mrs. Huffman Mrs. Sizemore all residents in the neighborhood ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joan Renfrow NOTICE: I have no relationship or further information in regards to this family. ___________________________________________________________________