BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, VA - CEMETERIES – Hocker Cemetery ----¤¤¤---- Source: Library of Virginia Digital Collection LVA Titled Files: Survey Report, The Hocker graveyard: 1937 Oct. 7 Research made by Elizabeth McCraw Cemetery Location: Go south from Dillwyn, Virginia, on Route #15 for 1.8 miles, thence north on Route #20 for 3.5 miles, thence west on Route #649 for 2.1 miles, thence north through corn field 200 years to the graveyard. Buckingham County DATE: 1828. Date of the estate. OWNERS: George Hocker. Prior to 1828 William P. Hocker. 1828 Graveyard still reserved by Hocker heirs to the present date. DESCRIPTION: This graveyard is on a hill above the road in a grove of trees. The place is neglected and the ground is a mass of honeysuckle and periwinkle and other vines. There are signs that a rock wall once enclosed the yard but this has fallen, and only a few rock can be seen among the undergrowth. There are a number of graves that are marked only with rocks. Several tombstones have fallen and are so broken to pieces that the inscriptions could not be read. Only one stone is in fair condition, that to a Hocker kinsman. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This graveyard is on the site of a very old settlement, and while it is known that the original Hockers to this community are buried here there are no markers to their graves with an inscription or date. What is now Slate River Mills on Route #649 was in the early 1800 just a river ford. One day a man and his wife with their clothes tied in a bundle came, from where nobody knows, and settled on the river bank. The oldest people now living here know very little as to how this couple made a start in business. Any way the man, George Hocker by name, soon built a grain mill by the river, which in time grew to be a quite large mill prior to the War Between the States. It was known as “Hocker’s Mill”. This mill was burned about the time of the War Between the States, and was never rebuilt or run under the old name. The present mill is an entirely different enterprize of recent years. The Hocker homestead just a few hundred yards from the graveyard may have been built by the first old man, Hocker, but the supposition is it was built by a son. The house has never been finished and is in a dilapidated state, occupied by a negro family. Alexander Provest whose grave is marked with an upright slab was a brother of Mrs. William P. Hocker. While on a visit here he was bitten by a tick, and died and was buried here in the Hocker family graveyard. Following is the tombstone inscription: Sacred to the Memory of Alexander Provest A Native of Philadelphia Departed this life October 2, 1828 SOURCES OF INFORMATION: Informants: Mr. Eldridge Fitzgerald, Dillwyn, Virginia, a neighbor. Mrs. Harry Griffin, Dillwyn, Virginia, a neighbor. Mr. John Agee, Alcoma, Virginia Tombstone Inscriptions Visit by worker. ___________________________________________________________________ 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. ___________________________________________________________________