BRISCOE RUN GRAVEYARD (Lower) Wood Co. WV Some Pioneer Graveyards of Wood Co. by John A. House The Briscoe Run Graveyard, which I visited in January, 1925, lies up from the Parkersburg - Marietta road, on a sharp point near Charley Way's house, at an elbow turn of Briscoe's Run. There seems to have once been a Baptist Church down on the road some distance above. I noted several inscriptions, none very old. Joseph Way, 1826 - 1907. Elizabeth (wife) 1878, aged thirty-nine years, four months. (A second wife) Mary Ann, wife, 1873, aged forty-eight years, one month. Sardis Cole, probably of the Marietta family, died in 1871, aged seventy-six. Mary (his wife) 1858, aged sixty years. Arius Nye Cole, born September, 1828, died Feburary 1885. His wife was Zidana Keller, a daughter of Elias and Rachel Kellar. She was born in 1832, died in 1914. Jesse K. Cole died 1892, aged thirty-six. (1856) He was a son of A. N. Cole Jacob Uhl died December 26th, 1855, aged ninety-two years, one day. Susannah, his wife, died 1852, aged seventy-six. David Uhl, 1865 - 1890. Isaac Uhl, 1827 - 1898. John V. Uhl, 1182, aged seventy-three. Sarah Uhl, wife, 1882, aged fifty-three. (She was a Casey.) ------------------------------------------------------------------ BRISCOE RUN GRAVEYARD (Upper) On the evening of Labor Day, September 5, 1934, I "discovered" what appeared like a very old graveyard lying on a flat spot on the top of a ridge where the road past the Briscoe Run Church comes up on to the divide between that stream and the headwaters of Pond Run. The lot is sixteen or more rods long, and about eight rods wide at the northern end. There were several large cedar trees scattered over the grounds, which are so strangely level as to suggest the idea of having been graded. The whole surface was a tangle of weed, brush and briers about knee high, all woven and tied together with catberry vines and matted with patches of a wide leaf grass. While rushbushes and yucca escaped from the old graves ran wild. Among the many marked graves, I noted names of: Joanna King, 1858 - 1911. Lemuel Anderson, 1840 - 1933. Catherine Anderson, 1838 -1912. John Anderson, March 29th, 1792 - April 2, 1881. (He would be 89 years old.) Christena Moger Six, born in Germany in 1764, died in Wood County, 1844. (She would be 80 years of age.) Margaret A. Way, 1896 - 1897. Under one of the big cedar trees over near the east side of the cemetery sleeps: William T. Way, died August 4, 1846. (Born July 4, 1789.) Aged 57 years. Harriet, wife of William Way, March 16, 1876, at the age of 85. William and Priscilla Dare, she a child of sixteen, died near the same time in 1852. Atkinson Ingram, October 1, 1811 - December 5, 1853. There was a burial lot secured by iron palings from the intrusion of outside trespassers, but alas, this same safeguard was but an auxiliary to the perpetual efforts of nature to restore the primitive, and a shield to the agencies she had set in motion for that purpose. The names on the modest marble monuments were only accessible by parting the weeds and briers which grew to the top of the fence, and there was a vigorous wild cherry tree grown higher than my head since the graveyard was last cleaned. Inside the railing were the graves of: George A. Seitz, died 1889, aged 88. Catharine Seitz (wife), 1862, aged 59. J. G. Seitz, 1882. Owing to the sun glare and the difficulty in reading, much was omitted as to dates. Frequently I was compelled to feel the spelling with my fingers, and sometimes even that failed. There may be errors. I have a map of section made in the 1880's, in which many of these names appear as neighboring farmers. This was a public cemetery, and probably connected with the church which stands at the forks of Briscoe's Run, about a half mile distant. ---------------------------------------------------------------- This file was submitted for use in the WVGenWeb project. It may not be sold or used in a commercial project.