HOLLIDAY GRAVEYARD
Wood Co. WV

Some Pioneer Graveyards of Wood Co. by John A. House

Quietly on the river bank they lie,
And care not what passes by.
Yet had they not led the way
Others would not have come to stay,
To build a street, a bridge, a steeple,
A place with home for many people.
(R. H.)

What is known as the Holliday Cemetery, formerly "Graveyard"
in pioneer days, lies near the Kanawha River just above the
mouth of Silver Run.  It was a little less than a quarter of a mile
from Parkersburgh, as first incorporated in 1810.  It lies on a high
bank a few rods back from the river and opposite the end of the
ridge Prospect, to the settlers "Polecat" Hill.

Harris Street, if continued, would pass through it west of the
middle and Sixth Street, East of Gale avenue, is its northern
boundary.

The graveyard is irregular in form and contains about an acre
and three quarters, much of which is, however, unfit for burial
purposes, being the steep banks of a deep hollow, a branch of
Silver Run, which passes through it.  Why the cemetery should
have been called Holliday Graveyard is not just apparent,
probably, it grew into use from the fact that Holliday was long
the only resident land owner near the spot and was a man of
local prominence, but he did not come to the neighborhood for
some years after the place was used as a burying ground and
never owned any part of the grounds it occupies.

William Holliday was a Virginian, who settled here between the
date of his marriage, December 1808 and the Sixteenth of February,
1811.  He was from Fairfax County.  His wife, who was quite
wealthy, was from Prince William County, and her maiden name
was Ann Morton.

These grounds were part of the four hundred acres entered by
Robert Thornton.  Thornton's claim was transferred to, and
perfected by Alexander Parker, (there is a tradition, probably
without foundation, that Thornton traded his claim to Parker for
a "rifle gun" and a jug of whiskey).

At Parkers death, the title, or claim, for there was a long and
stubborn controversy in the courts, descended to his daughter,
Mary and her husband, William Robinson, of Allegheney
County, Pennsylvania.

In 1833, three or four of the Robinsons transferred the residue
of these four hundred acres to a company consisting of John J.
Jackson Sr., James M. Stephenson, John R. Murdock, John F.
Snodgrass and William S. Gardner (later Beverly Smith).

The place had been used for burial purposes several years before
the Robinsons acquired full title to the land.

For a long time, I had little success in tracing a deed to this
land, setting it apart as a burial place.  Later, about November
1925, I stumbled upon the old time deed while searching the records
for something else.

The deed is dated August, 1853 and conveys land bounded by
Washington Street, lands of James Cook, formerly William Berry,
lands of Henry Logan and lands of Samuel Warren.  The deed
was made by the five purchasers of the Robinson estate to:
Henry Logan, Jr., Harden Neal, S. Warren, Kenner I. Boreman,
H. H. Phelps and Milan Dils, trustees.

It provided that new trustees were to be appointed as vacancies
might occur, by a majority vote of the board also that "whenever
the said land shall cease to be used as a graveyard, or when it
may be deemed necessary to remove the dead buried there the
said piece of land shall revert to the parties of the first part or their
heirs or assigns."

The deed was not a general warranty deed.  It was signed by
Beverly Smith, J. M. Stephenson Jr., J. J. Jackson, John F.
Snodgrass and John M. Murdock.  (See deed book 17, page 249.)

The cemetery is completely divided by a steep hollow, possibly
in the early days, access was from the river side to each part
separately.

A writer speaks of the Holliday Graveyard as the earliest
pioneer cemetery in this vicinity, but I think he is mistaken in
his conclusion.

There had been many graves in all of them before those
bearing markers with dates were marked and many of the old
tombstones, if they ever had inscriptions are illegible.

The first graveyard of the colony was on the south bank of
the Little Kanawha River, just below the block house at Neal's
Station.

A reliable witness told me that in making excavations for the
pier of the East Street Bridge, the workmen unearthed human
bones and a cedar post.

Possibly the Neal Graveyard was not used long after the Indian
War closed and the country had become more settled.

The "Tavenner Graveyard" on Hugh Phelps Place may well
have been the next oldest on the lower side of the river, but
there are older inscriptions than it contains.

The Holliday Graveyard may have been the first on the upper
side of the Kanawha, although the Dils Graveyard near
Worthington Creek dates back, at least to the burial of Philip
Dils, the founder of the family, the spring of 1801.

The Cook Graveyard, now known as the Riverview Cemetery,
lies about a mile up the Ohio River from the early town and on
the border of the flats, nearly three quarters of a mile from the
stream.  It was probably opened soon after the coming of Joseph
Cook and family from Washington County Ohio in April 1804.

The earliest dates I have found among the crumbling stones are:
At Dils Graveyard;  James Foley, July 8, 1808;
At Cooks Graveyard;  John James, 1809.
At Holliday's:  Rebecca, wife of Isaac Heaton, November, 1811.
At Tavenner's:  Alexander Tavenner, February 10, 1816.

There is a tombstone at the old cemetery on the Spencer farm
above the city, that bears the date of 1802.

There were, however, many graves at these burying grounds
before those mentioned were made.  Doubtless there are graves
in most of them that were made before 1800.

Jim Smith once told me that while working with a group of men,
grading or laying a sewer, they found bones in Juliana Street,
somewhere below the Post Office (and above Third Street).
These were probably Indian bones, since many Indian relics
were found in this section during excavations for buildings.

The Holliday Cemetery lies on the south side of Sixth Street,
on which it has, by the map in the late Atlas of Wood County,
1886, a frontage of three hundred and ten feet.

There are six other lines given in Berry's deed, as first, South
twelve and a half, W. ten poles and ten links.  Second, South
seventy-nine and a half, W. Fifteen poles, twenty-one links,
"to a flat rock on the east side of a drain."  (Silver Run)

The last call extended across the Silver Run bottom beyond the
cemetery corner, which was on a high bank.  This was a straight
line, but has been infringed upon by the railroad and is now
curved with the top of a steep bank by the track.  At least one
grave is over the run and being washed away.

Three other short lines skirt the margin of the flat, cutting off
the bank and the bottom land along Silver Run, and another
joins Sixth Street at the corner of Gale Avenue.

All the land, except the steep slopes of a hollow dividing the
grounds into two unequal parts, is ideal for a graveyard, and is
thickly studded with magnificent trees, most of the primeval
forest.

There are eleven large elm trees, and the stub of another which
has died, as also several elms and other trees, not more than
two feet in diameter.  Some of those on the upper point may
have been planted, as probably was a large yellow willow, of
some four feet in diameter, but is fast decaying, the top of all
three of its forks being broken out, some twenty to thirty feet
from the ground.

The largest elm stands over the grave of James H. Neal and
family.

It is five or six feet through at stump height, and the branches
have a spread of probably one hundred and twenty feet.

There are no doubt graves dating back to the first years of
the last century.

The cemetery appears to have been in common use until thirty
or forty years ago.

The later graves are mostly of those whose relatives were
buried there earlier.

Many have been taken up and removed to other cemeteries in
recent years, and the grounds have been neglected.

When I first knew the spot ten years ago, it was in a most
deplorable condition, but was cleaned up a few years ago, and
an iron fence put along the front.

It is mowed off in the spring, before Decoration Day, but by
midsummer, is over grown with weeds, grass, blue myrtle, and
graveyard honeysuckle.

There is small attention paid to keeping the graves dressed up
or planted with flowers.

The Holliday graveyard was thoroughly cleaned up during the
summer or fall or 1934 by the City Administration and Relief
Work.  A stone wall built along two sides, steps put in and graves
dressed, the grounds to some extent graded (and presumably
seeded to grass), much filling was done in the hollow and --
strange to say -- only one tree appears to have been removed,
and it was badly decayed at the ground.

There were standing in February, 1935, thirty-five trees, of which
thirty were elms.

There is no fence along the railroad bank, and the place is in
common use as a near cut from the river and railroad, as is
attested by the numerous paths crossing and recrossing through
the weeds and through, by, or over, the graves.

I noted names of:
Rebecca, wife of Isaac Heaton.  Died November, 1811, aged
thirty-eight years.
Charles R. Brown, March 9th, 1815, a child of two years.
Jane A., consort of William Derby.  Died November 13th, 1813,
aged twenty-eight years.
In the Holliday plot, which is enclosed in iron railings, and has
what has once been a costly and imposing monument, a marble
shaft eight to ten feet high, are inscriptions for -
William Holliday, September 27th, 1823, age forty-four years.  It
is difficult to realize he was so young a man at his death.  (He
has been born in 1779.)
Ann, relict of William Holliday, December 27th, 1834, aged
fifty-two years.  After the death of her husband, she was married
to Robert Polland (May 30th, 1830), but was buried as a relict of
William Holliday.  (Later information says it was a daughter who
married Pollard.)
He came from Fairfax County, Virginia, the county lying across
the Potomac River from Washington.
He lived on Outlot Fifteen and a part of number Eighteen, and
built, owned and operated the -- first probably -- brickyard at
"the point".
By them are buried two of their children -
Daniel Archibald, September 4th, 188-, at the age of two, and
Morton E. Holliday, died April 10th, 1862, aged forty-nine years,
three months.  Hence, I make it, born January 1st, 1811.
There is a face of the monument, which has probably been put
up by Morton Holliday's widow, after his death, she herself
either remarrying or going elsewhere before she died.
Probably the most prominent man buried in this graveyard was -
James H. Neal, born December 28th, 1784, died March 24th, 1850,
aged sixty-six years.
By him lies -
Ann I. Neal, his third wife, died August 25th, 1843, aged forty-
five years.
Mary Ann Neal (born Wells), his second wife, died December
21st, 1827, aged thirty-two.  She married Neal January 21st, 1823.
She was a daughter of Robert Wells, a pioneer settler of the
upper end of Wood County, below Waverly.
Neal was the youngest son of Captain Neal, and a child at the
time of the settlement.
He was appointed a Justice of the Peace, was made Clerk of the
County Court in 1806, and served until 1831.
He built the yellow brick house, still standing, on Ann Street,
in 1821.
John Neal, an older brother of J. H., was buried here.  He was
born May 10th, 1776, and died October 13th, 1823, hence only
forty-seven at death.
His wife was -- as given on tombstone --
Eve Elizabeth Hook, born October 29th, 1779, died January 1st,
1852, aged seventy-two.  The correct name was Ephlis Hook,
and is so given in marriage license and signed to deeds.  She
was probably of the New England Hooks, who lived at Marietta.
John Neal was the fifth sheriff of Wood County, serving from
1807 until 1809.  He was a Delegate to the General Assembly from
Wood County.
He owned a farm on Neal's Run, probably given him by his father
-- when Wood County was organized.  He sold this land, which
lay at the mouth of the run, to Hugh Phelps, in 1814.
He also owned property in Newport, on Burr Street, which he sold
to John Stewart, the tanner, in October, 1803.
In 1812, he paid taxes on three lots in Parkersburg, one of which
Outlot number Seven, he sold to his brother, James H. about
1815.  He was in the mercantile business in town later, owning one
half of Outlot number Fifty, perhaps including the old (so called)
Bell Tavern stand.
He is described as "a man of medium stature and great physical
energy and activity and of athletic tactics and pursuits".
His death in October, 1823, was in an epidemic.  A writer says the
summer was known as the "sickly season".  (Is the date identical
with the "sickly season" of the Marietta colony?)
Neal seems to have lost in business.  It is claimed his failure came
through friends and business agents he trusted.
John Neal raised a large family.  His sons were among the foremost
business men of Parkersburg, and many of his descendants are here
yet.
He and wife were first buried at Hollidays, but years later removed
to Mount Olivet.
Henry Logan died May 26th, 1845 in his sixtieth year (born 1785).
Sarah Logan died April 15th, 1842, in her fifty-fifth year (born
1787).
Logan came from Fairfax County to Parkersburg, in October, 1816.
(One account says 1817, but the first date is given by a descendant,
in a family sketch).  He located on Market Street, near Fourth, and
had a tannery on Rifle Run, back of the Blennerhasset Hotel.
He was a shoemaker by trade, and later a merchant on Court Square,
and was a -- perhaps the -- leading member of the Methodist Church
in Parkersburg.
He married Sarah Skinner, and they raised eleven children, five of
whom were born before they crossed the mountains.
Perhaps the Logans followed Holliday to the new colony, as
Holliday may have followed Henderson.
The Logan graves are under an elm tree, by the side of Sixth Street,
and just east of where Harris would cross, the steep hollow runs
diagonally in the rear.
The plot has been fenced by an iron chain supported by stone
pillars, but the chains are gone.
Logan grew to be wealthy, and dealt in real estate to some extent.
His son, Henry, Jr., was known as Boss Logan, was in merchandise
and real estate.  He was a philanthropist, a friend of the colored
people, and said to be a conductor on the "Underground Railroad".
He married Lavina Holliday, and is buried at the Cook cemetery.
Another monument marks the last resting place of -
John Taylor, born at F.... Hill, January 23rd, 1779, died October 18th,
1856 (seventy-seven years old).  (Part of the birthplace I could not
make out.)
By his side is Martha J. Taylor, his child.
If the wife is buried here, she has no tombstone.  He was not
married in Wood County, so far as I can trace, and I think was
not an ancestor of either Reuben B. or Miss Anna Taylor.  My
impression is that he was from Virginia.  John Taylor was
prominent in local political matters, in later years, at least, a Whig,
being a participant in the Harrison Campaigns of 1836 - 1840.
He was Assessor of Wood County in most of the years from
1814 through 1841 (from a part of that years records the name is
gone and I have based my statement on the handwriting for
those years.)
A sandstone bearing the name Adam -----, the remainder crumbled
away, proves on reference to copy made six or seven years ago,
to be -
Adam Deem, December 15th, 1835.
(If age was given, it was not copied.  I have nothing to show
whether this is the grave of the head of the Deem family who settled
at the mouth of Goose Creek, probably before the organization of
Wood County, or if it be a descendant of the same name.)
There was an Adam Deem, Junior.
John L. Bartlett, died August 24th, 1833, aged twenty-six years.
By his side lies the remains of -
Lydia, wife of Benjamin Butcher, died November 21st, 1875 (aged
eighty-four years, three months).  She was his sister.
Moses Baynes.  Slab broken and defaced bears a lodge emblem.
Died in 1840, aged forty-five.
Joseph Burke, December 30th, 1831, aged thirty-three.
His widow, Nancy, daughter of William Dils, Sr., to whom he was
married in 1819, was again married, to Samuel Stone.
Abbott Carder, 1847, aged twenty years, six months.
John G., son of J. W. Coffman, 1831 - 1850.
Sarah, a daughter of H. H. Dils, who was a son of William, brother
of Hugh P., one time Sheriff of Wood County, was born in 1826
and died in 1838.
William Dils, born December 25th, 1819, died August 17th, 1864,
and his wife Margaret, daughter of Henry and Sarah Logan, died
February 7th, 1862, aged thirty-seven years eleven months, are
buried here also.
Probably he was a grandson of William Dils, Sr.
Margaret, wife of T. M. Butcher, May 7th, 1849, aged twenty-two
years and nine months, daughter of T. and M. Franklin.
T. M. Butcher, September 1st, 1850, aged thirty-two years and
six months.  They were buried side by side.
John Maddox, February 22nd, 1850, in his twenty-fifth year.
Anna Emma Maddox, child, September 14th, 1850.
Nancy, wife of T. J. Tavenner, 1853, aged twenty-seven years,
eight months.
The above all together in a row.
Lydia A. Wolfe died 1843, aged twenty-five.  She was a daughter
of an E. E. Smith, living in New York.  She married Daniel N., a son
of Reece Woolf, the eccentric Methodist preacher.
Daniel Woolf was born on the Little Kanawha, above the Station,
in 1806, married in 1834, taught school in the little brick meeting
house on Avery Street, at the end of the point, near where Devlin's
Transfer establishment now is.
W. H. Wolfe, who married a daughter of Tillinghast A. Cook, was
his son.
Rev. Lemuel Maston, January 22nd, 1884, aged thirty-three years
and nine months.
By his side, Fieldon Julions, January 4th, 1815 - March 13th, 1891.
Under same elm tree with Major Morrison -
Rhoda, wife of John Bloomer, February 22nd, 1867, in her twenty-
second year.
A red granite block, a monument of recent years, is in the best
state of preservation of any in the country.  It bears inscriptions
for -
Hiram Perry Farrow - 1824 - 1900.
Sarah Newbanks Farrow - 1822 - 1861.
Virginia Foster Farrow - 1837 - 1870.
And some of their children.
It would seem this Hiram Perry Farrow might be identical with a
H. P. Farrow who married Sarah Newbanks, in 1848.
Rezin Phelps, died July, 1850.  Slab broken, is near Sixth Street.
Jane A. Berry, Consort of William Berry.  (The rest is crumbled)
On another crumbling monument, years of age, which has been
a fine stone when placed there, I can read only -
Eleanor -------nay.  The rest is shelled off and gone.
Mary, wife of John Foster (dates gone).
Ann A., daughter of J. and B. Stewart, June 20th, 1818.
Hamilton Morrison, June 6th, 1803 - December 14th, 1871.
He married Nancy, daughter of Richard Lee.  His mother was a
daughter of Jeptha Locke, also William and David Morrison his
children.  His father, Hamilton Morrison, came from Ireland, and
was living on Big Run when Wood County was organized.
A wide headstone with name gone was decorated with a
Confederate flag.  A grave by the side reads -
Zilpha, daughter of Thomas and Mary Marr, born April 30th,
184-, died September 29th, 184-, one figure or letter in each case
being missing.
A broken down slab bears the name Regen Phelps, died 1851
(balance gone).  *Rez penciled in under Reg.
By the Sixth Street side, in northwest corner, a modest stone
"erected by the Wood County Bar" bears the inscription -
In memory of an obliging officer, William Henry Hatcher, born
in Christian County, Kentucky, July 10th, 1828, died November
8th, 1899.  He was Clerk of the County Court from 1858 to 1863,
and Recorder from 1873 to 1876.
Susan M., wife of E. R. Lowther, died January 19th, 1881, aged
eighty-three.  The grave was near the Riley lot.
Rebecca, wife of Isaac Jackson - 1814 - 1832.  There is no record
of marriage in this county.  Perhaps he was one of the Jacksons
below Tygart's Creek.
Near the top of the east bank of the dividing hollow, and well
out on the point toward the mouth of Silver Run, is a lone grave
marked -
Absline Connell, died June 27th, 1841, in his forty-fourth year.
Malinda J., wife of J. P. Kiger, 1884, aged twenty-three.
Andrew, a son of Robert and S. Simmons, died in 1845.  (I take
it this Robert is the colored barber whose daughter, Pocahontas
Simmons, became a teacher in the city schools.
Maria W.
John W. died 1850.  (Simmons presumably, both children died in
1850.  All these together on Middle point.
In 1872, Mary, wife of John Harris.  Perhaps this was the John
Harris who laid out the village adjoining the grave yard.
In 1877, Virginia, wife of S. Warthen, aged thirty-six, and Mary,
wife of Thomas Warthen, aged seventy-three.
There is a marble shaft on the upper point, over next the south-
east corner of the grounds, with cut in lettering, which has
become so rotten the letters have crumbled until the inscription
is illegible throughout.  I at first took it to be the work of some
vandal's chisel, but it is the inferiority of the stone which is to
be blamed.  The place is not especially shaded.
Among the very many graves in the Holliday cemetery bearing
later dates, I noted one over which proudly floated the flag of
our country.
The markers show them to be -
W. K. Conrad, Co. B., 11th W. Va. Inf.
Robert Elson, Co. D., 4th W. Va. Inf.
H. F. Jackson, Co. G., 6th W. Va.
Samuel Hughes, Co. E., 6th W. Va.
John Haddens, Co. K., 3rd W. Va. Inf.
William Grandon, Co. C., 1st W. Va. Cav.
C. W. Marple, Co. K., 15th W. Va. Inf.
Samuel Pool, Co. D., 33rd M. O. V. I.
William Roberts, 15th W. Va. Inf.
Polser Ruble, Co. A., 15th ----
G. W. Tumpover, Co. H., 3rd W. Va. Cav.
T. F. Dorsey, Co. F., U. S. C. T.
Conrad died in 1863, during the war.
I saw the names William Armstrong and Henry Clark, the stone
marked with names and letters C. S. A., with a Confederate flag.
A crumbled stone by the grave of Zelpha, daughter of Thomas
Marr.  Thomas Marr, aged sixty-two, was buried at the old 
Baptist Church, at Bethel, on the head of Rowell's Run.  Probably
this was his daughter, and the crumbled stone and flag for a son.