KINCHELOE GRAVEYARD Woods Co. WV Some Pioneer Graveyards of Wood Co. by John A. House Were man but dust, well might we weep If what's immortal, the grave could keep. Only the tenantless form is earth's share That in his image built is not there. (R. H.) The old Kincheloe graveyard lies on the hill, on the old Daniel Kincheloe farm. It is on a gentle slope, facing westward, some distance south of the Staunton Pike, and across the road nearly opposite the old Kincheloe house (now the County Infirmary). The road leads from the river, at Nicollette, to the Staunton Pike. The posts were standing in 1918 where a fence had once been, but the wires were gone. The graveyard was about five rods square, and seems to have been a private burying ground. The marble or sandstone headstones were standing or lying around, among the trees of a pine grove, the trees growing thick over the surface. One day it was a grown up jungle, but the trees have been cut for poles and thinned out, until it is now a fine grove of vigorous pine saplings, the wind whispering through their branches in the white autumn sunshine. On one stump, I counted twelve large rings, with seventeen more of finer growth, making it about thirty years old. Another registered sixteen large and twenty-two small, or thirty-eight years in all. Most of the slabs are lying on the ground, or, if still standing, leaning at all kinds of angles, and the graves are overgrown with grasses, weeds and burrs. An old worm fence crossed near, and at the east side of the plot was a wild cherry tree that would measure nine feet in girth. It stood in the old fence row. One of the largest pines stood on the foot of a grave, the head- stone of which was gone, but the footstone bore the letters J. W. K. Nearby, is another crumbled footstone with letters A. E. K. In a plot enclosed with iron railing are three graves - Samuel Butcher, died May 3rd, 1847, in the ninety-second year of his age. (born about 1756) By his grave, on the right, lies Hannah Butcher, died in 1844, in her eighty-third year. She was a daughter of Thomas Drake. On his left the headstone reads Deborah, wife of Hiram Pribble, died April 20th, 1853, aged forty-nine years, two months. She was a daughter of Samuel Butcher, and married Pribble in 1828. Butcher was a soldier in the Revolution. Another grave in the lot is Elizabeth, wife of P. Butcher, May 4th, 1850, aged sixty years. On a broken slab is the inscription, Payton Butcher, died January 25th, 1853, aged sixty-six years, six months. In the lower row of graves, next the western fence, is a wide tall marble headstone, leaning at an angle of fifty degrees, and bearing the inscription - "In Memory of Daniel Kincheloe, who departed this life August 4th, 1834, aged eighty-four years". So he was born in 1750. There are three other graves in this row, their broken slabs leaning against a pine tree. On one, probably that of Daniel Kincheloe's wife, the inscription is crumbled and gone. Another is Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Vandiver, died March 30th, 1824, aged thirty years. (Born 1794) The third, J. W., the son of Daniel Kincheloe, died May 11th, 1822. (I fail to find such name in the family record.) Other graves in the same row are those of - Hannah M., daughter of Daniel Kincheloe, Jr., and Virginia M., died May 24th, 1845, at age of six years. Nearby, a slab marked W. W. K. is leaning against a pine tree, and a grave is marked William, the son of Daniel and Harriet Kincheloe, March, 1837. Another grave is that of Susan Leonard, daughter of David Vandiver, died June 19th, 18-8, aged twenty-five, and Archibald Vandiver, died 1827, a child. --------------------------------------------------------- JESSE KINCHELOE CEMETERY The Old Jesse Kincheloe cemetery is on an "Island" of bottom land, which is surrounded on one side by the creek, and on the other three by a low swale, apparently once the channel of the stream. It is about half way between the creek and road, at foot of hill, near the lower line of the old Kincheloe farm. It has been a private burying ground, and seems to be filled, though many graves have no markers. The lot is about four rods square, and is fenced with plank, and grown up with trees, brush and weeds, which were cut off about 1923, and when I visited the premises, October, 1924, the graveyard was a tangle of weeks, burrs and brush four or five feet high, and sassafras and wild cherry trees five to fifteen feet high. There were five headstones with inscriptions. Some graves had plain flagstone markers, others nothing. I noted: Jesse Kincheloe, died July 3rd, 1856, aged fifty-four years, three months. (March 22nd, 1772) Elizabeth, wife of H. M. Prince, died March 29th, 1874, aged sixty years, eight months. Albert H. Johnson, June 18th, 1870, aged twenty-nine years, two months. Martha Virginia (wife) date not copied, aged twenty-six years, one month. A son of L. B. and G. V. Prince, August 3rd, 1870, aged one years, six months. These were all the headstones, excepting several old flagstone markers without names or dates. The burying ground was on the Jesse Kincheloe farm, contigious to the lower line. Apparently no church house close the spot. The graveyard was superceded by the Mount Moriah Cemetery. The place has since (1935) lost its old plank fence, and all, or most, of markers and been cleaned up as a part of the field.