SPENCER GRAVEYARD (SOUTH SIDE) Wood Co. WV Some Pioneer Graveyards of Wood Co. by John A. House On the 15th of November, 1926, I visited an old time country graveyard, which was established on the S. S. Spencer farm, above Vienna, nearly a hundred years ago. The graveyard is mentioned in the old deeds as covering an acre of ground, and as a public burying ground, but there are only a few monuments, and little sign of more than a half dozen graves. They are neglected, but being in a dooryard, are not overgrown with weeds and brush. A large marble slab reads: "Samuel S. Spencer died July 27th, 1832, aged fifty-two years, seven months." The most interesting inscription is on a later grave: Prudence, wife of S. S. Spencer, was born on Prudence Island, March 6th, 1788. Died at Vienna, August 10th, 1878. "She was the youngest daughter of Captain Joseph Cook, of Parkersburg, Virginia, and was married at that place, July 10th, 1814. Her husband, who died July 27th, 1832, was the eldest son of Dr. Joseph Spencer, of Vienna, Virginia. She was a consistent and lifelong Christian. John C. Spencer, born July 8th, 1825, died November 10th, 1904, aged seventy-nine years, four months. Samuel Selden Spencer, January 13th, 1822 - January 6th, 1892. Lucinda Amelia (his wife) October 17th, 1826 - October 16th, 1895. S. S. Spencer was a man of prominence in the political life of his country. A child, Joseph, son of S. S. Spencer, has an inscription on the same slab. ---------------------------------------------------------- OLD SPENCER GRAVEYARD Is life a noxious weed which whirlwinds sow? A useless flint o'er which the waters flow? Not so ! A life well spent hast not its weight in gold; It is the clearest crystal earth doth hold, A gem beside which suns seem clear and cold. Robert Louis Stevenson. On the interurban carline, at Bryn Mawr carstop, a road runs back long and straight, passing a gigantic wild cherry tree, four or five feet in diameter, which stands on a rise. Half a mile across the plain is Pond Run, still a good sized stream. Straight back about a quarter of a mile, on a parallel road coming to the paved road, at Vitrolite carstop, lies the -- or perhaps I should say, an -- Old Spencer Graveyard. This cemetery is more or less surrounded with houses, these fields being largely cut up into building lots. It itself was when I visited it about 1920, a commons in the southeast corner of a block, and was uncared for and desolate. There are a few graves that can be traced, and probably many more no longer to be found. I noted the inscriptions: L. L. Gates. In memory of Lucy L. Gates, who departed this life on the 13th day of September, 1823, in her fourteenth year. A daughter of Elias and Hannah Gates. In memory of Mrs. Hannah, wife of Elias Gates, who departed this life August the 18th, 1823, in the forty-sixth year of her age. On a broken slab lying on the ground. Elias Gates died June 6th, 1854, aged seventy-eight years, three months (born 1776). He has a fine, well preserved sandstone slab, engraved with square and compass, and practically as good as when set. In Memory of Capt. Elijah Gates, who died April 11th, 1802, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. This is one of the oldest graves I have noted on this side of the Ohio River. Gates lived next above the Cooks, on the Ohio River, where he kept a ferry. It looks as if he may have been in the American Army, and he was probably of the emigrants from New England. He perhaps may have been connected with the Spencers. There are broken stones on each side of this grave. Nearby is a small lot enclosed with iron rails. An old stone reads: Charles Spencer, born twenty-second of January, 1792, died seventh of June, 1802. A broken slab with part of the date gone leads me to believe from lettering left, it may have been the grave of Dr. Joseph Spencer, the founder of the family. There are four footstones in the row, with a soot-blackened poplar tree growing on the foot of one of the graves. A marble shaft (all other markers are sandstone) bears the inscriptions: William Spencer, May, 1786 - February 10th, 1864. Dr. Joseph Spencer, the father. Deborah Spencer, the mother. Joseph Spencer (Joseph and William are sons). Charles S. Spencer (a younger son) Joseph Spencer settled here before the formation of Wood County. He was a wealthy for his time, owning all the wide bottom lands at Vienna. Was a member of the Wood County Court, and a Deacon in the Marietta Baptist Church. He died in 1825. He raised a large family. Another small stone is marked: Hannah Dye, May 27th, 1863, aged forty-nine. Then there are two other rows of old graves. I revisited the spot November 15th, 1926. It is still unkept and weed grown, a commons for the pastuerage of cows. An old deed reserves once acre for a cemetery, but the visible graves do not occupy more than one fifth of that space.