byrdvisit

Recently we were able to visit the John R. Byrd and Foster Byrd grave sites. My brother and I took our father out for a weekend trip down to Kentucky. We hooked up with a retired gentleman from the Campbell County Historical & Genealogical Society. Jim Churchill had traded messages with him in prior years. His name is Herman "Buck" Seibert. Amongst other things, he volunteers as a cemetery researcher, physically locating the stones and documenting them. I believe that you must have spoken to him at some time. He asked me to convey to you a story about Mag Shane.

But first a little bit about the grave sites. Buck took us to quite a few places. Many of the maintained cemeteries are full of Byrds and Gosneys. For the most part these are all cousins several times removed. The point of the greatest interest was the Littleford Farm Site.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kycampbe/byrdgravesite.htm

John Robert Byrd Grave Sites

It is currently owned by a guy named Jim Walsh. He had indicated to Buck that he wanted to meet us; the family. Unfortunately he was tied up with a repair project somewhere, so we went out on our own, Buck, Dad, my brother, and me.

The old Byrd farm house was on Phillips Creek Rd. Buck grew up in the area and appears to have knowledge of what was where and when. He claims the Byrd farm cabin was located across the street from where the cemetery is. He said that the home burned down in the early 1960's. We were able to park our van about a quarter mile from the cemetery, about 100 yards from the old house. He pointed us to the "ruins". In a narrow strip of forest, with a shallow intermittent stream running through it, rests a pile of rocks. These may have made up the building's foundation and chimney. Tell tale signs of former human habitation surround the rocks in the form of garden variety vines. I stood on that pile of rocks and tried to vision a family, our family, eking out a living in such a beautiful place.

We crossed the road, and strolled into a field of two foot high grass. It was carefully cultivated; probably grown to harvest for feed. The ground is convoluted with small swales and gentle ridges. The fields are each surrounded by narrow tree lines snaking around the terrain, making each field its own setting. We walked through one field, across a watercourse, through a second field and up to a small ridge top. There was a perfect picture if ever one existed; the wind blowing waves across green stalks of grain. The only thing missing were head stones.

Buck had recorded the stones and the inscriptions around 1980. In 2006 he and the owner returned to get an exact GPS location. Unfortunately, it was not to be. They could not find a thing. Then, late last year he returned. This time with the grass mowed the stones revealed their location. He recorded their exact GPS coordinates.

We followed Buck through the fields as he followed his handheld Magellan. He read off the remaining yardage as we trudged through the future hay. Finally, he announced that we had arrived. I saw nothing that resembled a cemetery. Just grassland. Visibility was poor. You could see to the ground maybe three or four feet in either direction, and only if you concentrated. My bother suggested we fan out and walk a grid. Within a couple minutes Buck had found the stones.

The stones are all lying flat, not on the ground but rather an inch or two below the top of the sod and soil. The grass was not so tall in the immediate area. But it had claimed its space, growing for multiple seasons over the edges of the stones. Visible were two small white stones, two larger gray stones, and several unlevel stones that may have been bases. Only the two larger stones appeared to have engravings upon them. The others, if they did, were facing downward. None of them were readily able to be lifted or flipped. I would estimate that less than one half of any individual stone was visible at all, being they were all covered along their periphery with a mat of solid grass roots and years of soil building. Given a few more seasons, these markers would be lost indefinitely.

I got busy trying to read one of the larger markers and Buck was lending assistance. The engravings are over 150 years old. Standing upright they would be difficult to read. I am not sure if lying flat made it easier or worse. I could feel the letters but there was no shadowing contrast to lend in deciphering their message. Weathering and other elements have made it difficult to make out the 19^th century script. Eventually I realized that much of the inscription was actually under the sod. Buck and I both pulled some of the grass, mud, and roots away from the stone. More letters became visible. I looked over at my father and brother. They were doing the same on the other large stone.

Although I could not clearly make out the letters I could count them. Once I had the count I was able to guess at the spelling and as soon as I guessed it correctly I was sure what it said. There in the center of the stone were the words: "John R. Byrd". I announced our discovery. My father, who was carefully removing much of the encroaching vegetation from the other large marker stated, "This one says that too". I stood and studied both stones. Buck and I found that our stone had more writing above the name. After a few moments we realized it said "wife of".

So now we were sure that we had found the graves of both Nancy FOSTER Byrd and John Robert BYRD. These were my father's third great-grand-parents. They were born in Virginia. They had lived here and raised a family, just across the road. They died and were buried beneath our feet.

Dad painstakingly worked on his great-great-great-grandfather's tombstone; pulling away the sod until the edge of the stone was clear. A jagged crack meandered diagonally through its center, interrupting the inscription, making it even more difficult to read. The two white stones appeared much smaller and had no visible writing upon them. Perhaps the lay face down. The other stones may have been bases of sorts. One was flat in the ground but rough not smooth. We cleaned a bit of the soil away from it but nothing further was revealed. Other stones had protuberances and recesses. These may have held the larger stones upright. They, since they did not lie flat in the ground, appeared to have been chipped and damaged.

Questions arose in all of us. This was obviously a working farm field. The cemetery is not being maintained. Almost the opposite was true. Mowing surely was occurring each season, directly over the stones with commercial grade machinery. As the markers lay predominately below the surface of ground, it seemed that no further damage might be done by leaving them in place. But what should be done? This is a cemetery. Documented; historical; all but obliterated. Ideally it should be restored, protected, and maintained.

We left the graves nearly as we found them. Now a little more visible, perhaps we have given them a bit more time before nature covers them over and obscures their existence. My brother, Tim, had carried dad's GPS to the site. He saved the location for a return visit. We walked back to the car and as we drove away we discussed imaginative ways to restore and protect the site. All of these would involve time, money, and agreements. In all reality, my only reasonable expectations are to make contact with the current owner to discuss the preservation and accessibility of the burial ground. I hope to revisit the site early next spring before the new growth. Then a small amount of maintenance and documentation can be conducted leisurely and unencumbered by thick growth. Perhaps a plan can be developed that preserves the site for future family visits and does not overly hamper the present use of the land.

John Robert Byrd Grave Sites

The four of us continued our tour. We briefly stopped at the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church Cemetery, where John Hulen Byrd and members of his family are buried. These grounds are fairly well kept. John H. was the son of John R. He was the brother of Clarissa BYRD Dye, my 3rd great-grandmother, and brother of Foster Byrd, your (Jan Baker) 3rd great-grandfather. This makes John Hulen our 4th great-uncle.

Eventually we made our way to the Foster Byrd Grave site.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kycampbe/fosterbyrdgraves.htm

Buck had originally discovered the site by asking a local lady a simple question. "Are there any other graves nearby?" The lady directed Buck to this location, a site previously undocumented. As it turns out the property belongs to Buck's cousin. Thus he is comfortable believing that no further harm will come to the cemetery now that it is identified and documented. It is currently being leased by a geothermal contractor. The stones have been moved from their original location. They are stacked up with other stones and construction materials along the southern vegetation boundary of the lot. It is not a very pretty site, being rather industrial in appearance. Only upon close inspection of an individual stone did I even sense that there was once a burial here. Much work needs to be done to protect and restore this final resting place.

As a genealogist I have made countless trips to many locals all too frequently just to find nothing. This was, on the other hand, quite the productive day. I thank Buck for giving us his time and knowledge and Jim Churchill for making contact with him initially. Buck had told me who Mag Shane was, but I cannot recall now. I'm thinking she was born a Byrd and Married a Shane. Regardless, it is an interesting collection of anecdotes.

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