John Elam Family/Henry Cemetery, Charlotte County, Virginia
Submitted April 2012 by Kathy Liston
This cemetery is located at our home, Westview, built by John Elam in 1832,
in the Aspen Wall area near Brookneal. John Elam was the son of Edward
and Jane Elam, and he is buried here with his second wife, children, son-in-law,
and sister-in-law. The stones are plain, with just names and dates.
John Elam 1769 - June 11, 1847
Martha J[ane Davis] Elam 1796 - November 29, 1873 [wife]
Ann Eliza Elam November 13, 1828 - September 20, 1858 [daughter]
Susan J[ane] Elam December 22, 1832 - September 14, 1890 [daughter]
John W[esley] Elam August 24, 1841 – March 19, 1916 [son]
Isabella D[avis Elam] Williams September 9, 1830 - June 12, 1901
[daughter]
F[rancis] S. Williams March 4, 1823 - July 13, 1882 [husband of
Isabella]
Ann G. Davis 1793 - November 1886 [sister of Martha]
Also in the cemetery are members of the Henry family, 20th century
descendants of Patrick Henry' youngest son, John Henry. Elizabeth Terrell Henry
was the grand-niece of John Wesley Elam's wife, Elizabeth Nowlin. Elizabeth
Henry's mother, Kathryn Nowlin Terrell, inherited the property after the deaths of
John Wesley and Lizzie Elam, her aunt.
James M[arshall] Henry [jr] 1905 - 1970
Elizabeth Terrell Henry January 7, 1913 - July 27, 1966, Daughter of
Kathryn Nowlin and William Ervin Terrell [wife of James]
Kathryn Ann Henry April 25, 1939 - May 28, 1955, Daughter of Elizabeth
Terrell Henry and James Marshall Henry
In addition to the family cemetery, there is an African-American cemetery that
was in use from ca. 1830 until the 1930s. This began as an Elam slave burial
ground and continued to be used by neighboring black families until the
establishment of cemeteries at Aspen Hill and Spring Hill churches. The graves
are marked only with field stones and coffin sinks. In 2001 we surveyed the
site and identified at least 70 graves. While we don’t know who is buried in each
grave, we do have the names of several people buried there.
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