The Doctor John Hillman Graveyard is on top of a ridge that runs southeast from Indian Ridge, and about four hundred yards northeast of the Hillman Schoolhouse on US 23.

The plot contains about an acre, is well fenced with woven wire and is in good condition. When I was there, alone, at fifteen minutes till ten , Tuesday morning, September 1, 1936, most of the graves had been remounded a short time before and some of them were decorated with late-blooming flowers.

I found many unmarked graves there, and copied the following inscriptions

Dr. John W Hillman
Born 
Oct 20, 1825
Died
10/27/1897
Age 77 yrs & 7 Dys

John Wesley Hillman, from whom the burying ground gets its name was a son of Thomas Hillman. His mother was a Ritchie but I have been unable to learn her first name. [Sarah Ritchie]. John Wesley Hillman was widely known as a pioneer doctor in the The Pound country, and was called Dr John Hillman. He was twice married, and lived out his days at what is still called the Doctor John Hillman Place at the foot of the graveyard hill.

Father
Glen Craft
Feb 16, 1908
Sept 1, 1931

Glen was a son of Joseph Wiley (Jode) and Belle (Short) Craft. His wife was a Boggs.

Betty Jo Craft
Died Feb 12, 1934
Aged 2 yrs 7 mos 27 dys

J W Craft
Born Dec 29, 1877
D. Nov 11, 1913

Joseph Wiley (Jode) Craft was a son of David K and Sarah (Maggard) Craft. He married Belle, daughter of Daniel Short.

D K Craft
Born
Feb 22, 1837
Died
May 10, 1918

David K Craft was a son of Archelaus (Cheed) Craft. [and Nancy Polly].
He married Sarah, daughter of Elder David and Susan (Fields) Maggard, and lived most of his life on The Pound.

Sarah Craft
Born May 10, 1838
Died April 14, 1908

Sarah Craft was the wife of David K Craft, and a daughter of David (Preacher DAve) Maggard of the Cumberland River section of Letcher County, Kentucky.

J E HAll
FEb 15, 1876
July 16, 1899

John E Hall was a son of Mack Hall. He was shot and killed by Jerome Gilliam.

Sylvania
Daughter of
H J & Nervesta Craft
Born Oct 11, 1882
died July 28, 1900

Her father, Henry J (Henry) Craft, was a son of David K and Sarah (Maggard) Craft. Her mother, Nervesta Craft was a daughter of Marion Blair.

Amanda E
wife of J H Blair
Born Feb 1, 1866
Died Aug 16, 1905

She was the wife of James H (Jim) Blair, and a daughter of W H (Harve) Dorton.

Elizabeth, wife of
W H Dorton
Died Nov 13, 1930 age 78 yrs

There are several unmarked graves near this one. On an undertaker's marker at the head of the one I could make out the Meade. The first name looked like Virgil or Virgie. The date of death and age was too faded to read.

Irine Blair
Died Dec 23, 1934
Aged 29 dys

Aundry Violet
Dau, of
E D & Elsie Blair
July 31, 1923
Aug 28, 1929

Fannie Blair
Died Nov 27, 1931
Aged 45 yrs

Fannie was the wife of James H (Jim) Blair, and a daughter of Drew Gilliam.

Charles A Bay
Died Jan 17, 1936
Aged 38 yrs 6 mos 15 dys

This is one of undertaker Fred H King's markers. The inscription is in long hand and faded. The last name might be Boy.

Mabel E, dau of
J W & E V Hillman
Born Jan 13, 1889
Died Nov 22, 1903

At Rest
Cordelia
Born 1895
Died 1924

That is all. Just Cordelia. No family name on this home-made and had-carved stone. Above the name is a very well executed heart. J P (Johnny) Craft of Wise, who is my authority for notes on this burying ground, said that Cordelia was Patton Gilliam's daughter.

W P Gilliam
1857-1900

This is the grave of Patton Gilliam. His wife was Annie Dale. He fell from the second story window of a building in Norton and killed himself.

W H Dorton
Died April 27, 1920
Aged 84 yrs

He was called Harve Dorton. He lived most of his life on Indian Creek.

Laura Jane
Dau of 
David & Leak Maggard
Mar 31, 1900
Jan 12, 1908

There has been a mistake made by the one who carved this inscription. The dead girl's mother is not Keak, but Leah. She is a daughter of Daniel A and Mary Jane (Stallard) Short and is a distant cousin of mine.

Dwight L
Son of
C A & N C Swindall
Nov 29, 1900
Sept 26, 1902

This little boy was burnt to death. His parents, Calvin Alexander (Cal) and Nancy Catherine (Skit) Swindall told me so. Skit Swindall is a daughter of Marcus de Lafayette (Fate) Dotson.

Doyle D Perkins
Virginia
Pvt ICL ORD DEPT
Nov 24, 1929

Johnny Craft says he was a son of Jim Perkins, and that Jims' wife was Drew Gilliam's daughter.

Ralph
Son of
Sam & Martha
Hampton
Dec 23, 1926
Feb 20, 1929

William Andrew (Will) Moore, who lives on Bold Camp Creek, told me that his son, Allen Moore, is buried there in an unmarked grave. Allen enlisted in the army and was discharged because he was under age. He died a few years after his discharge. He was born Nov 13, 1905. He enlisted in the army on Oct 27, 1925. Was discharged on Jan 16, 1926 and died Oct 12, 1929.

Will Moore once lived on Indian Creek, near the Doctor John Hillman Place. He said that one night several years ago a family traveling south over US 23 called at the home of Lucy Ann Mullins and told her that their baby had died in their automobile. Lucy Ann took them in and sent for him. He said he went down to Lucy Ann's and laid out the corpse and set up the rest of the night with it. Then the next day he made it's coffin, preached its funeral, carried it up the hill to the Doctor John Hillman graveyard and buried it, after which the travelers said a sorrowful farewell to the little mound and went on their way to the south.
 
 

submitted by Nancy Clark Brown 

Return to 
Wise Co