• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

19th-Century Remains Relocated Despite Family Objections: Development Planned for Old Family Cemetery

Posted on: Thursday, 18 May 2006, 15:06 CDT

By Brandy Brubaker, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

May 18--The former occupants of the abandoned Low Family Farm Cemetery have been laid to rest -- and with any luck, so has any controversy about the way they were moved.

In February, the remains of six 19th-century residents, linked to the founder of Morgantown, were moved from the overgrown cemetery, near DuPont Road, to make room for a new development. They were re-buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, at the intersection of South High and Dorsey streets in Morgantown, said Frank Matthews of Dering's Funeral Home.

Matthews was hired to disinter and relocate the remains after Monongalia County Circuit Judge Robert Stone ruled it was OK for them to be moved. The move made way for Flagship Ridge, a development of 142 townhouses to be built on the 23-acre site.

The small, family cemetery sat on a 50-square-foot area on top of a large overgrown hill.

The six sets of remains moved to Oak Grove Cemetery are believed to have been those of John and Josephine Meeks, Jeannette Gay Parker and A.E. Parker, and William Low and Catherine Tibbs Low, the granddaughter of Zackquill Morgan, founder of Morgantown, by descendant Nancy Miller's research. The Meeks were Miller's great-grandparents. The Lows were her great-great-grandparents.

Three tombstones were engraved for the Meeks, Jeannette Gay Parker and William Low. Miller determined who the other two sets of remains likely belonged to through genealogy and burial records. Miller opposed the move

Miller, who hotly opposed the disinterment of her ancestors, said Wednesday she was not notified that the remains had been reburied at Oak Grove. Miller said she was notified of the date when the families were disinterred in February but couldn't attend due to a bout with pneumonia.

She said Matthews had said he would store the remains at his funeral home until the family was ready for a burial service. Matthews, however, said he notified Miller in February that the remains would be reburied shortly after their disinterment -- as soon as the cemetery managers were ready for burial.

Miller said she also was confused about the number of bodies found. According to family reports, she believed some babies or young children's bodies were buried at the cemetery along with the older relatives.

"I was just a kid, but I remember something my grandmother said about some babies or children," Miller said.

Matthews said the site was dug by hand and he and gravediggers did a second search for any additional remains. They found none, he said.

Miller said her family will plan a memorial service at Oak Grove to honor their ancestors. They also will have a stone engraved to commemorate the deceased's historical significance and their connection to the founding of Morgantown.

"That's a pioneer family from Morgantown," Miller said.

The stones for Jeannette Gay Parker and William Low were so badly deteriorated it is hard to make out their entire inscriptions. Low died in 1888. Parker died in 1918. The stone for the Meeks, who died in the 1910s, had been replaced with a more modern stone sometime since their original burial.

Miller said she only learned of the whereabouts of her ancestors when developers began looking for descendants in October after coming upon the hidden graves during site clearing. By state law, before a grave can be moved, the property owners must petition Circuit Court for permission and make every effort to locate descendants for comment.

Miller said she and her family would have cleaned up the dilapidated old cemetery and paid to have it fenced in -- anything to allow her ancestors to rest in peace.

"I'm upset," Miller said. "I was upset from the beginning. It never should have been done."

Miller said the disinterment and removal of the bodies was not necessary for the progress of the development, as they only took up a small piece of ground.

Flagship Ridge developer Kris Warner said, however, that the new burial location will be much more suitable for the deceased than the overgrown cemetery.

Julie Miller Snider, Nancy Miller's daughter, said, out of respect for the dead, her ancestors should've stayed put.

"It makes me sick to my stomach," Snider said.

Suzanne Nickolich, Miller's cousin and fellow descendant of Catherine Tibbs Low, said Miller and Snider fought for their ancestors.

"They tried so hard to keep them where they were, but it wasn't to be," Nickolich said.

Bruce Lemley, a descendant of Zackquill Morgan, agreed.

"The old people that were buried there aren't here to defend their graves," Lemley said. "(Miller and Snider) should be commended for standing up in court for their ancestors."

Miller said she was sorry it wasn't enough.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.)

More News in this Category