A Kentucky Cemetery Walk

On Friday I spent the afternoon with an uncle walking a cemetery in Boyd County, Kentucky. We walked about 85 % of a large cemetery before finally finding the group of graves we were looking for. It was well worth the trek, although I advise not to wear sandals when walking through unmowed grass on the hills of Kentucky. (I know of two people bitten by copperheads recently.) But the trip to the cemetery was an impromptu one, and sandals were what I was wearing. Fortunately the weather was 25° cooler than the 105° temperature the last cemetery walk I took.

John Chadwick, a revolutionary war ancestor, and his wife were buried in a cemetery that was called, at various times, Chadwick Cemetery, Ewing Cemetery, or a combination of the two. The cemetery was located, it seems, on the land John bought from his father-in-law George Shortridge along the Sandy River. Skip forward 150 years or so and Ashland Oil bought the property and built a refinery.  In 1981, an arrangement was made between Chadwick and Ewing family members and Ashland Oil to move the graves in the cemetery to Catlettsburg Cemetery. 

In the new location the graves are lined up in rows with small markers for each one. There is a large marker with Ewing engraved at the top that explains that these people were moved from the original cemetery. Pictures taken at the time they were moved showed some of the original tombstones, with names and dates; I don’t know what happened to them.

The names and dates on the stones are:

John Chadwick   Died 1850

Kerenhappuek [sic] Chadwick Died 1831

Hiram Chadwick   Died 1848 

Leah R Chadwick

Charles Burks

Nancy Burks

Elizabeth Smith Parley   Died 1902

Clarissa Burks   Died 1854

Marah M Burks   Died 1894

Edward P Burk

George Shortridge   Died 1805

Margaret Shortridge   Died 1850       

Gallup Ewing    Died 1819

Virginia B Ewing   Died 1918

Robert Ewing   Died 1912

J C Burks   Died 1861

John J Ewing   Died 1884

Pemelia V Ewing   Died 1888

John A Ewing               Died 1912

Col Thomas A Ewing               Died 1928

James Ewing   Died 1844

Columbus A Ewing   1844-1845

Sarah M Ewing   1898

William S Ewing   Died Dec 22, 1871

Sarah M Ewing   Died June 11, 1849 [probably Sarah Malinda Chadwick, wife of Joseph Ewing]
Joseph Ewing   Died May 6, 1854

There are at least twenty-two stones marked UNKNOWN

That is a total of forty-eight graves. Whether all of these came from the old cemetery I don’t know. They are lined up in three rows, all with the same type of stone. There are also other Ewing’s buried nearby.

John’s stone has an SAR emblem, and a metal marker that says Revolutionary Soldier. On the back it says:

Ensign John Chadwick

Capt Bruce’s Co

Battle of Guilford Courthouse

Died April 4 1850

It was a lovely afternoon in Kentucky, and the results were amazing.