A land owner must possess a court order to lawfully proceed in any disturbance of a cemetery in the Commonwealth. If this unconscionable act is occurring as we speak, there is no time for writing. I encourage every person on the Tazewell and Russell List to pick up your phones and start punching numbers. If you are local, please take a drive into town this afternoon and personally speak with those in county administration. I phoned the Historical Society and emailed some officers. The HS is not open again until Wednesday. Their website is down. I just spoke with Bill Archer from The Bluefield Daily Telegraph and he is looking into the matter. Time is of the essence, Debra 276.979.8181 State Senator Phillip P. Puckett 276.988.5966 H. Caudill, Sheriff of Tazewell County 276.988.7541 James E. Blevins, Tazewell County Clerk 276.988.1266 Deanis Simmons , Tazewell County Attorney 276.988.1240 Dennis Lee, Attorney for the Commonwealth of VA, Tazewell County Newspapers 276.963.1081 - Richlands News Press 276.988.4770 - Clinch Valley News
Debra, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in VA the landowner has the right to remove ANY and ALL, trace of a cemetery, on private land, as long as he don't dig up the graves. This law needs to be changed, and quickly. This type of destruction has been done again and again, allover SW VA. It happened in one of my family lines, so I know how it feels. As a member of the DAR, I am furious it is a grave of a Patriot of the Revolution. But until some laws are changed, I am afraid we will see more of this. Peggy C Fuller Keen President Buchanan County Historical Society Organizing Regent, Sandy Basin Chapter, NSDAR ----- Original Message ----- From: "Debra Rookard" <d_rookard@adelphia.net> To: <VATAZEWE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 1:14 PM Subject: [VA-TAZEWELL] What you can do right now - Whitt Cemetery Destruction >A land owner must possess a court order to lawfully proceed in any > disturbance of a cemetery in the Commonwealth. If this unconscionable act > is > occurring as we speak, there is no time for writing. > > I encourage every person on the Tazewell and Russell List to pick up your > phones and start punching numbers. If you are local, please take a drive > into town this afternoon and personally speak with those in county > administration. > > I phoned the Historical Society and emailed some officers. The HS is not > open again until Wednesday. Their website is down. I just spoke with Bill > Archer from The Bluefield Daily Telegraph and he is looking into the > matter. > > Time is of the essence, > Debra > > > 276.979.8181 State Senator Phillip P. Puckett > > 276.988.5966 H. Caudill, Sheriff of Tazewell County > > 276.988.7541 James E. Blevins, Tazewell County Clerk > > 276.988.1266 Deanis Simmons , Tazewell County Attorney > > 276.988.1240 Dennis Lee, Attorney for the Commonwealth of VA, Tazewell > County > > > Newspapers > 276.963.1081 - Richlands News Press > 276.988.4770 - Clinch Valley News > > > > ==== VATAZEWE Mailing List ==== > TAZEWELL COUNTY LIST PAGES: > Let our list administrator know them! >
Everyone, Tracie Crawford furnished a listing of those buried in the Whitt Cemetery in Tazewell Cty., VA. Among those buried there are an American Revolution Soldier & a Confederate Soldier. It seems the owner, Mr. Finney, is in the process of tearing down the old Whitt (Witt) house & plans on removing the fence & grave markers from the cemetery -- who knows what he plans on doing with the graves themselves. He is also NOT accepting visitors to the cemetery. American Revolution Soldier: Whitt, Hezekiah 1761-1849 Confederate Soldier: Lowe, James W. Co. E 8 Va. Inf. 1828-1897 Directions to the PRIVATELY OWNED CEMETERY: Located just off Baptist Valley Road on Route 699 called The Green Mountain Road. Or coming off Route 460 at Pounding Mill, take Route 639 to Route 699 and cross the hill. Cemetery will be on the right, just before you get to Baptist Valley Road. Being a member of the UDC in MD & born in Bluefield, I felt it wouldn't hurt to contact the closest UDC Chapters & SCV Camps around the Cemetery since there is a Confederate soldier's grave involved. They could be of great help. Janice Busic, I bcc: you for the VA UDC -- could you contact the closest Chapter(s)? What about a DAR contact? Polly Wharton, I bcc: you for the WV UDC -- would you please contact someone in the Bluefield Chapter for help? I don't know anyone. Richard Lockhart, Adj. of the Flat Top Copperheads Camp in Princeton, WV, I bcc: you for the WV SCV -- could you also contact Bob McGraw or Tracy French in the Brown-Harman Nighthawks Camp in Tazewell, VA for help (their website emails are not working)? I'm Scott Morris' sister & we are related to the Hypes. We also need help from the DAR & SAR in that area to protect the grave of the Amer. Revol. soldier. Is there anyone on any of the mailing lists from a SAR Chapter that's close by? Peggy Keen -- I don't know if your DAR Chapter covers that area. Maybe you could contact the Chapter who is closest. All of these organizations have great wisdom, strength & knowledge when it comes to protecting the graves of their organization's soldiers. Everyone needs to contact the people listed below furnished by Debra Rookard to voice your concern over the possible destruction of the Whitt Cemetery. Make sure you also continue contacting the local media. Since Russell & Tazewell mailing lists are involved, I've taken the liberty of adding the "New River" mailing list to my reply in case someone there has a vested interest in helping save the Whitt Cemetery in Tazewell Cty., VA. P.S. As far as I know, I have no relatives buried in this cemetery -- I only wanted to see that these 4 heritage organizations were promptly notified regarding these soldiers. Linda (Kelly) Atwell Monrovia, MD ----- Original Message ----- From: "Debra Rookard" <d_rookard@adelphia.net> To: <VARUSSEL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 2:14 PM Subject: [VARUSSEL] What you can do right now - Whitt Cemetery Destruction A land owner must possess a court order to lawfully proceed in any disturbance of a cemetery in the Commonwealth. If this unconscionable act is occurring as we speak, there is no time for writing. > I encourage every person on the Tazewell and Russell List to pick up your phones and start punching numbers. If you are local, please take a drive into town this afternoon and personally speak with those in county administration. > I phoned the Historical Society and emailed some officers. The HS is not open again until Wednesday. Their website is down. I just spoke with Bill Archer from The Bluefield Daily Telegraph and he is looking into the matter. > Time is of the essence, Debra > 276.979.8181 State Senator Phillip P. Puckett > 276.988.5966 H. Caudill, Sheriff of Tazewell County > 276.988.7541 James E. Blevins, Tazewell County Clerk > 276.988.1266 Deanis Simmons , Tazewell County Attorney > 276.988.1240 Dennis Lee, Attorney for the Commonwealth of VA, Tazewell County > Newspapers 276.963.1081 - Richlands News Press 276.988.4770 - Clinch Valley News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----- Original Message ----- From: Bev Tracy <tracybev@plains.net> To: VATAZEWE-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 2:21 PM Subject: [VA-TAZEWELL] Whitt Cemetery destruction I just received a message from my cousin that the Cemetery in Tazewell County VA where Hezekiah Whitt, Revolutionary War soldier and some of the Low/Lowe family are buried is going to be destroyed by the present day land owner. The old Whitt house was still standing, but the land owner is tearing it down. A neighbor in Tazewell wrote and told me that he was taking the fence down around the cemetery and planned to get rid of the stones. The old cemetery was south of Busthead. Can anyone give me some suggestions as to how to stop the cemetery from being destroyed? I live in Colorado so I need some suggestions of who to write in Tazewell who might help. Bev Tracy