WESTFALL CEMETERIES, UPSHUR COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA

OLD HEAVNER (BUCKHANNON MEMORIAL) CEMETERY BUCKHANNON, UPSHUR COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Photos by Ronald N. Wall taken April 22, 2008

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR A LARGER PHOTO - RIGHT CLICK TO SAVE TO YOUR COMPUTER
Buckhannon Memorial Cemetery, formerly the Heavner Cemetery, Buckhannon, Upshur County, West Virginia. This is a large cemetery located just north of U.S. 33 in Buckhannon.	Heavner/Buckhannon Memorial Cemetery in Buckhannon. Colonel Westfall (1799-1884) was the grandson of William White who was killed by Indians after being lured into a trap by a white man. Henry Fry Westfall was the son of Joel Westfall and Elizabeth White (daughter of William White). On the opposite side of the obelisk is the inscription for Mary, his wife.	Old Heavner/Buckhannon Memorial Cemetery; my son-in-law Joey and daughter Tonya Madia by the Henry F. and Mary Westfall memorial; Mary was born in 1809 and died in 1854. This part of the cemetery was probably the location of Buckhannon Fort. The original fort was built by John Bush on his land about the time of Dunmore's War and was known as Bush Fort. The land eventually came into the possession of the Heavner family, hence the name of the cemetery.
William White and John Fink monument in the Heavner/Buckhannon Cemetery	The William White and John Fink monument in the Heavner/Buckhannon Memorial Cemetery (Fink's inscription is on the opposite side). In 1815, Nicholas Heavner bought the land where the Buckhannon Fort once stood and on which William White and John Fink were buried. The graves of White and Fink were next to each other but were completely unmarked. There were many people still alive who knew first hand the location of their graves and pointed them out to the Heavner family. Heavner's son, eleven year old Elias was fascinated by the stories of these pioneers.	On his own initiative, young Elias found two flat field stones on the bank of the Buckhannon River. On the stones he carved the inscriptions, "Here lieth the body of John Fink who was killed by Indens in 1782 Feb. the 8th" and "William White Killed by Indens." Elias placed the stones on the graves. For years, Colonel Henry Fry Westfall tried to raise the interest of the citizens of Buckhannon to place a memorial on the graves. On July 4th, 1912 the Elizabeth Zane Chapter of the D.A.R. erected the present monument, 28 years after the death of Colonel Westfall. Cemented into the base of the monument are the two field stones of Elias Heavner. Without the dedication of an eleven year old boy, those graves would have long ago been lost.
Buckhannon Memorial Cemetery, Buckhannon, West Virginia; Ida Catherine (1876-1966) and Ira Burton Westfall (1872-1952); Ira was the son of Granville Dayton Westfall (1848-1908) and Martha Ellen Day (b. May 9, 1850, Preston Co., W.Va.) and the grandson of Watson Westfall and Rachel Tenney. Ira and Ida have an infant son and grandson buried in the Mount Hermon Church Cemetery east of Buckhannon. Ira's parents, grandparents and other relatives are buried in the Mt. Rupert Cemetery also located a few miles east of Buckhannon. Ira's wife, Ida Catherine Lowe was the daughter of William R. Lowe and Martha Mowery. I have no other information on William or Martha.	Buckhannon Memorial Cemetery, Buckhannon, West Virginia; Zebedee Westfall (1863-1928) and wife Mary Catherine Simon (1863-1921); Zebedee was the son of Samuel Tenney Westfall (1841-?) and Charissa Debar; he was the grandson of Rev. Watson Westfall (1818-1892) and Rachel Tenney. Mary Catherine Simon was the daughter of Moses Simon and Mary Thompson.	When we visited this cemetery and the others in Upshur County, we did not have registers or inventories of graves. We located the Westfall graves simply by walking around. This is a large cemetery containing the graves of many Upshur County pioneers. I am certain that we missed other Westfall graves and the graves of close relatives of the Westfall family. If you have an opportunity to visit Buckhannon and are looking for Westfall grave sites, I would begin here. First though, you should visit the genealogy library for the Hackers Creek Pioneer Descendants in Horner, West Virginia. The library is near the intersection of Horner Road and County Road 26 (Abbotts Run) just north of U.S. 33. It is in Lewis County, three or four miles east of Interstate 79 and eight or ten miles west of Buckhannon. They have an extensive list of graves and cemeteries for Lewis, Upshur and surrounding counties.
Hackers Creek Pioneer Descendants, Central West Virginia Genealogy Library in Horner, Lewis County, West Virginia	My daughter at the genealogy library in Horner, Lewis County, West Virginia	CLICK HERE FOR HARRISON GROVE CEMETERY, LEWIS CO. UPSHUR COUNTY CEMETERIES WESTFALL PHOTO ALBUM WESTFALL FAMILY TREE WESTFALL FAMILY PAGE