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Subject: "Ketterman Cemetery," Flintstone Creek, and an interview (Longish)
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 23:19:17 EST

Listers,
I finally found the cemetery on Flintstone Creek that is generally
referred to as the "Ketterman Cemetery" yesterday. After several
false leads, and some squirrely directions, I ended up finding it,
by of all means, having my Dad drive the car, and me look out the
window up at the passing hilltops!
Sure enough, I spotted a cemetery, surrounded by a fence on a high
knoll, and pointed it out to my Dad. He looked at the property as we
rolled up to the driveway, and said, "Okay, that makes sense, as this
is the old Hendron Ketterman place."
There was a "No Trespassing" sign on a tree along the road, but we
pulled in anyway, across a rather questionable bridge, and up to the
house at the base of the slope. A woman stepped out on the porch as
we rolled up, and came out into the yard. I got out, introduced myself,
and told her what we were looking for. She said, "Sure, go right on up.
Just follow the mowed path around the barn, and you can drive right
up." I thanked her, and off we went.
For anybody who hasn't been there, and up the "road" in question, you
have to see it and the hill to understand my dubious expression as we
drove around the barn. "If we start spinning, you're walking up by yourself,
as I'm walking up that hill" was my Dad's grinning reply. Luckily, the
grass was dry and the Chrysler was running well, and on up we went.
Up top, we found the cemetery surrounded by a rusted but intact fence,
closed off by a wide farm gate that worked surprisingly well!
I gathered my notebook and camera, and went on in.

And true to form, as any of you who have transcribed cemeteries can
attest, you absolutely **CANNOT** inventory/transcribe a cemetery
without the wind blowing at a good clip. I think it's a clause buried
somewhere in the Genealogist's Handbook that I just haven't found! ;-)

Inside, we found 44 marked graves, and 17 either unmarked or marked
with fieldstones only.

The surnames were: ASH, CALHOUN, DOLLY, KESSEL, KETTERMAN,
MALLOW, MORRAL, O'NEAL, OSTER, ROY, and TURNER.

Most were fairly easy to read, though a few needed shading and using
of the flashlight to read the worn lettering. A few were made of concrete,
and were getting rough looking. The newest marked grave was 1984.
>From the terrain, and several eyewitnesses, getting a casket up there
for burial, or heavy equipment up to dig the grave might be a challenge.
In fact, I was told be several attendees to the second to last burial there,
that the funeral party had to transfer the casket to a farm wagon, and
take it up with a tractor, as the hearse just spun it's wheels at the base.

Then today, I went into Cumberland with my father, to go visit a friend
who is now in the Allegany Nursing Home. (It seemed like a pretty
decent place, especially compared to several that I have been to in
the past!) Mr. Ulysses J. MORRIS, who moved from WV with his family
in the 1920's, to Bedford County. His family owned part of the land that
the cemetery now sits on. He isn't able to walk right now due to diabetes
complications with his feet, but there sure isn't anything wrong with his
mind! :-)
He told us that the property line literally ran down the middle of the
cemetery, with his family owning the right half, the KETTERMAN's owning
the left half. He said that the land all through that area (including the land
that his family and the KETTERMAN's had owned had originally been
owned by the ASH family. Thus, the several ASH family members who are
buried there. Mr. Morris is quite a storehouse of genealogical material. He
was able to tell me the maiden names of the women buried there, plus who
their parents were (the buried couples), and also who a lot of the couples
in the Glendale Brethren Cemetery were, and how they connected. I could
only talk to him for about two hours, but it was well worth my time, as he
was able to "connect the dots" on quite a few people.

If anybody has any questions about the cemetery, feel free to drop
me a line off-list.

Jerry

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