Isabelle Alice Stewart: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

Isabelle A. Stewart was born 20 December 1863, the daughter of Alfred aka Allen Stewart and wife Sarah Elizabeth Hood.   

Alfred C. Stewart married 1 January 1863 Sarah Elizabeth Hood in Boyd County, Kentucky.  They were married by Bryant Fannin at William P. Hood’s home here on Garner.   William P. Hood and wife Matilda Howe were Sarah’s parents.   

Shortly before Isabelle’s birth Alfred joined the 40^th Kentucky Infantry (Union) at Lexington, Kentucky on 1^st of December.   Alfred was the son of Andrew Stewart and Rachel Cook who lived at Mount Savage, Carter County, Kentucky.  Alfred was shot while on duty and died of his wounds 23 December 1864.

Isabelle’s mother Sarah Elizabeth Hood Stewart next married James W. Howe on 29 October 1865.  Howe, son of Geprge W Howe and Sarah Fannin Howe, had been captured and served six months in Andersonville Prison before returning home.   In May 1866 the courts appointed Isabelle’s step father as her legal guardian. James R. McBrayer acted as surety.  One anomaly appears on the court order. Her deceased father is listed as Allen Stewart instead of Alfred as shown in all other known records[i].

Isabelle appears, in July, 1870 on the census with her step father and mother listing her age as six.  The family is living on Garner.[ii] Fifteen months, later on 23 October 1871 Isabelle Alice Stewart died.   At this writing the compiler does not know the cause of her death.

Her burial in Klaiber Cemetery is thought to be one of the earliest if not the first burial in what today is Klaiber Cemetery.  Her grandfather William Pickett Hood and her step father’s mother Sarah Fannin Howe both were buried in Klaiber cemetery two years later in 1874.

 

 

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[i] KY Boyd CT Order roll 344012 page 293

[ii] Note a title search shows this was a portion of what is owned by this compiler and her husband.  The MT Hilton survey dated April 1879 shows James Howe fields next to Philip Howe’s property with a marked house thought to be the cabin that sits behind the authors home today.  The Hilton survey can be found at the Boyd County Public Library and the item is marked as B-6.

James B. Stanley Family: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

James B. Stanley was a Baptist lay minister in eastern Kentucky.  He was born 31 March 1858 in Lawrence County, Kentucky the son of James R. Stanley and wife Sarah McGuire.  He grew up in the Bolts Fork and Jacks Fork area bordering Garner, Boyd County, Kentucky where he also farmed.  He had ten siblings including Belle who married Thomas A. Gallion and 2^nd John M. Jobe.

J. B. Stanley married Susan Tomlin 1 December 1878 in Boyd County, Kentucky at the home of William Rouse.  Susan was the daughter of Andrew “Andy” Tomlin who came to Kentucky from Virginia by the time she was four years old.  The Stanley family had seven children.  The last child George was born in July 1895.  In 1900 the family was living over the county line in Carter County.

A son Dwight M. Stanley, born 29 August 1884 died 14 September 1904 and was buried in Klaiber Cemetery.  A circle carved reads “In honor of our beloved son.”   Susan, his mother, died 30 September 1908 and was also laid to rest in Klaiber Cemetery.

Left with the children and George only three, James B. Stanley remarried to Eliza Kiser the widow of Joseph Cordle[i].  In 1920 J. B. and Eliza were residing n Van Lear, Johnson County, Kentucky but moved back to Boyd County some time before 1926, near Summit.  Eliza Kiser Cordle Stanley died 13 December 1926.  Her funeral was held at the Summit Baptist Church and burial was at Coalton Cemetery.

Another son, Frank (born 20 May 1887) had moved to Minden, Fayette County, West Virginia where he was a miner.  He was only forty years old when he died, just 11 months after his step mother’s death.  Frank died 23 November 1927. The death certificate states the cause as Bright’s Disease.  The document simply states burial “KY.”  The Ashland Daily Independent wrote a small article with the headline “Kilgore Main Dies in West Virginia.”  How-ever the paper misspelled Minden as Winden and states “Details regarding Stanley’s illness and death were not learned.  In the early 2020’s Minden made headlines across the nation as a hotbed of toxic land causing cancers.  At this writing it is unclear where Frank was buried.

 

The Reverend James B. Stanley lived until 25 October 1939 when he died in the hospital at Paintsville, Johnson County.  His son William Bascom Stanley, living at Van Lear, was the informant on his death certificate.  The family brought J. B. back to Klaiber Cemetery, in Boyd County, Kentucky, for burial beside his first wife Susan.

Susan and J. B.’s son Joseph “Joe” Stanley (born 3Aapril 1890) died 16 January 1940 in Floyd County, Kentucky. He collapsed inside a mine shaft and died in route to a hospital.  His wife Myrtle Prater Stanley had his body brought back to Klaiber Cemetery for burial.

Myrtle was the daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Bays Prater. Myrtle lived until 24 September 1981 and is also in our cemetery.

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[i] Eliza Kizer Cordle Stanley was the daughter of Andy and Margt. Willis Kizer

 

George J. Stanley Family: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

George J. Stanley was born 28 July 1895 in Carter County, Kentucky, the son of the Rev. James B. Stanley and Susan Tomlin Stanley.  His first marriage was 22 February 1913 to Flora Van Hoose in Johnson County, Kentucky.  George and Flora had several children[i] and moved to Fayette County, West Virginia where he worked in the coal mines.  George and Flora were divorced 2 December 1929. 

Flora remarried to William Hogston and moved to Floyd County and later Harlan County.  Clarence and Margie Stanley grew up in Flora’s household. George married second Margaret Elizabeth “Maggie” Fields Bleiburg Swigart  11 January 1930.   Maggie was the daughter of William Henderson Fields and wife Elsa Amanda Orn.  She was born in Hocking County, Ohio.  Eventually Maggie and George settled in Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio where he worked at the stove factory.

Maggie died 30 January 1961 in Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio and was buried in Klaiber Cemetery near George’s parents.  George J. Stanley remarried after Maggie’s death to Myrtle Blair.  George died 19 December 1973 in Ironton and was also brought back for burial in Klaiber Cemetery next to Margaret.

Clarence Frank Stanley, the son of George and his first wife Flora Van Hoose, was born 24 March 1922.  He was a coal miner and a Private during World War II.  In 1940 he was still living in the Hogston household in Harlan County, Kentucky. On 4 August 1944 he married Lavilla Gillespie in Jefferson County, Kentucky.   They resided in Harlan where in 1950 Clarence was coal mining. According to son Jerry, Clarence loved to repair bikes and give them to needy children. Clarence died 8 June 1996 in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia. His funeral was held at Globe, Carter County, Kentucky and he was brought to Boyd County, Kentucky for burial in Klaiber Cemetery with full military rites.

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[i] Children of George and Flora: Clarence F, Chester, Margie Marie, Ovel and George Justice Jr.

 

The Sparks Family: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

David Sparks was born 12 March 1898 in Elliott County, Kentucky.  He was the son of Reuben and Dovie Whitt Sparks per his obit and marriage license. The 1900 for Little Fork of Elliott County says his mother is Lina born May 1872.

David married Nora Gallion 1 September 1917 in Carter County, Kentucky.  When they married David was working as a rail roader.  David farmed on Durbin for many years.

 Nora Gallion was born 20 July 1902 in Boyd County the daughter of Thomas Al and Belle Stanley Gallion.  David and Nora had fourteen children.  David died 10 April 196.  Nora died 2 November 1972.  Both David and Nora’s funeral service were held at Cyrus Chapel on Durbin.  Nora’s death date was never carved on her stone.

Son, Franklin Douglas Sparks was the youngest son of David and Nora.   Born 20 March 1942 on Durbin, he died in Frankfort 23 February 1969.  The funeral service was also conducted at Cyrus Chapel.

Son, William “Bill” Sparks was born 8 June 1936 in Cyrus Hollow of Boyd County.  He was a processor at Kraft Poultry Farm and was a member of Cyrus Chapel.   He lived with another brother on Durban at the time of his death.  The Durbin volunteer fire department donated money for his funeral.  A simple wooden cross was placed at his grave.  As trustees we later made a flat cement marker placed at the head of the grave.

Clyde Junior Smith: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

As I have mentioned in previous posts in this series, we have several homemade gravestones in our cemetery.  But some times the data on the stone does not match the official death certificate information.

Clyde Junior Smith was the son of Lewis Dewey Smith and wife Cynthia Ann Church, His paternal grandparents, John and Sarah Catherine Dowdy Smith are buried in Ross Cemetery on Jack’s Fork of Boyd County, Kentucky.

Clyde’s birth “carved in stone” says he was born 11 July 1927 and died March 23 1931.   Clyde Junior Smith’s official death certificate (#5830) states he was born July 11, 1927 and was 3 years 8 months and 10 days old when he died at home on Garner of Boyd County, Kentucky, 21 March 1931.  

The little boy contracted bronchial pneumonia that progressed from a simple cold. His father gave the information and the place of burial is cited as Sexton Cemetery not to be confused with Sexton Cemetery on Pigeon Roost on the next ridge above Garner.  Klaiber cemetery has had several aka’s including Garner Cemetery and Sexton Cemetery.

The last family member to be buried in Klaiber aka Sexton Cemetery was Sister Rebecca Smith Moore on 21 April 2023. Sister, Bertha Mae Smith Shepherd, died on 2 July 2021 and is also buried in Klaiber Cemetery.  A brother James Richard Smith born 24 Dec 1924, was a World War II veteran who died 25 Jun 1988 and was brought back to Klaiber Cemetery for burial from his residence in Anniston, Alabama.

Their father Lewis Dewey Smith was born 5 March 1899 in Lawrence County, Kentucky, a farmer, died 9 October 1977. His funeral was conducted at Ross Chapel on Bolt’s Fork and burial was in Klaiber Cemetery. Lewis and Cynthia had eleven children.  Mother Cynthia Ann Church Smith was born 30 April 1901 in Lawrence County, Kentucky.  She was the daughter of James Monroe Church and wife Rebecca Bryant.  At her death, March 1994 she had 58 grandchildren, 82 great grandchildren and 15 great great grandchildren.