Mary Ann McBrayer Klaiber: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2023

Mary Ann McBrayer was the sixth child born to James R. and Anna Sanders McBrayer on 24 May 1834 on Williams Creek.  When she was ten her father got his deed for property on Four Mile in what is now Boyd County, Kentucky.  He purchased 200 acres from William Carter and like many of Carter’s land transactions, the deed was not clarified until 1852.[i]  This property is at the end of Four Mile Road today where Rush Off Road, known as Lowman property, is today.   I blogged about McBrayer Cemetery on Four Mile in 2020.

According to an article in 1919 she joined the M. E. Church South when she was 18 in Cannonsburg, Kentucky under the ministry of Rev. Thornton.[ii]. She married 1 November 1855, Carter County, Kentucky[iii], to German born John Andrew Klaiber, at the age of 21.  James R. McBrayer along with John Andrew posted bond for their marriage.  The actual marriage book spells John’s last name as Claiver living at Cannonsburg (then Greenup County) age 24 born Hirlemburg Germany (sic).  Mary Ann McBrayer was residing on Four Mile in Carter County born on Williams Creek in Greenup County.

Granddaughter Martha Klaiber Cox had a German bible in her possession for many years, said to have come over with Klaiber, but it did not contain any family information. Martha said that even in their elder years some in the area were suspicious of his German accent.  When the United States declared war against Germany in April 1917, the Klaiber’s were in their 80’s, yet there were still whispers of animosity even though John Andrew Klaiber had become an American citizen in July 1859. As I write these blog bios, I heard from another descendent, Pamela Wolf, who says that her family oral history told of James R. McBrayer not wanting Mary Ann to marry the German.

But marry she did, having ten children.  They are said to have buried German gold under a fence post and it was never recovered[iv]. She lived through the Civil War and in the twilight of her years World War I. The family lived first in Catlettsburg, then Catletts Creek, and eventually settled on Long Branch.  Besides their own children, John Andrew also had several apprentices involved in his boot making over the years. In 1870 her mother-in-law came over from Germany to live with them.  It was a full household.  And yet as the McBrayer’s spread westward she managed to keep in touch.  A letter from Maggie Culver to Mary Ann dated 1 June 1910 is still in my possession.[v]

Mary Ann McBrayer Klaiber died 1 April 1919 at her home here on Long Branch.  Ironically the article about the elder Klaiber’s came out in the West Virginia Methodist News just eight days later submitted by Mrs. J. C. McGlothlin. The last paragraph reads “May their remaining time here on earth be the happiest, brightest and best of their long lives is the wish of.”

Mary Ann was a member of Eastern Stars. She could join as a wife of a Master Mason.  The Masonic order is open to all religious beliefs.

 

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[i] KY, Carter, Debk B p 339

[ii] West Virginia Methodist News, April 1919

[iii] KY Carter M bk B p 29

[iv] Which fencepost or which property is never mentioned in either John Henry Klaiber or Martha Klaiber Cox family tales.

[v] Maggie Culver was the granddaughter of Susan Board Corbitt McBrayer who married  James Riley McBrayer, brother of Mary Ann.

Johann Andreas Klaiber aka John Andrew Klaiber: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2023

Johann Andreas Klaiber aka John Andrew Klaiber was the American progenitor of our branch of the family.   He was born 20 October 1832 in Hausen ob Verena, Tuttlingen, Wurttemburg, Germany.  His parents were Matthais and Marguretta Maurer Klaiber.  He was confirmed at age 14, the same year that his father Matthias died.   One of the first emigrant guides for Germans was published the following year complete with maps of the United States including individual maps for Ohio and Kentucky[i].  Perhaps Johann viewed this as a teenager.

The oral tradition passed down through our branch of the family was that he came to America with a cousin but that they were separated in New York and the cousin never heard from again.  Everyone assumed that the cousin was also a Klaiber.  As a researcher, I had an “ah hah” moment when I found the ship passenger list.  Johann Andreas Klaiber’s maternal grandmother was Anna Chistina Gluntz.  Johann aka John came to America with cousin Christian Gluntz who settled in the Buffalo, New York area.  I am always amazed how oral history unravels and was delighted that this one had such validity.

John Andrew Klaiber was twenty-two years old when he decided to come to America in 1854.  The closest port was Le Havre, France which could be reached via the Rhine River.  The “Maritime Intelligence” published in the New York Herald, 7 June 1854, announced the arrival of the ship “Brother Jonathan” which had left 7 May from Havre with 416 passengers.  Entry #298 was Johann Klaiber and #299 Christian Gluntz.  The ship docked in New York on the 6^th.  A month long crossing.

Joseph Tucker was master of the Brother Jonathan. Tucker’s father owned a shipping firm in Wiscasset, Maine, which was a major center of trade.  By this time another important publication helped guide German’s, giving instructions, as well as a beginners guide to the English language.[ii]  In this publication item #6 stated that whoever traveled from New York to the west by way of Buffalo…does best to take on one the two great railroads… 

The ship manifest does not list occupation but Klaiber was a bootmaker by trade who made his way to Catlettsburg, then Greenup County, Kentucky. 

On 1 November 1855 John Andrew Klaiber married Mary Ann McBrayer, daughter of James R. and Anna Sanders McBrayer in Carter County, Kentucky.   In April 1857 Klaiber leased property from William Hampton on Division Street in Catlettsburg where he  ran his business.[iii]  Their first child James Matthew Klaiber was born 21 June 1857.

A likeable fellow, Klaiber was a charter member of the Odd Fellows Lodge in Catlettsburg.[iv]  The same year John Andrew Klaiber became a naturalized Citizen of the United States in Circuit Court of Greenup County, Kentucky. By 1861 the family was living on the left hand fork of Catletts Creek, now Boyd County, on land he purchased from Richard and Mary Scott.[v]

By 1864 his business had grown and he was able to purchase the Division Street property which was a portion of the old tavern house lot of William Hampton[vi].    They also owned property on Panola Street. Catlettsburg was a prospering community and bustling river front town. During the Civil War government stores were set up not far from the Division Street property. In 1864 troops marched through the town.  As the war came to a close the logging trade once again flourished and with it a growth of hotels and saloons.

With six children and more on the way, John Andrew and his wife Mary Ann finally settled on Garner, leading to East Fork and back to the Big Sandy River. The road to their property was nothing more than the creek bed later known as Long Branch. The family still traded in Catlettsburg, sold and repaired shoes, and were also able to tap further into the logging trade, by logging the land and hauling the logs, on skids pulled by oxen to the river wharf.

John Andrew Klaiber was just as active with Garner community affairs as he was with his business in Catlettsburg.  He is listed as an officer of  Green Hill Lodge #521 which had a building at that time on our road and is listed as a Master Mason.  He along with a future son-in-law and a few others helped build a “double house” on the poor house farm located on the road in 1876.[vii]  As a citizen he was now required to serve on juries and was sitting on the month long jury when George Ellis was brought back from Lexington and arraigned for killing Robbie Gibbons in May 1882.[viii]  A social post in the Ashland paper in June 1884 announced “the Sunday School on Garner is said to be the most interesting one in the county. Rev. John Klaiber is superintendent.”

John Andrew Klaiber’s mother Marguretta had come over to America in 1870 and died 14 September 1896 while living with the Klaiber’s.  She was buried in what today is Klaiber Cemetery. “Whispers from the Grave” is being done in alpha order and there will be a future blog concerning her[ix].  In May 1899 John Andrew Klaiber purchased a section of what was then known as Sexton Cemetery from Henry Powell and Julina McCormack Sexton.[x]  It was one of several deeds drafted for a very small portion of what is now known as Klaiber Cemetery.  “… commencing at the southwest corner of the graveyard at or near the corner post of a stone marked A…. containing 1/8 of an acre…have the privilege of ingress and egress at any and all times…”  The cemetery has far outgrown any of these early deeds with the Klaiber’s simply donating more of the area for burials over the years.

In April 1919 The West Virginia Methodist News published an article about the Klaiber’s stating their home had always been the home of the Methodist preacher Rev. John Martin (no relation to compiler) who so often visited their home in their young days would retire to a room upstairs for prayer and study and called the room the prophets room. At the time of the article it stated that in about 1917 Mr. Klaiber fell and dislocated his hip. The Article was submitted by Mrs. J. C. McGlothlin.  

John Andrew Klaiber died 4 December 1920.  On his death certificate it is interesting to note that under burial the word Sexton was marked out and Hood written over.  Many of the cemeteries, especially in our area, are named for people that own the surrounding property.  Today we try to standardize the names and the cemetery is listed with the state of Kentucky as Klaiber Cemetery.

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[i] Bromme, Taugott, Rathgeber fur Auswanderungslustige, A guide for German Emigrants. Suttgart 1846

[ii] Princeton University Library Special Collection PULIFA 2.0 Joseph Tucker Papers

[iii] KY Boyd dbk 3 p 447

[iv] Armstrong, Jim “Parade Scene” Historical Daily Independent, 14 March 1977, Catlettsburg Memories

[v] KY, Boyd deed bk 1 page 153

[vi] KY Boyd Deed book 1 p 506

[vii] KY Bod Court Order bk 3 Nov. term

[viii] The Ashland Tragedy page 329

[ix] Whispers From the Grave is NOT a complete list of all buried in the cemetery but does contain many of the oldest .

[x] KY, Boyd deed book 29 p 613

Who Is Buried in McBrayer Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky?

 

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber October 2020

 

In college[i], hubby and I had come back to Boyd County for a weekend visit.   My father-in-law, John Henry Klaiber, strolled by me, nodded his head and said “come on”.   He was not one to mince words.  I knew he was on a mission.  We headed for the truck, he popped the clutch and we were off.  I knew better than to ask where we were going. He would tell me in his own time.

We came out of Garner and turned north on #3.  As we neared Trace he nodded to the left and said “McGlothlin Cemetery is over there, Elsie will take you.” 

I had already had 18 years to learn the farms and roads of Boyd County, Kentucky.  My father was the local Veterinarian and from the time I could toddle I carried his bag and opened the gates. Lots of gates. I had earned the nickname “lil Doc” dubbed so by Claude Groves.  Thus I knew when we turned on Four Mile and passed the Davis farm exactly where we were but not where we were headed since the road dead ends.

 

He stopped the truck and again said “come on”.  We literally shinnied up the right-hand side road cut. J. H.  walks about 100 feet, sits on a huge boulder then nods & points with his walking stick to several field stones scattered in the weeds.  “My grandmother was a McBrayer. These are her people.”  The significance of that moment was a little elusive as I was about to begin my genealogy journey. 

As a side note that was one of two private walks I had with my father-in-law.  The second, would follow in 1974 when they met us in the Smokey Mountains for a camp-out.  His now familiar “come on” led me up the side of mountain at a quick pace. I was out of breath, he turned around, chuckled and marched back down again.  No words needed. If it was a competition he won.

Mary Ann McBrayer married John Andrew Klaiber the first day of November 1855 in what was then Carter County by the Reverend Lewis Nutters, a Baptist minister.  They, according the West Virginia Methodist News later converted to the ME Church at Cannonsburg. They opened their home to the Methodist minister.  The article states that the Reverend John Martin[ii] would visit and retire to a room upstairs for “prayer and study.”  Martin dubbed the room the Prophets Room.[iii]  The name stuck and was referenced as such by all ten of the Klaiber children.

Mary Ann McBrayer was born 24 May 1834, Lawrence County, Kentucky.  She died 1 April 1919 in Boyd County and is buried in Klaiber Cemetery which is on the farm that we own at this writing.  Prior to her marriage, she is listed in the 1850 Carter County census with her parents James R. McBrayer and wife Anna Sanders McBrayer.    Mary Ann was sweet 16. Still at home were elder brother James Riley McBrayer born 22 February 1832, brother William 12, Susan 8 and Henry 1.  The last of nine siblings John Milton McBrayer would be born in November 1852 on Four Mile.

Mary Ann’s father, James R. McBrayer[iv] was born 8 August 1803 in Buncombe County, North Carolina.  He married Anna Sanders 7 July 1823 in Floyd county, Kentucky County. A history of the formation of our counties is always necessary in genealogy.   By 1830 the family is in Greenup, later Lawrence and Carter in the area that would become Boyd County in 1860.  In February 1847 Aaron Davis and James R. McBrayer exchanged small pieces of property on Four Mile Creek but the transaction was not recorded until 1873 in Boyd County[v].   Much of the land in that area was part of what was known as Carter Lands for a William G. Carter who continually promised but failed to file deeds[vi]. Thus much land was embroiled in court cases.  McBrayer did not get clear title of 200 acres until 1867 in Carter County Circuit Court[vii].

The Four Mile Creek property was sold to the Lexington And Big Sandy Rail Road, Eastern Division in January 1875[viii]. By 1880 the L&BS Eastern Division was known as Ashland Coal and Iron.  Simply put by locals, even today, “company land”.  James R. and wife Anna moved to Elliottville in Rowan County, Kentucky where James R. McBrayer died 5 January 1880.  He was buried at Hoggtown, Elliottville.  McBrayer descendants say they replaced an older stone in 1976 from money gathered at a reunion. I never saw the older stone but have visited the new stone and cemetery.

Anna Sanders McBrayer died 25 April 1880 on a visit back to Boyd County and because of weather was buried in Sexton Cemetery on Pigeon Roost in Boyd County.  In September 1979 some descendants had her remains removed to Hoggtown beside James R. McBrayer.  I wrote about her missing tombstone and confusion in 2010 titled “Anna Sanders McBrayer & The Missing Tombstone.”

With James R. McBrayer and Anna said to be buried elsewhere who were “her people” buried on Four Mile?

 

I did question my father-in-law who made it clear that was all he knew.  I was not surprised when I got a phone call from my mother-in-law telling me that the “company land” was being surface mined and you could not tell where the field stones had been.  It is now 2020 and the land is the entrance to a company known as Rush Off-Road, still referenced as “company land” or “Lowman lands” as the chain of title has gone.   The area at the end of Four Mile has been dozed and what has not been dozed has been decimated by four wheelers and side by sides.  I have driven over several times to get my bearing but any sign of where we got out of  the truck that long ago day is gone. 

 

 

I have reviewed and puzzled and mourned the loss of history about those field stones.  I now believe I know at least two of the graves we visited that long ago day.

 

James R. McBrayer was the son of Ichabod and Mary Stratton McBrayer. Ichabod died between July and September 1837 in Floyd County, Kentucky.  His mother remarried to Edward Branham 23 January 1840 in Pike County, Kentucky.  By 1860 she is again widowed and living with James R. and Anna in Boyd County on Four Mile.  She was 79 years old.  I believe that Mary Stratton McBrayer Branham is one of the destroyed graves we honored that day in 1968. She was the great great grandmother of John Henry Klaiber.

 

James R. McBrayer and Anna’s son Solomon S. McBrayer also resided on Four Mile, interacted with Aaron Davis and others. He married  Mary Margaret Harris 13 May 1847 in Lawrence County, Kentucky. He was a Marshall for Boyd County in 1862.  In February 1863 he mustered into military service at Peach Orchard, Company D, 39^th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry after a heroic encounter with the enemy while hunting.  According to William Ely in The Big sandy Valley “…On the morning in question Solomon McBrayer, a citizen of the East Fork …who had moved into town (Catlettsburg) for a temporary purpose, was living with his family in the old Catlett house…McBrayer persuaded two young men, refugees from Virginia to accompany him on his morning on a squirrel hunt…between the Sandy River and Ceredo. Having no guns, they…procured…government Enfield rifle.  The trio …were in sight of troopers as they passed down the road…believing capture…returned to town before the Confederate soldiers had left…Solomon McBrayer and his companions were lying in ambush…two or three days after these stirring events went to Louisa and volunteered in the 39^th Kentucky and a day or two after while sitting on a dry goods box, a rusty nail projecting through scratched his thigh, causing a slight abrasion…producing gangrene which terminated in his death within 24 hours.  His widows pension runs back to the day of his death.”  In 1870 his widow, Mary Margaret is living with James R. and family on Four Mile.  It would be logical that Solomon would be buried on Four Mile.

 

Many years ago I was asked by an archeologist to define what the “job” was of a genealogist involving cemeteries.  At the time I was advocating for burial rights of Natives in Ohio.  I had and have also been involved in many restorations of cemeteries.  I have supported the Association of Gravestone Studies.   I am now trustee of Klaiber Cemetery in Boyd County, Kentucky.  But that question, along with different burial believes around the world is a great one.  I respect and honor every grave. It is the last physical place our bodies hold.  My religion tells me that the soul has left that place.   I have seen cemeteries destroyed by dozers, neglected by time, bombed by wars and flooded only to be washed away.  “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” What is the job of the genealogist?  Genealogists have a very specific job.  The job is to record the information for prosperity. 

I was so reminded of that job the day, many years ago, at a genealogy conference in Pittsburg. I received an urgent phone call from the sheriff’s department in Muskingum County, Ohio.  I no longer lived there so was baffled as I hurried to find the telephone.  They had tracked me down to Kentucky and back to the conference because they had arrested a person for stealing and reselling the stones surrounding a small cemetery that my eldest son had restored as his Eagle Project.  They needed evidence and someone said we might have it. Yes I said the group had photographed not only the tombstones but the large hand cut stones that formed the wall because several had initials cut in them.  The scouts had recorded every word and letter on the stones and plotted the cemetery.  That evidence sent that person to prison for theft and desecration of a cemetery.  Those scouts all earned their genealogy badges.  

So as my job as genealogist I tell the story of McBrayer Cemetery in Boyd County, Kentucky to leave it as part of the history of Four Mile, the McBrayer family and for prosperity.  May the souls of our ancestors rest in peace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[i] 1968

[ii] No relation to compiler

[iii] West Virginia Methodist News. April 1919

[iv] s/0 Ichabod McBrayer and Mary Stratton

[v] KY, Boyd, Deed book 5 p 477

[vi] KY, Carter deed book B page 339 James R. McBrayer mortgage to John Eastham.

[vii] KY, Boyd deed book 3 page 287

[viii] KY, Boyd deed book 7 page 236

Happy Anniversary

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber
February 2011

It is hard to believe that a year has transpired since I decided to start the Eastern Kentucky Genealogy Blog. Geneabloggers call it a bloggaversary. It has been a year of new discoveries and new friendships.

We celebrate many kinds of anniversaries in our world. Retailers usually offer sales to "celebrate" and romantics even celebrate the day they met.

I have another anniversary coming up in April. Forty three years of marriage with the most patient man in the world. He has supported my genealogical endeavors, held my hand during and after back surgery when I stupidly lifted the tombstone to see what was written on the other side, has moved file cabinets and the FLI library across 3 states, stood in cemeteries in the pouring rain while I got one last picture, and driven miles out of his way for courthouse research. When we reach that fifty year milestone it will be with a celebration.

I love to look at the Sunday paper and see the announcements of others anniversaries. You know that the smiling faces have ridden the wave of every day life with its ups and downs and are to quote my New York friend now "soul mates."

Among the relics in my house is a hammered silver pitcher and two goblets presented to my great grand parents, Stephen Simpson Halderman and wife Anna Catherine Gorath in 1923 by the Hempstead Academy of Medicine in honor of their 50th anniversary. The Halderman's were married 28 August 1873 at Berlin Cross Roads in Jackson County, Ohio and S. S. had been a past president of Hempstead. A copy of the flowery newspaper article accompanies the set. It is another bonus that a picture of the couple is also in the collection.

Besides local newspaper article concerning anniversaries, I find that religious newspapers can give very detailed information concerning anniversaries. I have written about John Andrew aka Johann Andreas Klaiber and wife Mary Ann McBrayer many times. They were married 1 November 1855 in Carter County, Kentucky.

After 63 years of marriage an article appeared in the West Virginia Methodist News published in Sutton, West Virginia concerning the couple. The article gives both of their birth dates, when they converted to the Methodist faith and other details of the family. Having had 10 children they also had 49 living grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren in 1919 [great genealogy tool]. {9 April 1919 edition WV Methodist News}

The article includes information on the couple's health including the fact that Mary Ann had a dislocated hip in 1917 and that John Andrew had a similar accident.

One of the most interesting paragraphs provided information on the home that stood on our farm along with a well known community minister:

"...Their home has always been the home of the Methodist preacher Rev. John Martin who so often visited their home in their young days, would retire to a room upstairs for prayer and study. He called this room the "prophets room" and by such it was known by their entire family and their intimate friends."

John Martin [no relation to this compiler] married many throughout the Boyd County community of Garner.

I am looking forward to sharing another year of bits and pieces from my office here in Eastern Kentucky with readers. It is always a thrill to hear from you as well. So as the sun rises over the cliffs I am raising one of my treasured goblets in a toast to all who write and share the history of our ancestors.

Anna Sanders McBrayer, The Rest of the Story, Rest In Peace

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2010

No research project can be attributed to one specific researcher and the puzzle about Anna Sanders McBrayer's Tombstone is no exception. I blogged about the discovery of her missing tombstone several weeks ago. Since then the story has unraveled with sincere thanks to Carl McBrayer, "Jim" [James Franklin] McBrayer and "Bob" [Robert Lewis] McBrayer.

I will take the reader through the steps it has taken to unravel the problem of the missing tombstone. Sometimes things are just not the way they first appear.


Shortly after writing the story I carefully went through the many pages of Sexton Cemetery records I
have collected over the years. Sexton Cemetery is in Boyd County, Kentucky. Besides the picture posted in the last blog I discovered that I had a 1997 35mm photograph, along with a map showing the specifics of all the graves in Sexton Cemetery for that year.

Comparing the 1997 photograph with the 1970's photograph you can see that someone has repaired and uprighted the stone in Sexton Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky.

With map and probe in hand we spent two afternoons searching for the tombstone at the specific grave site and around the edges of the cemetery in woods and weeds without results. As we came down the hill my husband wondered out loud if the stone had been moved to Rowan County to be next to her husband. Both of us seemed to vaguely remember James Earl McBrayer talking about it many years before but had thought the issue dropped.

Carl McBrayer is the "keeper" of all things McBrayer. A wonderful telephone chat and search of his records showed that at a McBrayer Association meeting in 1978 the subject had been broached but he had no other information or follow up in the notes for her.

If the stone was moved I could now surmise that it had happened between 1997 and 2004 when James Earl McBrayer had died. Carl called Jim McBrayer and I quickly had a picture of her tombstone in Hoggtown Cemetery, Rowan County, Kentucky. You will note that when reset they removed the broken section without damage to the writing. The stone has been placed next to her husband who did die in Rowan County, Kentucky.

But then Boyd County Coroner pointed out this presented another problem. He did not remember any paperwork crossing his desk and he was concerned that just the stone had been removed. Since Sexton Cemetery, Boyd County still receives burials could this now be an unmarked grave that could be disturbed unknowningly with a new burial.

According to Kentucky KAR when there is a disinterment a permit is to be filed with the State Registrar of Vital Statistics and the local cemetery authorities be notified. The unofficial family caregiver of the cemetery was Harold Sexton, now deceased. The removal must be done by a certified funeral home. We were sure caregiver Harold Sexton would have told us had he been aware as we live very close and visited often. And I applaud Vital Statistics. Melody did a two day search year by year including 2001 without result. She did not locate the proper form.

This lead several of Anna's great great grandchildren to start talking about getting a new marker for the grave in Boyd County where she died. Remember I said not all things are as they appear even when you have followed the paper trail!

On the 22nd Bob McBrayer wrote that James Earl McBrayer's nephew Arthur had shared the information and photographs of the removal of not only the tombstone but the remains of Anna Sanders McBrayer. Bob wrote: "I remember him saying noone from the family was present when the exhumation took place. The remains were put in a box and placed next to James."

Every good researcher knows to document any historical event. By providing the date in 2001, Carl was able to go back through files of the McBrayer family newletter In Defiance and quickly sent me an article along with photographs that were taken by the funeral home Northcutt & Sons in Morehead, Kentucky. Thank goodness for family newsletters!

Anna Sanders McBrayer is now at rest in Rowan County, Kentucky next to her husband of many years, James R. McBrayer. The unmarked location in Sexton Cemetery can be utilized for future burials without disruption. The Boyd County Cemetery Board has been notified so that the county cemetery database and records can be updated for future researchers. A notation will be placed in the comment field showing the date of exhumation and location of the new site.

A final research comment. The last reading of the Hoggtown, aka Turner, Aka Elliottville Cemetery was made prior to 2001 as well. Future researchers may have to puzzle over this again. If a new researcher or younger descendent comes across Anna's burial site in Rowan County they may assume that she died there. There are no Kentucky death certificates for 1889. That tombstone is the only recorded "document" of her death. As we older researchers hand over the reins and records we hope they pass down the story and "the rest of the story" to their children.

Anna had come back to Boyd County where she had lived with her husband for 45 years before moving on to Rowan County. She died while visiting family in Boyd County in April when a wagon trip back to Rowan would have been difficult. She laid at rest for 112 years in Sexton Cemetery, Pigeon Roost, Boyd County, Kentucky before being reunited with her husband's grave in Rowan County. May she rest in peace.

Anna Sanders McBrayer & The Missing Tombstone

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2010

Yes for the moment Anna Sanders McBrayer's tombstone is classified as missing. It proves the extreme importance and value of all those volunteer hours to document row by row readings of cemeteries and the power of the photograph.


In the late 1960's I was utilizing polaroid film. It was in the early years of my genealogical quests and

I did not date the photograph. But we estimate that it was taken between 1968 - 1974. I clearly remember standing in Sexton Cemetery on Pigeon Roost, Boyd County, Kentucky when I took the picture of the stone. We commented that someday it would be nice to repair the stone as it lay on the ground. We were visiting from out of state and time ticked on.

In the mid 1970's the Kentucky Historical Society organized a state wide cemetery reading project. Evelyn Scyphers Jackson spear headed the project in Boyd County, Kentucky. She and her volunteers did a row by row reading of cemeteries in Boyd County, Kentucky. Her field notes for Sexton Cemetery are dated 1976 with updates dated 1977. Anna Sanders McBrayer's tombstone appears on the list. Thus the tombstone was still in the cemetery in 1976.

Working in the genealogy department of the Boyd County Library, in 1999, I created a master cemetery database with the goal to put it on line to assist patrons. With the wonderful help of Michael Fleming and Carol Lovitt we entered all of the recorded cemetery data from the 1970's project. That alone was a daunting task. Anna Sanders McBrayer's entry from the 1977 reading is in the database.

In 2004, as part of the Boyd County Fiscal Court Cemetery Board, we were facing another daunting and now ongoing task. With the advent of digital photography I was able to start photographing each and every stone in cemeteries without the cost of film development. One of the first cemeteries to be digitized was Sexton Cemetery. You now can access the Master database online at the Boyd County Library or visit the library to view any of the digitized cemeteries at the computer stations located in the genealogy department.

While I explained to anyone that listened the importance of updating the cemetery database including new burials, I also pointed out the importance of the new project because of damaged or lost stones. Never did I dream that the lost tombstone would involve my children's 3rd great grandmother.

With recent new genealogical discoveries about the McBrayer family, I turned to the digitized 2004 Sexton Cemetery photographs to provide a descendant a copy. Anna is not there! Thus between 1977 and 2004 something may have happened to the stone. My team methodically shot each stone in the cemetery but mistakes do happen. The cemetery lays on a point surrounded by woods. It is maintained by boys incarcerated at the Hack Estep Home each summer. Thus the stone may have been moved or because it was broken grass and time could have embedded it. It is time to pay the cemetery another visit, taking along a probe, BarPak and base frame. I am optimistic that we will find the stone.

Anna aka Anne and Annie in records was born 6 March 1807 in Kentucky. She was the daughter of Jacob and Sarah Sanders. Anna married James R. McBrayer 7 July 1823 in Floyd County, Kentucky. Sometime between 1839 and 1842 they settled in Lawrence County, Kentucky. In 1844 they purchased land from William C. Carter on what is known as Four Mile. The deed is filed in Carter County, Kentucky. The land is now part of Boyd County, Kentucky.

The McBrayer's had at least 10 children. Three of her sons served in the Civil War. William Parks McBrayer was with Company G, 45th Mounted Infantry and Solomon served in Company D of the 39th Kentucky Infantry along with brother Lewis Parker McBrayer. In August 1863 her husband, James R. McBrayer signed the Oath of Allegiance stating that he would support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of Kentucky and would not give aid to the Rebellion or against the government.

The family moved to Rowan County, Kentucky after 1875. James R. died 5 January 1880. He is buried in what is called Hoggtown Cemetery aka Turner Cemetery. Hoggtown became a part of Elliottville. The family states that Anna was on a visit in Boyd County when she died 25 April 1889 and because the wagon trip would be long & the roads were muddy, she was buried in the county where she died.

This pioneering lady was a child during the War of 1812, saw the formation of 3 separate counties, survived the Civil War and raised 10 children.

Shephard Letter 1858 Ashland Boyd Co., KY

Original source documents are every researchers dream and some come from unlikely places. A recent seller on Ebay has posted an original 19 January 1858 letter under the catagory of historical autographs. In the Ebay description, the seller states "Pre-CW letter...T.L. Shepard writes to his Gramama about his child..." {Note: Clicking on the title of this post will take you to the Ebay item.}

The seller has scanned page 1 overlaying the other page[s] but the first page of the letter says a lot to someone who carefully reviews the material. "Ashland, Ky Jan 19th 1858 Dear Gramma I suppose you think that I have forgoten you But I have not bee it far from me. I confess that I have been negligent. We are all well. Mattie is growing very fast and she is as fit as a little pig. She can run all over the house and she can say Pound ?? tolerbly plain. Ellman and myself are going to school to Mr. Tomelson. I have been going to school ever since I came home. We have five schools in town...I suppose you have heard that old Jack Dickson run over by the cars in the tunnel a few months ago"

The letter continues on the following page which is partially covered in the scan "and he was hurt so bad that he died in..."

In these short lines, without the availability of reviewing all material contained in the letter, I have ascertained that the writer is probably a sibling of Ellman since both are in school and that Mattie is another younger child possibly in the household.

Before delving into the historical information provided about Ashland, Kentucky in those few lines, I decided to do a quick search for the Shephard family knowing that the surname in Eastern Kentucky is spelled in a variety of ways including Shepherd and Shepard.

Two years after the writing of the letter in Ashland, Kentucky, the 1860 Federal Census lists Elman L. Shephard age 11 born Ohio and a brother Franklin Shephard age 16 born Ohio [could an F. Be misread as a T.?] in Addison, Gallia County, Ohio in the home of James Maddy age 68 and wife Elizabeth 64, Mary Maddy 25 and Charles V. Maddy 24, all born Ohio. Franklin Shephard is also listed in the house of Luther Shephard age 47 born Ohio and wife Elizabeth 38 born Ohio, Elizabeth age 3 [1857] born KY and Mary born Ohio age 1. The birth of Elizabeth indicates that this family had been in Kentucky and is probably traveling back and forth along the Ohio River between Gallia County, Ohio and Boyd County, Kentucky. Rereading the entry, the author appears to have traveled when writing "I have been going to school ever since I came home..."

Gallia County, Ohio marriage records state that Luther Shephard married Elizabeth Maddy 4 March 1841. And true to the quick observation, that the family is moving along the ribbon of the Ohio River, Luther returned to Ashland in just a short time after the 1860 Federal Census. He is witness at the wedding of John Gosslen to Mary Jane Corbett in Ashland, Kentucky on 15 June 1863. From Family Lineage Investigation files, on hand, this blogger knows that Mary Jane was born in Gallia County, Ohio, the daughter of William and Susan __ McBrayer Corbett. Luther Shepherd is residing in his own home in Ashland when he hosted the marriage of Milton Nelson to Julia Wilson on 9 March 1864.

By 1870 Elman Shepherd, is an adult age 21, a preacher born in Ohio living with L. E. Shepherd age 56 a druggist born in Ohio and wife A. M. age 31 born Virginia. Others in the household include Anna 6 born in Kentucky, Lucy 4 Kentucky, Mary 11 born Ohio, Grace 2 born Kentucky and a Mary Wilson age 38, milliner born Virginia. No T. L. or Franklin Shephard.

Luther Shephard's wife appears to differ by 1870. A popular undocumented on-line source states that Elizabeth Maddy Shephard died 19 September 1853. From the 1860 census we now know she was still living but could have died prompting Luther to move back to Ashland by 1863. A clue to A. M. Shepherd is posted in the Ashland Independent 7 September 1882 "Mrs. L. E. Shepherd, of this city, is a sister to the Welshman, Thomas Thompson, 60 who as killed by a train last week near Ironton, Ohio."

By 1880 the family is residing on Third Street, Ashland and Luther is listed as overseer of the poor. Both Luther E. Shepard [1812-1885] and Agnes M. Thompson Shepard [1839-1908] are buried in Ashland Cemetery, Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky.

Historically the Shepard/Sheperd family were in Ashland while still part of Greenup County, Kentucky. The letter was written when the town was in its infancy. Mr. Tomelson cited in the letter was Mr. A. A. Tomlinson "of Ohio" according to early histories of Ashland. He taught in a two room frame building used as the first public schoolhouse.

The death of Dick Dickson tells another story. The first train out of Ashland was 7 November 1857. Daily trains hauled pig iron produced by the area furnaces. The tunnels such as the one at Princess were hand dug and very narrow.

It is this blogger's hope that this wonderful piece of history will finally rest in the hands of family members who will continue to piece together the history from this Ashland, Kentucky letter from a grandchild to a grandmother.