Sacred Ground: Allred Cemetery

Located on a knoll above S.R. 63 just a stone’s throw from the Scott/Campbell county line is the Allred Cemetery, and here you’ll find the names of several of Straight Fork Creek’s early settler families — like Lay and Adkins … and, of course, the one the cemetery is named after, Allred.

The Allred Cemetery dates back to the 1870s. It remains active and well-maintained, with more than 220 burials having taken place here since its inception.

The Lay family

Michael Lay was the first person buried at Allred Cemetery, after he died at the relatively young age of 55 on Dec. 14, 1879. His headstone is in the style of many of Scott County’s commercial headstones from that era, a tall and slender monument.

Michael Lay was a Baptist preacher, ordained into the ministry in July 1861. He was the son of “Missouri Jack” Lay and Rachel Foley.

The Lay family was prominent in eastern Scott County and on into Campbell County during the 19^th century, settling places like Rockhouse, Straight Fork and Elk Valley. Michael Lay’s brother, William Dandy Lay, was the great-grandfather of Arlie Lay, the young entrepreneur who moved from Rockhouse to Oneida and began a chain of furniture stores in the early 20^th century.

During Michael Lay’s time, the Lay family still lived at Elk Valley, where his parents and several of his siblings are buried. One exception was Michael’s brother, Moses Lay, who moved to Buffalo Creek.

Meanwhile, Michael Lay wasn’t the only member of his generation of the Lay clan who was a preacher. Two of his brothers, Spencer Lay (1811-1883) and James A. Lay (1821-1905) were also in the ministry.

Michael Lay married Lydia Baird, who was also buried at Allred Cemetery when she died in 1908. They had five children: Jesse, Elizabeth, Jane, Emily and Rachel. Jane and Rachel married brothers, William Churchel and Peter, who were the sons of Jesse James Adkins and Martha Byrd.

The Adkins family

Two-year-old Michael Adkins was the second person buried at Allred Cemetery in 1881. He was the son of William Churchel Adkins and Jane Lay.

As mentioned above, W.C. and his brother Peter, who married sisters from the Lay family, were the sons of Jesse James Adkins and Martha Byrd. Their paternal grandparents were John Stanton Adkins and Mary Saunders. John Stanton is buried in a largely forgotten cemetery on Jellico Creek in eastern Scott County. Jesse was one of their eight children. His brother was Sterling Adkins, the well-known minister who founded the Baptist churches at Smokey Creek and Upper Jellico Creek.

Jesse’s wife, Martha, was from the Byrd family that settled in the Fairview area and is well-represented at Fairview Cemetery. In fact, both Jesse and Martha were buried at Fairview.

Jesse and Martha had five children, including Peter and William Churchel. Their sister, Elizabeth Caroline, married into the Lay family just like her brothers did. She married Thomas Lay, who was the son of Moses Lay — making him a nephew to Michael Lay and a first cousin to Jane and Rachel Lay. Like Elizabeth’s parents, Thomas and Elizabeth were buried at Fairview Cemetery.

Like his brothers and one of his sisters, John Crittenden Adkins also buried into the Lay family. He married Martha, who was a sisters to Thomas Lay. So, to sum it up, two of Jesse and Martha’s children married Lay siblings, while two more of their children married siblings from a separate branch of the Lay family.

John and Martha are buried at the Adkins family cemetery just behind Morning Star Baptist Church at Straight Fork. They had seven children: Sylvester, Sanuis, Laura, William, Rachel, Alonzoe and Ara.

Another sister, Sally, married Edmon Neal and is buried at Allred Cemetery. They had several children, including Rachel, William and Jesse, who are all buried at Allred Cemetery.

William Churchel Adkins was the third person buried at Allred Cemetery in 1887. His sister-in-law, Rachel Lay Adkins, was buried at the cemetery in 1888.

The Allred family

The Allred family came to Straight Fork in the 1880s. Harden Allred was originally from Knoxville, the son of John and Hannah Allred. He married Rachel Murphy and they had several children.

There were no Allreds recorded in Scott County — or Campbell County — when the 1880 census was taken. By the time the 1900 census was taken (the 1890 census was mostly destroyed), Harden Allred — by then a widower — was living in Scott County. Separately, Sarah Hooper Allred — also widowed — lived in Scott County. Living with Sarah was her 17-year-old son, Birt, who appears to be Albert Jackson Allred, buried at Fairview Cemetery.

Sarah Allred’s husband was Benjamin Allred, although it isn’t clear when he died or where he is buried.

In 1889, Sarah and Ben’s 16-year-old daughter, Lelia, died and was buried at Allred Cemetery. Her grave is separated from the rest at the cemetery by a wrought iron fence. An Allred family history website documents that Lelia’s parents had to move away after her burial, and erected the fence to prevent animals from damaging the grave. Lelia was the fifth person to be buried at the cemetery.

Sarah Allred would die in 1923 and be buried at Allred Cemetery. She last appeared in the 1920 census, living at the home of her son, John Allred, and his family.

Just as the Lay and Adkins families of Straight Fork were interconnected, so were the Lay and Allred families and the Adkins and Allred families. John Allred married Zoe Adkins, who was one of the daughters of Peter and Rachel Lay Adkins. One of John and Zoe’s daughters was Mamie Allred, who married William Lay — a great-grandson of William Dandy Lay. They had an infant son, John Wymer, buried at the cemetery in 1937.

In 1936, baby Bertha Mae Allred was buried at the cemetery. She was the one-month-old daughter of Archie Allred and Rebia Byrd. Her death certificate noted that she died of colitis and her mother had tuberculosis. Colitis can result from T.B., an indication that she may have contracted the disease from her mother. Just two months later, Rebia died at the age of 20. She, too, was buried at Allred Cemetery.

Archie Allred was the son of Albert Jackson Allred and Della Byrd, and a grandson of Sarah Allred. Following Rebia’s death, he remarried to Esther Rachel Lay, a great-granddaughter of Rev. James Lay, brother of Michael Lay. Following Esther’s death, Archie remarried again to her daughter from a previous marriage, Ruby. He and all three of his wives are buried at Allred Cemetery.

The cemetery grows

The first person without the surname Lay, Adkins or Allred to be buried at Allred Cemetery is believed to be five-year-old Henry Hill, who died in 1891. He was the second-born child of Richard Hill and Mary Ann Adkins. His mother was only 32 when she died in March 1898 and was also buried at the cemetery. He has a brother, Dock Lacey Hill, who was later buried at the cemetery when he died in 1931 at age 37. Dock’s wife, Ethel Byrd, was also buried at the cemetery after dying of tuberculosis in 1924 at age 28. Ethel was the wife of Rebia Byrd, the first wife of Archie Allred.

The first person not connected to the Lay, Adkins or Allred families to be buried at the cemetery was baby John William Griffiths, who died in January 1894 at the age of eight months. He was the son of Thomas and Maggie Griffiths.

Thomas and Maggie were originally from Wales, but the family migrated to the U.S. and eventually settled in Campbell County. At that point, they dropped the “s” from their last name.

Thomas and Maggie had another child, one-year-old John Griffiths, buried at Coal Hill Cemetery in 1891 — an indicator that they likely moved to the Glenmary area to work in the coal industry there.

The cemetery today

The most recent burial at Allred Cemetery was Myrtle Carroll Chambers, who died in July 2023. Her parents were Wheeler Carrol and Edith Evans, and she married James Ray Chambers, who was buried at the cemetery in 2002. She had a son, James Steven Chambers, buried at the cemetery in 1997.

Also in 2023, Arnold Bailey was buried at the cemetery.

Cemetery census

ALLRED CEMETERY
GPS Coordinates: 36.39520, -84.33340
First Burial: 1889
Last Burial: 2023

Jane Lay Adkins, 1852–1938
Jesse Adkins, 1872–1908
Martha Jane Adkins, 1914–1917
Michael Adkins, 1879–1881
Olif Adkins, 1914–1914
Peter Adkins, 1848–1917
Rachel Lay Adkins, N/A–1888
Sherwood Adkins, 1842–1919
William C. Adkins, 1852–1887
Aelia Allred, 1872–1889
Archie Allred, 1908–1980
Benton Allred, 1942–1976
Bertha Mae Allred, 1936–1936
Billy Allred, 1954–2001
Brenda Farris Allred, 1950–2014
Burton N. Allred, 1932–1986
Debra Chambers Allred, 1956–2001
Emily H. Allred, 1942–2020
Esther Lay Allred, 1916–1979
Jesse T. Allred, 1913–1995
John H. Allred, 1877–1957
Lelia Allred, 1872–1889
Pauline Lay Allred, 1924–2009
Rachel Lay Allred, 1919–2006
Rebia Byrd Allred, 1915–1936
Ruby L. Allred, 1931–2002
Sarah S. Allred, 1842–1923
William P. Allred, 1909–1988
Zoera Adkins Allred, 1882–1967
Arnold A. Bailey, 1948–2023
Kristin L. Ballenger, 1990–1990
Alan F. Borquist, 1942–1999
Bethany J. Bowen, 1991–1991
William Bowling, 1888–1904
Baby Son Byrd, 1934–1934
Baty Byrd, 1884–1958
Betty F. Byrd, 1942–1945
Cleopas Byrd, 1926–1979
Dester Byrd, 1906–1988
Effie Pennington Byrd, 1900–1981
Emit Byrd, 1902–1980
Harold Byrd, 1918–1993
Infant Byrd, 1904–1904
Irene Lloyd Byrd, 1921–1977
Jesse Byrd, 1837–1916
Josephine Allred Byrd, 1907–1994
Lee Byrd, 1923–1977
Leo Byrd Jr., 1940–1945
Leo Byrd Sr., 1919–1991
Linda Dring Byrd, 1944–1974
Luster Byrd, 1907–1918
Luster Byrd, 1930–1930
Maggie Hill Byrd, 1902–1943
Margaret Henry Byrd, 1923–2001
Margaret Adkins Byrd, 1848–1938
Martha Adkins Byrd, 1847–1910
Melvin Byrd, 1905–1944
Nicodemus Byrd, 1871–1945
Rachel Allred Byrd, 1902–1934
Richard D. Byrd, 1949–2022
Stacy Tennessee Byrd, 1880–1963
Flossie Campbell, 1907–2008
Walter Campbell, 1906–1989
Arlie Chambers, 1913–1918
James R. Chambers, 1937–2002
James S. Chambers, 1959–1997
Myrtle Carroll Chambers, 1938–2023
Calvin R. Claxton Jr., 1975–2008
Calvin R. Claxton Sr., 1952–2017
Joyce Caddell Claxton, 1966–2006
Lilly Criscillis, 1909–1910
Charles A. Cross, 1951–2004
Family Crowley, N/A–N/A
James L. Daguherty, 1899–1906
Ida Day Daugherty, 1895–1960
Janice K. Daugherty, 1962–1995
Vaughn L. Daugherty, 1941–2008
Vonnette Simpson Daugherty, 1943–2002
Alma Day, 1928–1930
Daughter Day, 1927–1927
Edith Johnson Day, 1903–1931
Joseph H. Day, 1907–1953
Leslie Day, 1902–1931
Zackariah Day, 1867–1949
Ina Thomas Duncan, 1874–1921
Millard Duncan, 1904–1929
Daisy Duncan-Walker, 1905–1982
Brittney Fouse, N/A–1993
Betty Simpson Foust, 1945–2021
Emmitt Gibson, 1958–1998
Flossie Byrd Gibson, 1925–1981
John W. Griffiths, 1893–1894
Flora Byrd Grubbs, 1920–2008
Elmer L. Harding, 1927–1970
Elmer L. Harding Jr., 1963–2019
Scotty Harding, 1967–1978
Catherine Anderson Hatfield, 1825–1912
Emsley Hatfield, 1866–1949
Maggie Hatfield, 1902–1919
Parzida Huckaby Hatfield, 1863–1929
Rosa Hatfield, 1892–1913
George A. Henry, 1962–2005
Del I. Hill, 1902–1932
Dock L. Hill, 1894–1931
Ethel Byrd Hill, 1896–1924
Henry Hill, 1886–1891
Hugh E. Hill, 1924–1924
Leoda Hill, 1919–1921
Mary Adkins Hill, 1865–1898
Sylvania Hill, 1905–1908
Nevada Wright Hughett, 1888–1911
F. M. Jeffers, 1877–1901
Connie Standridge Jenkins, N/A–2017
Curtis Eugene Jessie, 1953–2022
Ernest C. Jessie, 1914–1976
Hilda Day Jessie, 1916–1978
Raymond N. Jessie, 1952–2008
Benton M. Johnson, 1916–1992
Camellia Adkins Johnson, 1886–1966
Elvin Johnson, 1922–1969
Frances Lay Johnson, 1919–2003
Joseph E. Johnson, 1879–1905
Martin D. Johnson, 1933–1933
Mary E. Johnson, 1919–1939
Millie Johnson, 1932–1932
Nora Johnson, 1876–1914
Ruben M. Johnson, 1884–1963
Sarah Johnson, 1839–1915
Son Johnson, 1926–1926
Son Johnson, 1927–1928
Grace Byrd King, 1931–1990
Lee King, 1924–2016
Robyn Alsup King, N/A–2019
Beula Lawson, N/A–N/A
Charlotte Lawson, 1958–1958
Florence Lawson, N/A–N/A
Edna Wright Lay, 1892–1964
Esaw Lay, 1919–1979
Ethel Byrge Lay, 1930–2009
Gladys McDaniel Lay, 1941–2004
Helen Neal Lay, 1919–1991
Ida Neal Lay, 1916–1988
John W. Lay, 1937–1937
Luther Lay, 1915–1978
Lydia Baird Lay, 1823–1908
Mamie Allred Lay, 1911–1984
Michael Lay, 1823–1879
Ovia Lay, 1924–2004
Thomas F. Lay, 1891–1945
Windell Lay, 1940–2010
Alfred Lough, 1899–1973
Angelettie Neal Lough, 1901–1932
Grover C. Lough, 1929–1959
Michelle Rigney Marlow, 1981–2017
Lonnie McDonald, N/A–1899
Marlenia Mefford, 1905–1907
Noah Mefford, 1897–1915
Nancy Jessie Melton, 1942–2007
Jasper Moffett, 1918–1975
Mary Allred Moffett, 1938–2009
Charles E. Muse, 1886–1944
Cordellia Chambers Muse, 1889–1979
Eliza Bowling Muse, 1873–1920
James L. Muse, 1864–1920
Onvie L. Muse, 1916–1948
Raymond E. Muse, 1923–2004
Virgil O. Muse, 1928–2002
Bill Neal, 1905–1970
Caleb Neal, 1880–1961
Edmon Neal, 1854–1927
Eliza S. Neal, 1911–1967
Elmina Neal, 1883–1917
Elsie Neal, 1921–1923
Frank E. Neal, 1927–1997
Hubert Neal, 1911–1985
Infant Neal, 1938–1938
Isaac Gross Neal, 1860–1938
Jesse Neal, 1885–1962
Le Roy Neal, 1946–1946
Martha Neal, 1877–1909
Melvina Sharp Neal, 1880–1965
Nellie Lamb Neal, 1924–2005
Rosa Neal, 1906–N/A
Sarah Adkins Neal, 1852–1943
Vernon J. Neal, 1946–2013
Vina Byrd Neal, 1883–1953
William M. Neal, 1883–1959
Chester B. Nelson, 1954–2006
Marsha M. Nelson, 1956–1993
Earl O. Newport, 1912–1913
George Pennington, 1919–1933
Elmer J. Phillips, 1927–1966
Anna Foust Rigney, 1963–2020
Corrine Byrd Robinson, 1943–2018
James H. Robinson, 1943–2018
Jennifer Robinson Roney, 1989–2012
Martha Simpson Rose, 1898–1974
Vance Lee Shadoan, 1966–1990
Ena Byrd Silcox, 1898–1974
Lucille Silcox Lloyd, 1925–2011
Baby Simpson, N/A–N/A
Elbert Simpson, 1954–1956
Esco Simpson, 1941–2009
Everette Simpson, 1909–1978
James R. Simpson, 1947–2002
Mary Simpson, 1896–1989
Rachel Neal Simpson, 1875–1957
Viva Silcox Simpson, 1920–1987
Robert C. Smith, 1927–1995
Unknown Son, N/A–N/A
Mary Adkins Van, 1877–1904
Meale Van, 1903–1903
Michael .C Vann, 1898–1930
Dana Wallace, 1941–2018
Benjamin F. Ward, 1889–1964
Flemon Lawson Ward, 1905–1960
Neita M. Ward, N/A–N/A
Jerry Watson, 1907–1907
Ralph Watson, 1908–1908
Silas York Jr., 1931–2011

This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.