Sacred Ground: Burg Keeton Cemetery
In an earlier installment of Sacred Ground, we previewed the Keeton Cemetery in the Tunnel Hill community between Oneida and Paint Rock. It was to Tunnel Hill that Baty Keeton moved after marrying into the Carson family — Emily Jane Carson was his wife — that was already established in the area. And the Keeton family has been one of the most prominent families at Tunnel Hill — both within the community and within the community’s Baptist church — ever since.
This is a story of the Keeton ancestorial history that runs parallel with Baty and Elizabeth Jane Keeton — one that takes place a few miles to the southwest, where the Keeton family got its start in Helenwood.
Located on a ridge above Greasy Creek, not far outside the boundaries of the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area, is the Burg Keeton Cemetery. Burg Keeton (1842-1906) was a brother to Baty Keeton, and it is here — on property currently owned by the Swain family — that he and several of his family are buried.
Today, the cemetery is completely overgrown. It has not been maintained for many years, and only three of the stones — commercial stones — contain legible engravings. There are a number of other graves that are marked by simple, unengraved field stones. And there are some graves that are unmarked entirely.
Keeton family roots
Eulen Burg Keeton was born in 1842, the second child of Harrison Keeton and Elizabeth J. Reed. (Interestingly, their first child, Ewell Keeton, also had the middle name or nickname of Burg. He is buried at the much larger Keeton Cemetery in Huntsville, off Litton Covered Bridge Road.)
Eulen Burg, Ewell, and Baty were all the sons of Harrison Keeton, the patriarch of the Keeton family in Scott County. Born in Burkesville, Ky. in 1818, Harrison Keeton married Elizabeth J. Reed and they later moved their family to Helenwood, settling along Phillips Creek. Following Elizabeth’s death in 1870, Harrison remarried to Elizabeth J. Rosser. Harrison Keeton and both his wives are buried in a separate, small Keeton Cemetery in the Cherry Fork area of Helenwood.
Harrison and Elizabeth had at least a dozen children: Ewell Keeton, Eulen Burg Keeton, Centers Keeton, Rebecca Keeton Rosser, Milton Keeton, Baty Keeton, Creed Keeton, Scott Keeton, Latitha Keeton Bowling, Queen Vista Keeton Roland, Susanna Keeton Newport, and Harrison Gatewood Keeton.
As previously mentioned, it was Baty Keeton who moved to Tunnel Hill after marriage and became the patriarch of that branch of the Keeton family.
Many of the Keetons in the mid-county section of Scott County can trace their roots to other of Harrison’s sons, including Burg and Centers, both of whom are buried at Burg Keeton Cemetery near Greasy Creek.
Burg Keeton’s family
Eulen Burg Keeton was a small child when the family moved to Helenwood from Burkesville, Ky. in the 1840s. He married Elizabeth “Betty” Hatfield. She was the granddaughter of Joseph Hatfield, the Revolutionary War veteran whose name is inscribed on the plaque of Revolutionary War veterans outside the old Scott County Courthouse in Huntsville. (Genealogical sources list the date of their marriage as Dec. 9, 1866; however, it appears their oldest child was born in 1864, and the 1900 census states they had been married for 36 years.)
According to census records, Burg and Betty’s first-born was William H. “Bill” Keeton, born in 1864. He was followed by Joseph Fowler Keeton in 1866, Trussy Keeton in 1868, and Lurelda “Reldy” Jane Keeton in 1870. Children who would come later include George Keeton in 1871, Rosette Keeton in 1874, Burnette Keeton in 1876, and Kissiah “Kizzie” Keeton in 1878. Some of the birth years are approximate, based on ages given in the 1870 and 1880 censuses.
Burg Keeton was a veteran of the U.S. Civil War, enlisting in the Confederate Army’s 7th Tennessee in 1862.
Burg Keeton Cemetery
The Burg Keeton Cemetery was started on Feb. 25, 1896, when infant Miles Keeton died. His grave is marked by a field stone, one of the few at the cemetery that contains a legible inscription. He was born on Feb. 10, 1896, and died 15 days later.
It’s not clear whose child Miles Keeton was, but his parents likely weren’t Burg and Bettie; their last child, Kizzie, was born in 1878, and they would have both been well in their 50s by 1896. More likely, Miles Keeton was one of Burg and Bettie’s grandchildren.
The Findagrave website lists Burg Keeton as being the second person buried at the small cemetery, in 1906. However, that is likely an error. Burg Keeton is listed in the 1920 census. Still living with his wife, Betty, two of their adult children, and an adult grandson, at the age of 77. It appears that he died sometime between 1920 and 1930. However, his grave at Burg Keeton Cemetery is either unmarked or is marked by an uninscribed stone.
Betty Keeton also died in the 1920s, but her grave is also not marked by a legible stone.
Others who are said to be buried at the cemetery include Centers Keeton, Burg Keeton’s brother, who may have died in 1915; William Keeton, Burg’s learning-disabled son, who never married, lived at home, and died of unknown causes on April 19, 1916; Burnetta Keeton, Burg’s daughter, who died on June 2, 1919, and a George Keeton.
The only three graves with commercial stones at the Burg Keeton Cemetery were between 1932 and 1945.
On Nov. 8, 1932, Harrison Keeton died at the age of 67. He was the son of Centers Keeton — making him Burg Keeton’s nephew — and married Itaska “Taskie” Minnesota Phillips. His wife had died three years earlier and is buried at Black Creek Crossroads Cemetery in Robbins. They had at least eight, and perhaps as many as 10, children.
Taskie Phillips was the sister of Lindsay Haywood Phillips, the Scott County game warden who was killed while serving a warrant on the sheriff in 1936 and is buried at the nearby Dewey Phillips Cemetery.
Also buried at Burg Keeton Cemetery are Granville Keeton and his wife, Louvernia Thompson Keeton. They died in 1934 and 1945, respectively.
Granville Keeton was another of Centers Keeton’s sons. He married Louvernia Thompson, the daughter of Elzwick and Nancy Brown Thompson. They were the in-laws of Lindsay Phillips; their daughter, Erna Keeton, married Lindsay Phillips. Following his murder, she remarried to Manuel Duncan.
Cemetery census
BURG KEETON CEMETERY
GPS Coordinates: 36.436836, -84.593701
First Burial: 1896
Last Burial: 1945
Burials since Robert Bailey’s 1994 cemetery census? No.
Burnetta Keeton, 1876-1919
Centers Keeton, 1842-1915
Elizabeth Hatfield Keeton, 1841-1925
Eulen Burg Keeton, 1842-N/A
George Keeton, N/A-N/A
Granville Keeton, 1863-1934
Harrison Keeton, 1865-1932
Louvernia Thompson Keeton, 1865-1945
Miles Keeton, 1896-1896
William Keeton, 1871-1916
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.