Sacred Ground: Coal Hill Cemetery
GLENMARY | Today, the old railroad town of Glenmary and the adjacent mining community of Coal Hill are largely memories. Gone are the days when this southern Scott County hub could boast as being one of the largest settlements in the entire region, thanks to the railroad and the rich deposits of coal just beneath the earth’s surface.
There are still a number of people living in these communities, many of them with ties to the industrial center that Glenmary was in the 1890s. And the number of people living here is increasing, as the Coal Hill area finds a second-generation utilization as a quiet and peaceful residential community some 100 years after it bustled with activities related to mining and industry. But the area’s quiet and peaceful nature bely the rich history and tradition that this area espouses.
There are a number of artifacts scattered about that help tell the story of Coal Hill’s heyday — the foremost of which are probably the brick-lined ovens that were used by the Glenmary Coal & Coke Co. Another is the community’s grave yard — the Coal Hill Cemetery.
Almost all of the cemeteries in Scott County at least got their start as family burial grounds, though many grew to become community cemeteries. Coal Hill Cemetery is one of the few exceptions that truly began as a community cemetery. Dating back to about 1880, it contains the graves of several of the early immigrants to southern Scott County who helped provide labor for the burgeoning coal industry here.
The Coal Hill Cemetery sits directly adjacent to the Archie Lewallen Cemetery. To the eye, they’re essentially one cemetery. For legal purposes, they’re two separate cemeteries, and the Sacred Ground series will profile the Lewallen Cemetery next week.
Coal Hill Cemetery, the largest of the two adjoining cemeteries, has grown to include more than 200 graves. It is well-maintained and remains active even today. It is located just a little more than a mile off U.S. Highway 27 near the old Glenmary depot. There are several sections of the cemetery that are partitioned off by wrought-iron fences and contain the graves of some of the community’s early families. It is these partitions in particular that help tell a fascinating story of days gone by.
One interesting footnote before delving into the story of the Coal Hill Cemetery: This cemetery was once referred to as the “White Cemetery.” That’s because there were two other cemeteries at Coal Hill that were called “Colored Cemeteries.” Black and white employees worked side-by-side in the mines and production plants at Glenmary, but they were segregated in death. One of the “Colored Cemeteries” is located just a short distance south of the Coal Hill Cemetery — across the road and through a field.
The Heaps family
A sign at the Coal Hill Cemetery states that the cemetery was established in 1883. The first burial there may have taken place three years earlier, in 1880.
That’s the year that Elizabeth Heaps is believed to have died. Her family is one of those with its own section of the cemetery, enclosed in wrought iron fencing.
Born Elizabeth Bone in 1830, she was a native of England, and the wife of John Heaps (1815-1888). Her husband, who was also born in England, was the man who opened the first mine at Coal Hill in 1878, along with Jabe Crook. (By 1884, according to the late Maggie Barger, Crook had sold his interest in the company to a group of businessmen from Lexington, Ky. and the Glenmary Coal & Coke Co. was organized.)
It’s not clear exactly when John and Elizabeth Heaps moved to Glenmary, though it would have probably been in the 1870s. An 1860 census found the Heaps family living in Pennsylvania, which is probably where they wound up after migrating to the U.S. from England. By 1870, they had moved to Clinton County, Ky., near Byrdstown, Tenn. Interestingly, they were still shown in Clinton County when the 1880 census was taken, though John Heaps is believed to have opened the mine at Coal Hill by that time. Also interesting: an obituary for one of the Heaps children — daughter Lettice, who spent much of her adult life in Roane County, Tenn. — states that she was born in England in 1861.
While John Heaps had a headstone placed at his grave in the Coal Hill Cemetery when he died in 1888, Elizabeth Heaps did not. She had a commercial flat stone that was placed later. Because the stone is inscribed only with her name, and not her dates of birth or death, we don’t know exactly when she died. The public record does not include a death certificate to shed any additional light on the matter. She was alive when the 1880 census was taken, but is believed to have died soon thereafter.
The wrought iron fence enclosing the Heap family’s graves, complete with the family’s name plate on the gate, is identical to that of the Neathery family nearby, and would suggest that both families were relatively well-off.
Also buried within the Heaps partition are Josephine “Josie” Heaps and Martin “Dock” Heaps. Dock Heaps was one of the children of John and Elizabeth Heaps. It is not known when he died. Josie was his wife. They were married in 1881. She died in 1922, at the age of 65.
Like Elizabeth Heaps, both Dock and Josie have flat commercial stones that were placed after their deaths.
There were several other Heaps children, as well. Most of them were buried in Kentucky. However, Sarah Ann Heaps (1868-1960) is buried at Coal Hill Cemetery. She married James Toomey (1864-1921) and several members of their family are buried alongside them at Coal Hill.
The Neathery family
Just a few dozen feet from the Heaps partition at Coal Hill Cemetery is the identical Neathery partition.
Murtle Neathery is believed to have been the second person buried at Coal Hill, in February 1883. She was just 10 months old at the time, and was the daughter of James Alvis Neathery (1854-1917) and Leann Burchett (1855-1894). Both of her parents are also buried at Coal Hill.
While Coal Hill’s Neathery family were not immigrants from England, like the Heaps, they were involved in the early mining operations at Coal Hill. Records suggest that they followed the Heaps family from Kentucky. They were also from Clinton County, which is where James Alvis’s parents, Clinton Neathery and Betsy Allen, were buried.
Like the Heaps family, the Neathery family was not listed as living in Scott County when the 1880 census was taken. James Alvis and Leann were listed in Monticello, Ky., along with their two children, Eddy and Charles.
These census records suggest that both of these early families moved to Glenmary shortly after 1880 — sometime between when census enumerators made their rounds in 1880 and when baby Murtle Neathery died in 1883. It would not be surprising to learn that the first mine at Coal Hill did indeed begin production in 1878, and that John Heaps returned to Kentucky for his wife and children sometime thereafter.
James and Leann Neathery had at least five children besides Eddy, Charlie and Murtle. The rest were born after the family moved to Glenmary: Sallie Kendrick in 1882, George Martin in 1884, John Ridley in 1886, Roy Alvis in 1890, and Ann Nettie in 1892.
In addition to Murtle, Eddy — his real name was William Edward — and Charlie were both buried at Coal Hill. Charlie was the first to die, in 1914. Eddy died in 1929 by poisoning himself. (He does not have a headstone, but is believed to have been buried at Coal Hill.) Charlie also had two children buried at Coal Hill. One was a newborn buried there in 1905. The other stone contains no dates.
Besides Murtle, two of the Neathery children died young. Roy Alvis died just 20 days after his first birthday in 1891. Ann Nettie was three years old when she died the day after Christmas in 1895. Both were buried at Coal Hill.
Following Leann’s death in 1894, James Alvis remarried to Tessie Myers. She was buried at Coal Hill when she died in 1917, two months after James’ death. She had two children from an earlier marriage, Roscoe McCann and Floyd McCann, who were buried at Coal Hill in 1907 and 1919.
The early burials
Another early burial at Coal Hill occurred in May 1883, when 20-year-old Crist Durr was buried there. At least, that’s how the historian Robert Bailey inventoried the grave when he transcribed the cemetery in 1994. More recently, Tim West transcribed it as Crist Dupp but acknowledged that it could be Durp. Indeed, the headstone is hard to read.
The stone indicates that Crist Durr (or Dupp, as the case may be) was born in Chapon, Penn., which might have been a misspelling of Champion, Penn. No additional information is available, and he appears to have no family members buried at Coal Hill, suggesting that he was one of those who moved to the community to work in the mining industry.
A three-week-old baby, Minnie Toomey, was buried at the cemetery in 1888. This was likely the child of James and Sarah Ann Toomey, and a grandchild of John and Elizabeth Heaps, but the inscription on the stone is worn and impossible to read.
The Toomey family
James and Sarah Ann lost several children at young ages. While it isn’t clear that Minnie Toomey was their baby, they had a one-year-old daughter, Eva, buried at the cemetery in 1895, and a 13-year-old son, John J. Toomey, buried at the cemetery at 1903.
Several other members of the Toomey family are also buried at the cemetery, beginning with 29-year-old Dennis Toomey in 1896.
A Toomey family showed up in the 1880 census as living in Morgan County, Tenn. There was John Toomey, his wife Margaret, and their five children, ranging from ages 22 to 12, most of whom weren’t named.
Margaret Toomey (1827-1907) is buried at Coal Hill Cemetery. Her headstone indicates that she was born in Ireland.
There is some confusion because a separate Margaret Toomey — also married to a John Toomey, also born in Ireland, and also born in 1827 — is buried at Potter Cemetery in Huntsville. However, the Margaret Toomey buried in Huntsville died in 1918. The Margaret Toomey buried at Coal Hill died in 1907.
It seems obvious that the James and Dennis Toomey buried at Coal Hill are brothers, and that the Margaret Toomey buried there was their mother. How that ties into the very similar Margaret Toomey purported to be buried at Potter Cemetery in Huntsville isn’t yet clear.
Also buried at Coal Hill is Charley Toomey, who was another of the children of James and Sarah Ann Toomey and died in 1922 at the age of 35.
There was also a William Toomey, born in 1900, who married Sarah Welch. They had an infant son buried at the cemetery in 1924. Their daughter, Georgia Helen Toomey Piercy, was buried at the cemetery in 2015.
The Milsom and Davison families
Another family that moved to Coal Hill for work was the Milson family.
Henry James Milson (1859-1900) was originally from Pennsylvania, the son of an immigrant from Wales, John Milsom, who died during the Civil War from a disease he contracted while held as a prisoner in a Rebel camp.
Henry James Milson’s connection to Coal Hill was through John Heaps — the man who opened the first mine there. Henry James married Jane Ann “Jennie” Davison, who was the daughter of John Davison and Jane Heaps. Jane Heaps was a sister to John Heaps, making Jennie Davison the niece of John Heaps.
Jane Heaps never lived in Glenmary. Both she and her husband, John Davison, died in England. However, several of their children migrated to the U.S. and eventually wound up at Glenmary. They’re buried at Coal Hill Cemetery: Thomas Davison (spelled Davidson) and his wife, Janey Dixon, are buried there, along with their daughter, Rebecca Davidson Yahnig; Rebecca Davison Birch is buried there (like her niece, Rebecca Davidson Yahnig, she died young, and both of their husbands were buried elsewhere); and Jesse Davison (spelled Davidson) is buried at Coal Hill, along with his wife, Emma Evans, and two of their children who died young: seven-year-old Johnnie Davidson and four-month-old Thomas Davidson.
Henry and Jennie Milson had a one-year-old son, Johnny, who was buried at Coal Hill in 1886.
Jennie and her siblings also had a half-brother, Martin Tomlison, who was buried at Coal Hill in 1895.
Jennie Milsom was buried at the cemetery in 1893, and Henry James was buried there in 1900.
The cemetery today
The Coal Hill Cemetery remains active, with a couple of new burials occurring there each year, on average. The most recent burials were Oscar Taubert and Roberta “Lynn” Huckeby in 2023.
Oscar Taubert was an HVAC installer from Robbins.
Other recent burials at the cemetery have included Lucille Huckeby in 2022, Ledford Henry and Bryan Fairchild in 2021, and Ronald Nagy in 2020.
Also born at Coal Hill in 2016 was Sammy E. “Sam” Wright, who died in 2016 at the age of 74. He lived nearby the cemetery, and was a long-time educator and member of the Scott County Board of Education. He was also a one-time county commissioner in Scott County’s 2nd District. His wife, Sandra Faye Griffith, was buried at the cemetery in 2018. His mother, Geneva Young, was buried at Coal Hill in 1945. His grandparents, Samuel Epps Young and Nancy Stringfield, are also buried there. Sam Wright was descended from two of Scott County’s Revolutionary War veterans: Abel Peak, who settled in the Glenmary area, and Joseph Griffith. Peak’s son, Lewis, married Griffith’s granddaughter, Matilda, and they lived in the Glenmary area.
Cemetery Census
COAL HILL CEMETERY
GPS Coordinates: 36.30769, -84.61159
First Burial: ~1880
Last Burial: 2023
Betty Lucille Allen, 1931–1994
Dominickus Bertsch, N/A–1895
Rebecca Davison Birch, 1853–1891
Mary V. Brown, 1913–1916
Wornnie Brown, 1915–1919
Charlie Burch, N/A–1898
John R. Burton, 1851–1902
Irena Conaster Pryor, 1872–1948
May Hill Conatser, 1906–1927
Davie Conors, 1834–1903
Isabell Boyer Conors, 1841–1914
Catherine Green Cummins, 1845–1918
Thomas G. Daugherty, 1927–1944
Ellen Davidson, 1907–1907
Emma Evans Davidson, 1866–1907
Janey Dixon Davidson, 1852–1928
Jesse Davidson, 1855–1938
Johnnie Davidson, 1885–1892
Thomas Davidson, 1850–1919
Thomas H. Davidson, 1892–1893
Dock Davis, 1879–1959
Elva Lay Davis, 1871–1941
James S. Davis, 1865–1940
Jay Davis, 1912–1923
Lucy Davis, 1917–1918
Maggie Davis, 1889–1927
Rebecca Golsyn Davis, 1899–1979
Romania E. Davis, 1904–1906
Rus S. Davis, 1844–1906
Tom Davis, 1876–1937
Cristopher Durr, 1863–1883
Eva Malone Eblen, 1896–1936
Arthur L. Fairchild, 1910–1982
Beatrice Griffith Fairchild, 1915–2002
Bryan Fairchild, 1973–2021
Milford Fairchild, 1944–2013
Milford Fairchild Jr., 1969–1985
John Foster, 1892–1968
Mary Young Foster, 1896–1990
Bertha Fowler, 1901–1901
Alene Robbins Godsey, 1922–2016
Rufus Goodman, N/A–1900
George Griffin, 1879–1913
Arthur Griffith, 1886–1973
Arthur W. Griffith, 1916–1918
Derea Bell Griffith, N/A
George M. Griffith, 1928–2003
Hagar Young Griffith, 1889–1967
Icy Overton Griffith, 1934–1979
Infant Griffith, 1904–1904
Ralph Griffith, 1909–1987
John W. Griffiths, 1890–1891
Elizabeth Bone Heaps, 1830–1880
John Heaps, 1815–1888
Josephine Buster Heaps, 1857–1922
Martin Heaps, 1858–N/A
Nannie Heath, 1910–1911
Christeen Hembree, 1902–1917
Eunice Henry, 1932-2024
Fisher Henry, 1948–2010
Georgia Young Henry, 1913–2010
Hurstle Henry, 1899–1975
Ledford Henry, 1935–2021
Wanda Smithers Henry, 1948–2015
Oscar Hollis, 1876–1962
Billy Huckeby, 1937–2005
Ethel Hembree Huckeby, 1899–1931
Gary K. Huckeby, 1955-2025
Haskel C Huckeby, 1915–1991
Iva Huckeby, 1943–2015
John McKinley Huckeby, 1897–1953
John Huckeby, 1929–1994
Lucille Gunnels Huckeby, 1935–2022
Mary Webb Huckeby, 1915–1990
Mildred Huckeby, 1932–2008
Vesta Huckeby, 1903–1975
Thomas Hughes, 1842–1913
Melford Jack, 1914–1914
Henry Jenkins, 1893–1899
George Kinley, 1887–1889
Maudie A. Kinley, 1890–1890
Floyd C. Lancaster, 1891–1892
Lulu J. Lancaster, 1889–1892
Alice Landrum, 1878–1907
Eliza Smith Lawson, 1847–1908
Edgar Lewallen, 1892–1958
Eva M. Lewallen, 1906–1906
Hollis Lewallen, 1876–1962
James C. Lewallen, 1889–1892
James H. Lewallen, 1904–1906
Minnie Lancaster Lewallen, 1879–1965
Pearl Jane Conaster Lewallen, 1906–1975
Raymond Lewallen, 1901–1976
Granville Lindsey, 1912–1961
Nellie Lindsey, 1934–1934
Lizzie Lowery, 1872–1939
Charles Malone, 1884–1916
Joe Malone, 1852–1918
John Wesley Malone, 1883–1953
Lucy Malone, 1859–1929
Luther B. Malone, 1924–1924
Nellie Martin Malone, 1888–1972
Samuel Malone, 1885–1944
Vyettia Malone, 1896–1933
James R. Marlow, 1943–1970
Floyd McCann, 1883–1907
Jesse McCann, 1906–1907
Roscoe McCann, 1882–1919
Claude McCartt, 1907–1908
Kathryn Fairchild McCartt, 1939–1996
- D. McGuffey, 1834–1907
Henry Milsom, 1859–1900
Jane Davison Milsom, 1866–1893
Johnny Milsom, 1885–1886
Tennie A. Moiser, 1887–1896
Starling Murphy, N/A
Mittie Young Nagy, 1921–2006
Ronald Clemond Nagy, 1947–2020
Ann Neathery, 1892–1895
Charlie E. Neathery, 1878–1914
Infant Neathery, 1905–1905
Infant Neathery, N/A
James Neathery, 1854–1917
Leann Burchett Neathery, 1855–1894
Murtle Neathery, 1882–1883
Roy Neathery, 1890–1891
Tressie Myers Neathery, 1860–1917
William Neathery, 1876–1929
William Parker, 1857–1890
Adda Parllard, 1890–1891
Anthony Patterson, 1895–1896
James Wiley Peters, 1875–1948
Tabitha Paul Peters, 1850–1892
Abraham Phillips, 1905–1910
Julia Phillips, 1903–1905
Shirley Woodard Phillips, 1952–2017
Georgia Toomey Piercy, 1923–2015
George L. Pollard, 1844–1917
Henry Pollard, 1873–1895
John S. Polson, 1913–1914
George H. Polston, 1893–1966
Lula C. Polston, 1892–1964
Albert Pryor, 1892–1970
Molley Rains, 1898–1898
Olley Rains, 1898–1898
William Rowlance, 1850–1908
Carter Lee Russell, 1942–1969
Everett H. Russell, 1902–1990
Lois Russell, 1964–1969
Tina Davis Russell, 1921–1986
Charles Salts, 1936–2008
Joyce Salts, 1946–2007
Baby Sexton, N/A-N/A
- H. Sexton, N/A-N/A
Miller Shilling, 1892–1894
Joe Silcox, 1880–1937
Eligah Sims, 1859–1915
Ida Loudin Sims, 1892–1976
John Sims, 1897–1914
Thomas Sims, 1837–1913
William Sims, 1885–1972
Hugh Strunk, 1874–1915
Arthur Taubert, 1940–2023
Alex Taylor, 1885–1966
Anna Taylor, 1940–N/A
Emma Freels Taylor, 1888–1967
Theodore W. Taylor, 1925–1974
- Thomas, 1837–1913
William E. Thomas, 1885–1972
Martin Tomlinson, 1870–1895
Charles Toomey, 1886–1922
Dennis Toomey, 1866–1896
Eva Toomey, 1894–1895
Infant Toomey, 1924–N/A
James Toomey, 1864–1921
James R. Toomey, 1906–1947
John J. Toomey, 1889–1903
Margrett Toomey, 1827–1907
Miney Toomey, 1888–1888
Sarah Welch Toomey, 1903–1987
Sarah Heaps Toomey, 1868–1960
William Toomey, 1900–1978
Mary M. Wallen, 1890–1890
Iva Young Walls, 1923–2004
Robert Walls, 1928–1981
Thomas Walls, 1948–1957
Mary Stewart Watts, 1931–2019
Benton Webb, N/A-1930
Benton Webb, 1875–1948
Christeen E. Webb, 1922–1929
Connie Webb, 1945–1950
Donnie Webb, 1952–2013
Dovie Webb, 1894–1964
General Webb, 1899–1942
John W. Webb, 1894–1968
Nellie N. Webb, 1926–1933
William Webb, 1956–1973
Isaac Williams, 1859–1929
Larrence E. Williams, 1903–1906
Soitha Williams, 1863–1942
Charles Woodard, 1933–2008
Dennis Woodard, 1945–2001
Elizabeth Woodard, 1924–1992
Doris Todd Wright, 1932–2013
Geneva Young Wright, 1919–1945
Martha Wright, 1837–1912
Sammy E. Wright, 1941–2016
Sandra Griffith Wright, 1944–2018
Veo D. Wright, 1910–1942
Rebecca Davidson Yahnig, 1874–1899
Donny Young, 1950–1950
James R. Young, 1898–1959
Larry T. Young, 1954–1954
Nancy Stringfield Young, 1895–1972
Samuel E. Young, 1893–1949
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.