Sacred Ground: Huntsville Cemetery

Huntsville Cemetery is a fascinating place. Located in the middle of town — on a small knoll that would’ve been on the fringe of Old Huntsville — the cemetery is the final resting place for many of the county seat’s early movers and shakers, with familiar names like Uncle Billy Sharp, Jehu Phillips and Dr. John Brassfield.

Maybe it was the rise of other town cemeteries, like the Potter Cemetery that is literally a stone’s throw away and for years was adjacent to the First Baptist Church, or the Mossop Cemetery by the Presbyterian Church a couple of blocks away. Or maybe it was for an entirely different reason. One way or another, as the Huntsville Cemetery became mostly inactive in the 1970s and 1980s, it was forgotten.

The cemetery is partitioned, with several different portions maintained by the families who have ancestors buried there. That’s not unusual, especially for larger cemeteries. But as the smaller parts of the cemetery were being maintained, the bulk of the graves spent decades being reforested, with new growth surrounding the stones, and many of the stones themselves sinking beneath the surface of the earth.

Earlier this year, Boy Scout Troop 333 of Huntsville undertook a major renovation project at the Huntsville Cemetery as part of an Eagle Scout project by Elijah West. His father, Stephen West, is the troop’s scoutmaster. The Wests, other Scouts, and a team of volunteers spent Saturday after Saturday working at the cemetery, first clearing the underbrush, then probing for stones that had sunken into the ground, and finally cleaning the stones and deciphering who they belong to. 

Along the way, they discovered a few surprises.

Beginnings

The Huntsville Cemetery dates back to 1872. It’s a little surprising that there were no earlier burials there, considering that Huntsville was established as the seat of county government in 1849, and Huntsville Cemetery is the oldest of the three cemeteries in the center of the town (Potter Cemetery dates to 1902 and Mossop Cemetery to 1931). 

Of course, there have been other, much smaller burial grounds that have been lost to time — such as one near Mossop Cemetery where Shadrack Lewallen and several members of his family were buried. And it’s difficult to conclusively date Huntsville Cemetery, since there are a large number of graves that are marked by uninscribed common field stone.

In any event, the first person buried there was 52-year-old W.B. Hembree, who died on July 2, 1872. The son of John H. and Mary Laws Hembree, and the brother of Meshack and Robert Bluford Hembree, W.B. Hembree was one of the earliest Hembrees in Scott County. His stone was buried but was uncovered and cleaned by the Scouts.

Three years later, in 1875, thirty-year-old Martin B. Strunk was buried at Huntsville Cemetery. His is one of a couple of elaborate headstones found at the cemetery. He was part of the large Strunk family from McCreary County, Ky., the son of Daniel and Malinda Ryan Strunk.

Several others would be buried at the cemetery in the 1870s, including baby Marget E. Chambers in 1876, two-year-old Florence B. Byrd in 1876, an infant Sharp baby in 1877, and Thomas Jefferson Lloyd in 1879. 

Thomas Lloyd, a Civil War veteran who served in the Union army, was one of several new graves discovered at the cemetery by West and the Boy Scouts during their project at the cemetery. His grave had not previously been documented there, but his stone was discovered buried in the dirt. 

The Scouts also discovered the stone of Sgt. Hudson T. Burk, who was believed to have been buried at the cemetery but whose stone was broken and unreadable until it was cleaned up. 

H.T. Burk served in the 12th Kentucky Infantry during the Civil War, and died in 1880. He is a part of the Burk clan that settled in the Big South Fork; his father, Allen Burk, was a brother to Jonathan Burk. It was in Jonathan Burk’s cabin along the Big South Fork River that members of the Scott County Home Guard ambushed and killed several Confederate guerrillas who had been terrorizing the river settlements in 1863. The incident became known as the Duck Shoals Skirmish, or the Battle of No Business.

The Keen family

In March 1880, three-year-old Maud Keen was buried at Huntsville Cemetery. She was the first member of the prominent Keen family to be buried there, but would not be the last.

The Keen family is one of those whose graves are partitioned within the cemetery. Maud was the daughter of James Marion Keen and Virginia Richmond Mabry Keen, both of whom were also buried at Huntsville Cemetery — in 1907 and 1912, respectively.

James Marion Keen was originally from Clay County, Tenn., but moved to Scott County in 1875, first settling on Buffalo Creek before later moving to Huntsville and then to New River. At Huntsville, he established a two-story mercantile that was one of the largest stores in Scott County at the time. He later moved his business to New River and also owned a hotel. He was instrumental in the establishment of the 1st Presbyterian Church of Huntsville. 

The Keen family in America dates back to Nicholas Keen, who migrated to the colonies from England and married Penelope Trammell. James Marion Keen was a descendant of Nicholas Keen.

Another Keen descendant was Maj. Alderson Thompson Keen, who lived in Scott County for a period of time and is reported to have persuaded Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside to move his massive army through Scott County en route to defeat Confederate forces in Knoxville in 1863.

In her book, “County Scott and Its Mountain Folk,” historian Esther Sharp Sanderson wrote that Keen and Col. Frank Wolford led a scouting excursion through Scott and Morgan counties in advance of Burnside’s invasion. 

One of Maj. A.T. Keen’s daughters was Helen Blanche Keen, who married James Francis Baker. Their youngest son was Congressman Howard Henry Baker; they were the paternal grandparents of U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. 

Of James M. and Virginia Keen’s children, the most prominent would have certainly been Willard Keen, who was an attorney and was involved in many aspects of Scott County’s civil and government orders during his life. Willard Keen practiced law in Huntsville with James Francis Baker before eventually moving to Chattanooga and starting an insurance firm.

Among Willard Keen’s children was daughter Virginia Mabry Keen, who married Randall Zepp. Their son, George Zepp, returned to the northern Cumberland Plateau, and today is heavily involved in Historic Rugby as a volunteer. He also assisted the Scouts with the cemetery project in Huntsville.

In addition to James M. and Virginia Mabry Keen and their daughter, Maud, there is one other member of the Keen family buried at Huntsville Cemetery. Twenty-five-year-old Emmett Keen, another of James and Virginia’s children, was buried there in 1906.

Scott County’s last slave

Also at Huntsville Cemetery, you’ll find the grave of Nathaniel Hancock. Known affectionately by the townspeople as “Uncle Nat,” Hancock was Scott County’s last slave. He was owned by Potter of Huntsville. The Potters owned most of the few slaves in Scott County at the outset of the Civil War. Perhaps ironically, Jackie Potter’s son, John Potter, faught for the Union army during the Civil War. His wife, Jane Buttram, was listed in the 1850 and 1860 censuses as owning the family’s slaves. 

Uncle Nat Hancock married another of the family’s slaves, Elizabeth Potter. He fought in the Civil War, then returned to Scott County and lived out the rest of his life here. He was well-respected in Huntsville. Sanderson wrote, “Uncle Nat was a congenial old man. The white folks played checkers with him in the stores and enjoyed his whimsical funny ways.”

Nat and Bets, as Elizabeth was known, are both buried at Huntsville Cemetery. It was not known that Bets was buried there until the Scouts uncovered her stone during their project. They also have two children buried there: Hagar and Chatt. Their stones were also uncovered by the Scouts.

Other notables

A few other notable names that you’ll find at Huntsville Cemetery: 

• Dr. John B. Brassfield died in 1885 at the age of 40. He was a prominent physician in the Huntsville area. The Brassfield family was originally from Kentucky. 

• William S. Hembree and Marian A. Hembree were twins who died in October 1895. Born on Oct. 2, both died in infancy. William died first, on Oct. 20. Marian died eight days later. They share a double stone.

• William Sharp died in 1918 at the age of 93. He was Scott County’s oldest man at the time of his death. “Uncle Billy,” as he was known about town, was the son of Isham and Sally Joyce Sharp, who moved from North Carolina to Buffalo Creek when he was a child. A member of the Scott County Home Guard during the Civil War, Sharp owned both a general store and a hotel in Huntsville, and was a county register for two terms. It is reported that outlaws Jesse and Frank James boarded at Sharp’s hotel when they were in Scott County after the war, and that Jesse James slept in the same room as Sharp’s son, Joseph Sharp. 

• Jehu Phillips died in 1910. The son of Joseph and Elizabeth Lawson Phillips, who moved to Scott County in the early 1900s, he was a Civil War veteran and was an early elected official. He was also a Baptist preacher. One of his sons, Riley Phillips, owned the Phillips Hotel in Huntsville. Both of his wives, Rebecca Sexton Phillips, who died in 1905, and Sarah Phillips, who died in 1941, are also buried at Huntsville Cemetery. His youngest son, William O. Phillips, was also buried there in 1940.

• Dr. Barnie Langford McDonald died in 1925 at age 45 and is buried at Huntsville Cemetery. He practiced allopathic medicine in both Huntsville and New River. There’s a monument erected in his memory at Knoxville’s Lynhurst Cemetery. McDonald’s parents, Newton and Pheraba Jane Cecil McDonald, are also buried at Huntsville Cemetery, as are his brothers, Melva Lawson McDonald and Frazier McDonald, and a sister, Arizona McDonald Russell.

The cemetery today

Today, Huntsville Cemetery is in better shape than it has been in decades, thanks to the work of Stephen West and Boy Scout Troop 333 of Huntsville. In addition to discovering the graves of Thomas Jefferson Lloyd, Elizabeth “Bets” Potter, Chatt Potter and Hagar Potter, and locating the stones of W.B. Hembree and H.T. Burk, the Scouts also found several other stones that were buried. All of the stones were cleaned and put back in place. Among them: 

S.M. Chambers

John Cross

A.K. Hembree

Lucretia Hughett

Mary Duncan

N.A.R.

H.H. Chambers

Stephen Smith

James Hembree

Reuben Griffith

Cemetery census

HUNTSVILLE CEMETERY
GPS Coordinates: 36.40998, -84.48846
First burial: 1872
Last burial: 2003
Burials since Robert Bailey’s 1994 cemetery census? Yes.

Maude Hembree Beaty 1893-1973

Ella Gosnell Black 1858 – N/A

Martha Byrd Boshears 1865-1901

Dr. John B. Brassfield 1844-1885

Hudson T. Burk 1835-1880

Florence B. Byrd 1873-1876

James T. Byrd 1886-1887

Katherine Byrge 1889-1916

Clyde M. Chambers 1914-1914

H.H. Chambers 1885-1886

Marget E. Chambers 1875-1876

S.H. Chambers 1885-1886

William S. Chambers 1870-1844

Lida Craig 1865 – N/A

John F. Cross 1873-1901

Ezekiel Dexter 1896-1933

Marion Duncan 1843 – 1927

Martha Cross Duncan 1831-1888

Abraham Griffith 1840-1895

Ann Perry Griffith 1845-N/A

Reuben C. Griffith 1886-1887

Nathaniel Hancock 1826 – 1917

Margret Harness 1808-1884

Alvis K. Hembree 1857-1904

Bell P. Hembree 1910-1910

Celia Hembree 1896-1909

China Phillips Hembree 1872-1943

Ezekiel Hembree 1860-1929

George D. Hembree 1899-1955

Herbert E. Hembree Jr. 1905-1905

Herbert M. Hembree 1906-1980

Infant Hembree 1911-1911

James Hembree 1818-1894

Josephene S. Hembree 1910-2003

Marian A. Hembree 1895-1895

Sela Goad Hembree 1858-1890

Vina Hembree 1902-1988

W.B. Hembree 1820-1872

William S. Hembree 1895-1895

Arthur B. Hughett 1912-1913

Edna Hughett 1914-1915

Garfield Hughett 1914-1914

James P. Hughett 1863-1934

Lucretia U. Hughett 1862-1903

William A. Hughett Jr. 1836-1913

Emmett Keen 1880-1906

James M. Keen 1842-1907

Maud Keen 1876-1880

Virginia Mabry Keen 1851-1912

Flora M. Lawson 1908-1920

Martha Duncan Lay 1857-1887

Mary B. Lay 1882-N/A

Amelia Smith Lewallen 1878-1905

Mary Lewallen 1842-1884

Maud D. Lewallen 1881-1883

Thomas J. Lloyd 1843-1879

Katherine J. McDonald 1906-1970

Edith C. Mabe 1919-1919

Dr. Barnie L. McDonald 1879-1925

Bertha Baird McDonald 1885-1958

Ernest G. McDonald 1907-1955

Frazier McDonald Sr. 1882-1967

Howard McDonald Jr. 1955-1956

Mamie Walker McDonald 1893-1944

May McDonald 1885-1916

Melva L. McDonald Sr. 1867-1927

Newton McDonald 1842-1913

Pheraba Cecil McDonald 1844-1929

Robert B. McDonald 1934-1934

G.W. Murphy 1861-1917

A.R.N. 1879-1880

Benamin F. Offutt 1852-1915

Mary D. Offutt 1911-1920

William H. Offutt 1915-1921

Chester Phillips 1892-1893

Dianie Phillips N/A-N/A

Harvey Phillips 1809-1898

Jehu Phillips 1821-1910

Kizzie Sharp Philips 1859-1905

Marian Phillips 1839-1892

Nancy Phillips 1868-1886

Rebecca Sexton Phillips 1823-1906

Sarah Phillips 1862-1941

Vina Parker Phillips 1846-1893

William O. Phillips 1890-1940

Chatt Potter 1865-N/A

Elizabeth Potter 1831-1915

Hagar Potter 1855-N/A

Katherine L. Ripley 1906-1970

Simpson A. Roach 1844-1899

Lillian Russell 1903-1918

Arizona McDonald Waddle 1875-1921

John Sexton 1854-1919

Infant Sharp 1877-1877

Ludicia Hamon Sharp 1830-1889

William Sharp 1825-1918

James H. Smith 1872-1892

Stephen Smith N/A-N/A

Ella J. Stanley 1872-1894

Infant Stanley 1894-1894

Martin B. Strunk 1844-1875

Hester Wallace 1884-1908

This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.