Sacred Ground: Katie Blevins Cemetery
Editor’s Note — The Katie Blevins Cemetery has been previously profiled in the Independent Herald. However, as part of the “Sacred Ground” series, we’re revisiting every cemetery in Scott County.
It is said that Jacob Blevins was walking along a road one day in what is now the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area when he suddenly stopped and stuck a stick into the ground.
“This is where I want to be buried,” Blevins told his wife, Katie.
In 1868, Blevins died. And his wife honored his request.
That was the start of the Katie Blevins Cemetery just west of what would become the Bandy Creek Campground & Visitor Center in the Big South Fork NRRA.
It is said that Jake Blevins was the first person buried at the cemetery. That’s difficult to verify with certainty, because there is a large number of graves marked only by fieldstones that have been rendered illegible by time or were never inscribed to begin with. However, Blevins — who himself was buried with a field stone marking his grave before family members later purchased a commercial stone — is the earliest verifiable grave at the cemetery. And while a sign over the graveyard gate says that the cemetery was founded in 1812, Blevins’ newer stone states, “Jacob was the first person buried here.”
Since 1868, more than 150 other people have been buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery, including Katie (whose actual name was Catharine) and many of their relatives and descendants. The cemetery remains active today, with several new burials in just the past year.
Jake & Katie Blevins
The Blevins family was one of the most prominent early families of the Big South Fork region. In fact, it was arguably the single most prominent — though the Slavens would have something to say about that.
The Blevinses of the Big South Fork were all descended from Jonathan Blevins (1779-1863), the long hunter who settled on Station Camp Creek in the early 1800s. The Slavens were all descended from Richard Harve Slaven (1775-1840), who settled on No Business Creek about the same time. It is said that Harve Slaven was the first permanent white settler of the Big South Fork River settlements, but if he was, Jonathan Blevins wasn’t far behind.
Jacob Blevins was one of Jonathan Blevins’ children. Born on May 19, 1811, his mother was Catherine “Katy” Troxell Blevins, the daughter of “Big Jake” Troxell of Cherokee Indian lore.
Katie Blevins was born on May 7, 1814. She and Jacob were married on Oct. 22, 1834 in Wayne County, Ky.
Jacob and Katie had several children. Mary Blevins was the oldest, followed by William, Daniel, Telitha, Elizah, Nancy, John and Jacob.
Mary, nicknamed Polly, married John Wesley Slaven, a grandson of Harve Slaven. She is buried at Chimney Rock at Station Camp.
Daniel married Mary Chitwood and moved to Winfield, where his wife was from.
Elijah married Martha Smith and moved to Wayne County, Ky.
John married Polly Koger and moved to Wayne County, Ky.
Jacob Jr. married Viannah West and settled on Station Camp Creek. His old homeplace is today known as “Jake’s Place.” The cabin where “Uncle Jake” and “Aunt Vi” lived was dismantled by Joe Simpson in the mid 1900s and moved to Charit Creek, where it is today a part of the Charit Creek Lodge complex. Both Jake and Vi are buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery.
Telitha and Nancy never married. They lived with their mother until her death, and later lived with Jake and Vi on Station Camp Creek. Nancy is buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery. Telitha may be as well.
Other Blevins at the cemetery
Nearly four dozen of the more than 150 graves at Katie Blevins Cemetery — about one-third of the graves there — are Blevinses, all of them with ancestrial ties to Jonathan Blevins, the first white settler on Station Camp, and many of them directly descended from Jacob and Katie Blevins, as well.
Jake and Vi had eight children, and many of them are buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery. Their oldest, William, born in 1884, is buried there. So, too, is John, born in 1885, and wife Louisa; Daniel, born in 1887, and wife Mary Ellen Slaven (along with their daughter, Viola Thomas, and her husband, Maynard); Arbana, born in 1889; Elijah (Booger), born in 1891, and wife Rosie Kidd; Katie Roysden, born in 1893; and Nancy, born in 1899. The only exceptions are daughter Litha Thomas, who is buried at Grave Hill; and son Charlie, born in 1894, who is buried at Black Creek Cross Roads.
One of John Blevins’ sons, Oscar Blevins, was the last owner of the Oscar Blevins Farm, which is located just down the road from the cemetery and is maintained by the National Park Service. He is buried at the cemetery, as is his wife, Martha Smith.
The rest of John Blevins’ children — Calvin, Charles and wife Dessie Davis, and Bertha Watson and husband Cornell — are all buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery, as well.
Other direct descendants of Jacob and Katie Blevins who are buried at the cemetery include great-granddaughter Ida King, and third-great-grandson Arvel Blevins.
Of course, while Jacob and Katie were the first Blevins buried at the cemetery, they weren’t the only Blevins in the Big South Fork region, and there are a number of their relatives who are buried there, as well.
Rev. Lora Elzwick Blevins, who owned the farmhouse that still stands next door to the cemetery, is buried there, along with his first two wives, Tealie Slaven and Eva Coffey.
Lora was the son of Shadrack “Shade” Blevins and Polly Crabtree. Shade Blevins was the son of Armstead Blevins, Jacob Blevins’ younger brother who settled at Parch Corn Creek and built the cabin that was last owned by Noble Smith. Both Shade and Polly Blevins are buried at the cemetery.
Lora’s brother, Oby Blevins, is buried at the cemetery, as are both of his wives, Arlena Kidd and Delilah Craig. Another brother, Theodore Roosevelt Blevins, is buried there, along with his wife, Verda Mae Threet. A sister, Mandy Blevins Coffey, is buried there. And so is another sister, Margie Blevins Burke, along with her husband, Loranzie Burke.
In addition to Shade Blevins’ children who are buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery, several of his grandchildren are buried there. Among them: Margie Burke’s daughter, Earlene Burke Reagan; a one-year-old granddaughter, Grace Blevins; Mandy’s daughter, Shirley Slaven; Theodore’s daughter, Dorothy Dolata, and her husband, Robert; Obi’s children, Bruss, Levi, Forest, France and Chandin, one-year-old grandson, Dennie, and grandson Dannie; and Lora’s children Laura and husband Daniel Blevins, five-year-old Fred, Leonard, Lola, George and wives Ethel and Annie, and Janie Taylor.
Laura and Daniel’s 10-year-old son, Charles Kirby Blevins, was buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery after dying of an accidental gunshot wound in 1954. Other of Lora’s grandchildren buried at the cemetery include Mennie Blevins Evans and her husband, Lonzo; one-year-old Mary Ivalene; Dean Babb and husband Earl; William; one-year-old Ralphord; infant Lois Carol; Larry; Martha Ray; and great-granddaughter Linda Evans Baines, and great-grandson Jody Evans.
The Slaven Family
With Jonathan Blevins and Harve Slaven being the first white men to settle Big South Fork Country, it’s no surprise that the two families are closely connected. Several of Blevins’ grandchildren married Slaven’s grandchildren, and the burial record at Katie Blevins Cemetery reflects that.
As has already been mentioned, Jacob and Katie Blevins’ daughter, Mary “Polly” Slaven, one of Jonathan Blevins’ granddaughters, married Harve Slaven’s grandson, John Wesley Slaven, though neither of them are buried at Bandy Creek.
John Blevins — the father of Oscar, and great-grandson of Jonathan Blevins — married Louisa Slaven, a great-granddaughter of Harve Slaven. And Louisa’s sister, Mary Ellen, married John’s brother, Daniel. They were both the daughters of Nimrod and Mildred Roysdon Slaven.
Another of Nimrod Slaven’s daughters, Poppie Sweet, is buried at the cemetery, along with her husband, Dewey.
Rev. Lora Blevins, the great-grandson of Jonathan Blevins who built the farmhouse next-door to the Katie Blevins Cemetery, married Tealie Slaven, another of Harve Slaven’s great-granddaughters.
Of course, those aren’t the only connections between the Blevins family and the Slaven family.
Shirley Slaven, a second-great-granddaughter of Jonathan Blevins, married Rev. Earl Slaven. They’re both buried at Bandy Creek, along with their infant children, Linda Sue and William Earl. Earl’s mother, Applelone “Lona” Slaven is also buried there, as are her infant son, Stevey, and 15-year-old son, James Vestal. Lona may have another infant buried at the cemetery, and she was the mother of Annie Polly Blevins, who married George Blevins, son of Rev. Lora Blevins.
Harve Slaven’s great-grandson, John Sidney Slaven, is buried at the cemetery, as are his wife, Mary Roysdon. In fact, John and Mary’s infant daughter, Ida Mae, was the second person buried at the cemetery, in 1900. Another of their children, Arthur Slaven, is buried at the cemetery, along with his wife, Lula Holt.
Arthur and Lula Slaven have several children buried at the cemetery: Ridley, Shirley (along with his wife, Joyce Conatser, and their son, Delbert), Elzadia, Melvin (along with his wife wife, Nora Anderson, and their sons, Tim and Jeff), and Wilma Smith (and husband, Jack).
Another connection came with Jacob Slaven, who married Mary Catherine Blevins. They’re both buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery, along with their son, Elijah “Lation” Slaven, and his wife, Rose Mary Foster.
Another of Harve Slaven’s great-granddaughters, Melvina Slaven, is buried at the cemetery, as is her daughter, Bessie Slaven, and Bessie’s son-in-law, Mike Slaven, who owned Mike’s Station in Oneida.
Sylvester Slaven, a great-great-grandson of Harve Slaven, was buried at Bandy Creek after being murdered in 1932, at the age of 32. The man who murdered him, sentenced to 25 years in prison by a jury in Anderson County, where the murder took place, had been convicted of murder two times before.
Sylvester was the grandson of Richard “Wild Dick” Slaven, a Union soldier during the Civil War. As related by Paul Roy, in his book, “Scott County in the Civil War,” family legend tells a story of Wild Dick’s comrades being killed while standing guard each night, by what was thought to be a wild animal. “When it came time for Richard’s turn (to stand guard), he went out and stuffed his bed roll to look like he was in it, asleep. Then Richard took his rifle and hid nearby in the woods so he could kill whatever it was before it could kill him. After a while, he heard something coming through the woods, making noise like a bear. When it got closer to his bed roll, Richard saw that an Indian was underneath a bearskin and when the Indian got close enough to the bed roll, he pounced upon it with his knife.”
Litton family
Almost everyone buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery is related in one way or another. One more family that bears mentioning is the Littons: John Litton and his wife, Elvira Dawes Litton. They were the original occupants of the Litton Farm that is located nearby in the Big South Fork backcountry.
In fact, there are four farmsteads within the Big South Fork NRRA that are preserved by the National Park Service, and the owners of three of them are buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery: John and Vi Litton of the Litton Farm; Oscar and Martha Blevins of the Oscar Blevins Farm; and Lora and Tealie Blevins of the Lora Blevins Farm. The only exception is the Charit Creek Lodge, and its connection to the Katie Blevins Cemetery has already been mentioned.
John Litton was the son of Littleton Litton and Polly Coile Litton. The Litton family had settled in Oneida after migrating to the area from Virginia, but Litton wound up in the Bandy Creek area — probably by way of marriage. What became of Vi’s family isn’t clear, but by the 1870 census, she was recorded as living with the Burk family of Station Camp.
Coincidentally, after the Littons’ deaths, the Litton Farm stood vacant for a few years before being purchased by General Slaven — another of Harve Slaven’s great-grandsons — and his wife, Mary L. “Did” Miller Slaven. They lived there until the federal government purchased the farm in the 1970s. They’re both buried at Taylor Place Cemetery in Jamestown.
Cemetery census
KATIE BLEVINS CEMETERY (BANDY CREEK)
GPS Coordinates: 36.49805, -84.70717
First Burial: 1868
Last Burial: 2022
Burials since Robert Bailey’s, 1994 cemetery census? Yes
Lectie Watson Abbott, 1936-2001
Earl C. Babb , 1933-2004
Dean Blevins Babb, 1939-2012
Melissa C. Babb , 1966-1966
Ronnie D. Babb , 1990-2017
Carolyn Sneed Baines, 1943-2004
Linda Evans Baines, 1956-2012
Annie Slaven Blevins, 1930-1979
Arbana Blevins , 1889-1939
Arvel C. Blevins , 1969-2022
Betty Blevins , 1877-1957
Bruss Blevins , 1936-1938
Calvin Blevins , 1910-1984
Catharine Smith Blevins, 1814-1904
Chandin Blevins , 1938-2019
Charles Blevins , 1918-1977
Charles K. Blevins , 1944-1954
Daniel Blevins , 1887-1931
Daniel E. Blevins , 1918-1990
Danny Blevins , 1961-2012
Delilah Craig Blevins, 1902-1952
Dennie L. Blevins , 1963-1965
Dessie Davis Blevins, 1929-1984
Elijah Blevins , 1891-1978
Elitha Blevins , 1839-1929
Ethel Crabtree Blevins, 1916-1945
Eva Coffey Blevins, 1912-1978
Forest Haze Blevins, 1938-2001
France E. Blevins , 1922-1927
George W. Blevins, 1918-2001
Grace Blevins , 1939-1940
Infant Blevins , 1941-1941
Infant Blevins , 1914-1914
Jacob Blevins , 1857-1935
Jacob Blevins , 1811-1868
John Blevins , 1885-1971
Katherine Slaven Blevins, 1871-1949
Larry W. Blevins , 1957-2005
Laura Blevins , 1916-1996
Leonard M. Blevins, 1924-1976
Levi Blevins , 1925-1995
Lois C. Blevins , 1950-1950
Lola E. Blevins , 1929-1931
Lora E. Blevins , 1896-1983
Louisa Slaven Blevins, 1887-1957
Martha Smith Blevins, 1911-1994
Mary Slaven Blevins, 1893-1961
Mary I. Blevins , 1939-1940
Nancy Blevins , 1848-1928
Nancy L. Blevins , 1899-1986
Nathanne K. Blevins, 1945-2005
Obidiah Blevins , 1898-1980
Oscar Blevins , 1915-1988
Polly Crabtree Blevins, 1874-1954
Ralphord Blevins , 1945-1947
Rosie Kidd Blevins, 1893-1963
Shadrack Blevins , 1864-1956
Tealie Slaven Blevins, 1897-1969
Theodore R. Blevins, 1901-1939
Viannah West Blevins, 1863-1945
William Blevins , 1884-1962
William Blevins , 1941-2018
Loranzie D. Burke , 1908-1990
Margie Blevins Burke, 1911-2007
Mandy Blevins Coffey, 1907-1948
Minnie M. Cole , 1914-1919
Christopher A. Conatser, 1971-1971
Howard R. Conatser, 1947-2003
Shelby A. Conatser, 1914-1968
Richard A. Crabtree, 1876-1948
Dorothy Blevins Dolata, 1935-1999
Robert E. Dolata , 1933-2008
Lonzo J. Evans , 1928-2006
Mennie Blevins Evans, 1936-2013
Sammy J. Evans , 1958-2022
Dale D. Hill , 1939-2002
Ruben P. Holt , 1933-2002
Dustin B. Jeffers , 1991-1991
Sheila Blevins JEffers, 1952-2021
Harling Kidd , 1910-1919
Ira D. Kidd , 1921-1922
Alene Blevins King, 1934-1990
Cas King , 1905-1970
Ida Blevins King , 1910-1998
Laura M. King , 1928-1928
Melvin Slaven King, 1884-1963
Paul K. King , 1933-N/A
Robert L. King , 1930-1931
Tilty A. King , 1928-1928
Elvira Dawes Litton, 1857-1945
John L. Litton , 1949-N/A
John Littleton Litton, 1855-1935
Nancy J. Litton , 1859-1938
Ruth J. Pennycuff , 1952-2012
Barney Phillips , 1907-1979
Eliziebith Phillips N/A-1908
Elizabeth Phillips N/A-N/A
John R. Phillips , 1906-1984
Joseph S. Phillips , 1914-1982
Kirk P. Phillips , 1872-1952
Mary Phillips , 1963-2017
Rebaca Slaven Phillips, 1880-1945
Sam Phillips , 1917-1972
Sammie J. Phillips , 1961-1961
Wilburn Phillips , 1959-2014
Martha Blevins Ray, 1970-2007
Earlene Burke Reagan, 1938-1961
Catherine Blevins Roysden, 1893-1955
Catharine Sweet Roysdon, 1865-1944
Arthur L. Slaven , 1907-1978
Bessie Slaven , 1920-2009
Delbert O. Slaven , 1966-1998
Earl W. Slaven , 1941-2010
Edna R. Slaven , 1910-1991
Elijah L. Slaven , 1896-1971
Elzadia Slaven , 1940-2019
Ida Mae Slaven , 1900-1900
Infant Slaven N/A-N/A
Jacob SLaven , 1872-1952
Mike Slaven , 1958-2021
Jeffrey Slaven , 1965-2022
James V. Slaven , 1942-1958
John S. Slaven , 1876-1946
Joyce Conatser Slaven, 1944-2021
Linda S. Slaven , 1968-1968
Lobedia Batt Slaven, 1934-1997
Lona Slaven , 1912-1984
Lula Holt Slaven , 1913-1999
Mary Blevins Slaven, 1863-1925
Mary Roysdon Slaven, 1873-1943
Melvin Slaven , 1943-2010
Nora Anderson Slaven, 1942-1997
Ridley E. Slaven , 1933-2011
Rose Foster Slaven, 1904-1993
Ruben Slaven , 1924-1986
Ruth Douglas Slaven, 1910-1991
Shirley Coffey Slaven, 1937-2013
Shirley O. Slaven , 1936-2002
Sylvester Slaven , 1900-1932
Tim Slaven , 1967-2010
W. Stevey Slaven , 1954-1954
William E. Slaven , 1967-1967
Betty Slavens , 1877-1957
Jack R. Smith , 1937-2006
Wilma Slaven Smith, 1946-2006
Dewey Sweet , 1904-1981
Helen F. Sweet , 1946-1959
Poppie Slaven Sweet, 1911-1968
Ransom Sweet , 1900-1981
Temple Boyatt Sweet, 1913-1996
Janie Blevins Taylor, 1939-1989
Maynard C. Thomas, 1911-1974
Viola Blevins Thomas, 1916-1967
Verda Blevins Threet, 1912-2002
Mary Conatser Turner, 1955-2001
Bertha Blevins Watson, 1928-2013
Christy Watson , 1921-1923
Cornell Watson , 1921-1971
Lewander Slaven Watson, 1899-1923
Lizzie Blevins Watson, 1905-1928
Editor’s Note: There are a number of graves at Katie Blevins Cemetery that are marked by uninscribed stones. There is some information about who several of these graves belong to, but that info has not been independently verified. If you know of someone buried at Katie Blevins Cemetery whose name does not appear here, please help us complete the historical record! Email newsroom@ihoneida.com with any pertinent information.
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.