Sacred Ground: Lewallen Cemetery
As the Sacred Ground series has traveled throughout Scott County over the past year, one section of the county yet to be visited is the south end, below the 27/52 intersection at Elgin.
There are a number of cemeteries on the south end, in the old Glenmary, Coal Hill and Wolf Creek communities. And there is perhaps no better place to start than where settlement on this end of Scott County began: with the Lewallens.
There are multiple Lewallen cemeteries at Coal Hill. The oldest of them is located as far back as you can go, all the way to the banks of Black Wolf Creek.
It is here that Anderson Lewallen and his wife, Lucy Lewallen, were buried. If you know anything about Coal Hil history, you know that the Lewallen family was once prominent here. It was John Lewallen, the youngest son of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen, who was elected Scott County’s first sheriff in 1849.
The Lewallen Cemetery
Located on the end of a wooded ridge on private property just above Black Wolf Creek, the Lewallen Cemetery is accessed via Henry Road off Wolf Creek Road. There is a solid road base leading to the cemetery, but it is overgrown and isn’t navigable by a regular vehicle.
The cemetery itself is overgrown. It is not regularly mowed or maintained. Most of the graves are unidentifiable.
There are at least 15 people buried at the Lewallen Cemetery, and maybe more. However, there are only three legible headstones in the cemetery.
One of those is the double stone of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen. It was placed in 1996 by some of their descendants. Their graves were originally marked by a fieldstone that was only faintly legible. There are two other commercial stones at the cemetery, as well.
In addition to the three commercial stones, there are 11 graves that are marked by uninscribed field stones. Robert Bailey identified two of these in his 1994 book, “Cemeteries of Scott County, Tennessee.” The other nine remain a mystery.
Based on the indentations of the earth around the graves, it appears there may be at least a couple of unmarked graves, as well.
The Lewallen family
Anderson Grant Lewallen was born in Virginia in 1764. He married Lucy Rice (b. 1766) in Prince Edward, Va. On June 8, 1784, when he was 20 and she was 18. The couple moved to present-day Scott County at some point after that.
The Lewallen family settled in the Coal Hill area, which was at the time a part of northern Morgan County. Scott County would not be formed until 1849, long after their deaths.
Anderson Lewallen’s wife is often identified as Lydia Rice in genealogical records. However, the name faintly engraved on the field stone that marked their graves was Lucy.
Lewallen was of Welsh descent, and may have been the son of Daniel Richard and Mary Burkes Lewallen (also spelled Llewellyn). If so, it was Anderson Lewallen’s third-great-grandfather, Daniel Llewellyn Sr., who migrated from England to the American colonies. The Llewellyn family can be traced back as far as Sir John Llewellyn in 16th century Wales.
Lucy Lewallen may have been the daughter of Charles Rice.
Exactly when the Lewallens moved to the Glenmary/Coal Hill area isn’t clear, but it was after the Revolutionary War — and after 1784, when they were married in Virginia.
The Lewallens had nine children: Wiley, Thomas, Alexander, Andrew Leutian, Mary Polly Robbins, Joel, William and John.
Anderson and Lucy Lewallen were the third great-grandparents of U.S. Congressman (and Knoxville Mayor) John J. Duncan Sr., who was born and raised in Huntsville. Duncan’s grandmother, Ettie Tennessee Goad Lee, was the granddaughter of Mary Polly Robbins, Anderson and Lucy’s only daughter.
Another interesting fact: While John Lewallen served as Scott County’s first sheriff, another descendant of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen also served as sheriff. Their great-grandson, John Goad, was Scott County’s 10th sheriff and presided over the county’s only legal execution by hanging. Both Ettie Goad Lee and John Goad were the sons of Elizabeth Robbins Goad, who married Joshua Goad of the Brimstone community.
We know that Anderson and Lucy Lewallen are buried at the Lewallen Cemetery near Wolf Creek, but it’s not clear what other members of their family are buried there, if any.
Joel Lewallen, one of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen’s children, was buried at the Hughett Cemetery at Brimstone — the same cemetery where his great-niece, Ettie Goad Lee, is buried.
Thomas Lewallen died as a baby in 1788 and was probably buried in Virginia, before the family’s move to Tennessee.
Andrew Leutian Lewallen is buried at Nydeck. William Lewallen moved to Knoxville and is buried there. John Lewallen, the sheriff, moved to Texas and is buried there.
With so many unidentifiable graves at Lewallen Cemetery, it stands to reason that one or more of them might be descendants of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen. But there’s nothing to suggest who.
A final note: There is a photo of Anderson Grant Lewallen that floats around on internet genealogy sites. But considering the photographic process wasn’t introduced in the U.S. until 1839 — 10 years after his death – it seems unlikely that this photo is actually of Anderson Lewallen.
The Young family
At least three of the graves at Lewallen Cemetery are members of the Young family, including Orian W. Young, who has a commercial stone in the small cemetery.
Orian Young died two days before Christmas in 1888, and was less than four months old. According to his stone, he was the son of John Granville and Mary Etta Landrum Young.
Two other Youngs said to be buried at the cemetery are Elizabeth Lewallen Young and Soloman Young. They do not have identifiable headstones, but were listed by Bailey in his 1994 book. He credited Kathleen Fulwiler with the information.
Elizabeth Young was the first wife of Matthew Young, and Bailey lists her date of birth as Aug. 11, 1818. Solomon Young was the son of Matthew and Rhoda Ann Young, according to Bailey, and was born in 1861. Death dates are not available for either.
Based on the date of birth for Elizabeth Young, she was likely a granddaughter of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen, and probably the daughter of Andrew Leutian Lewallen and his wife, Malinda Davis. Andrew Lewallen was a veteran of the War of 1812 who would have been 25 in 1818.
In fact, there is information to suggest that Elizabeth Young was the oldest child of Andrew and Malinda Young. The Find A Grave website, which is prone to errors, suggests that she is buried at Campground Cemetery a few miles away from the Lewallen Cemetery. However, the Elizabeth Young buried at Campground was born much later, in 1849, and is likely Matthew Young’s daughter rather than his wife.
Following Elizabeth’s death, Matthew Young apparently remarried to her sister, Rhoda Ann Lewallen. Solomon Young was one of their children.
Matthew Young was the son of John Andrew Young and Mary Polly Smith. He was influential in the Glenmary/Coal Hill area. Both he and his second wife, Rhoda, are buried at Campground Cemetery.
Incidentally, Orian Young, the baby who died in 1888, was Matthew and Rhoda Young’s grandson. All three of the Youngs buried at the cemetery are descendants of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen.
Roseanner Griffith
The only other identifiable grave at Lewallen Cemetery is Roseanner (or Rozeanner) Griffith, the wife of Reuben Griffith who was born in 1847 and died in 1880.
In addition to Anderson and Lucy Lewallen, and Orian Young, Rozeanner Griffith’s grave is the only one at Lewallen Cemetery marked by a commercial stone. She was the daughter of Solomon and Nancy Lewallen Young, and a great-granddaughter of Anderson and Suzy Lewallen. Her father, Solomon Young, was a brother to Matthew Young.
Rosanner married Reuben Griffith, the grandson of Revolutionary War veteran Joseph Griffith of Brimstone.
Cemetery Census
LEWALLEN CEMETERY (WOLF CREEK)
GPS Coordinates: 36.285881042, -84.562477112
First Burial: 1829
Last Burial: 1888
Roseanner Young Griffith 1847-1880
Anderson G. Lewallen 1764-1829
Lucy Rice Lewallen 1766-1832
Elizabeth Lewallen Young 1818-N/A
Orian W. Young 1888-1888
Solomon Young 1861-N/A
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.