Sacred Ground: Lloyd Cemetery
A man murdered because he was loyal to his friend. A man shot to death because he was defending his country. Two young brothers struck by lightning and killed.
The Lloyd Cemetery, located on a steep grassy hillside along Smith Creek, next to New Salem Baptist Church, is an unassuming burial ground. But it tells many tales of tragedy.
Of all the heartbreaking stories that unfolded in Scott County during the Civil War, few were more tragic than the murder of Ranson Vanover and Larken Cross.
Vanover was enlisted in the Union army, serving in the 2nd Tennessee Infantry. He was murdered by a band of roving Confederate guerrillas for no reason other than wearing the Yankee blue. Cross was Vanover’s friend. He was murdered by the same band of guerrillas for no reason other than accompanying his friend in November 1862.
After he was killed, Cross became the second person to be buried in what would come to be known as the Lloyd Cemetery, a plot of ground on a steep hillside at Smith Creek, not far from where the stream emptied into Buffalo Creek and a stone’s throw from where New Salem Baptist Church would be built shortly after the war ended.
The story of Lark Cross
It was on Nov. 7, 1862 — 160 years ago this month — that the murders took place along Buffalo Creek. Lark Cross was a 39-year-old farmer who lived in the expansive Buffalo Creek valley, along with his wife and their six children. The oldest of his kids was 18 when Cross was murdered. The youngest was just one.
Cross was the son of Louis Micajah Cross and Lovis Duncan. Micajah Cross was one of the earliest permanent settlers of Scott County.
The Cross family had migrated from England to Maryland in the 17th century. After several generations, William Cross — Micajah Cross’s father, and a veteran of the Revolutionary War — moved his family southward, and they wound up in Tennessee. William Cross died what is now Oak Ridge.
Micajah Cross married Lovis Duncan in 1815, probably in North Carolina. Exactly when the family wound up in present-day Scott County isn’t clear, but records indicate it was probably between 1823 and 1825, when the Buffalo Creek area was still a part of Campbell County.
Lark Cross was born in 1823.
On Nov. 7, 1862, a large number of Confederate guerrillas entered Scott County from Kentucky, laying waste to a large swath of the county. There were more than 1,000 of them, broken into three regiments, and they set fire to the homes of men known to be loyal to the Union.
After raiding farms along Jellico Creek, the Rebels crossed the mountain to Smith Creek, where the raids continued. At the home of Caswell Cross — Lark’s older brother — the guerrillas stole $690 in gold, the equivalent of almost $25,000 today, and drove away 14 of his horses.
Nearby, the group ran into Vanover, Cross and a third man, Oliver Duncan (who was a brother to Cross’s wife, Rittie), walking along a road. Both Vanover, who was home on leave, and Cross were shot, and their bodies were hanged in a nearby apple orchard.
While Vanover was serving in the Union army, Cross had wanted no part of the war. Described by historian H. Clay Smith as “one of Scott County’s better citizens,” he simply wanted to be left alone, and was known to provide a night’s lodging to anyone who passed by his home.
The Lloyd Cemetery
It isn’t clear how Lloyd Cemetery got its name (it has also been known as Cross Cemetery and Smith Creek Cemetery through the years), but it wasn’t much of a cemetery when Cross was buried there in November 1862. He was just the second person to be buried on the steep hillside. His father, Micajah Cross, had been buried there in 1846, although in an unmarked grave.
And Cross doesn’t appear to be the only victim of Civil War tragedy buried there. Nearby is the grave of George W. Marcum. Little is known about him, other than the inscription on his headstone indicates that he served in Co. D of the 3rdTennessee Infantry during the Civil War.
This seems likely to be the grave of George Marcum who played a prominent role in the Julia Marcum tragedy.
Julia Marcum was the teenager who was gravely wounded when Confederate guerrillas attacked the Buffalo Creek farm of Union sympathizer Hiram C. Marcum in the Fall of 1861. Marcum wasn’t enlisted in the fight, but he was known to serve as a pilot for Union men who were slipping north into Kentucky to join President Abraham Lincoln’s army, and a band of Confederate soldiers encamped on Buffalo Creek intended to kill him.
Hiram Marcum was hiding outside the home when the Rebels showed up at his farm that night. Only his wife, young son, and daughters were inside. In the fight that ensued, Julia Marcum lost a finger and an eye, and nearly died.
In her memoirs, Julia Marcum later wrote of the continuing strife at the Buffalo Creek farm. In January 1862, Confederates visited again. This time, her cousin, George Marcum, was hiding out in the barn. He was not in uniform, but was attempting to slip north to rejoin his regiment in Kentucky. As he attempted to flee upon the Rebs’ arrival, he was gunned down and later died inside the home.
Julia Marcum mentioned only the name “George Marcum” and referred to him as a cousin. The George Marcum buried at Lloyd Cemetery is said to be the son of John Arthur Marcum and Rachel West. If that’s true, he is the cousin Julia Marcum referred to. John Arthur Marcum was Hiram Marcum’s brother.
Some records list George Marcum, buried at Lloyd Cemetery, as dying on Dec. 27, 1862. However, there is no documentation to verify that date of death. In Robert Bailey’s 1994 compilation of cemetery records in Scott County, no date of birth or death is listed for George Marcum. Additionally, dates of birth and death were not engraved on his stone. It seems very likely that he actually died in January 1862, not December 1862, and is the George Marcum who Julia Marcum said was murdered by Confederate guerrillas.
If that is indeed the case, Lloyd Cemetery becomes even more remarkable for the fact that two victims of Confederate guerrillas are buried there.
The cemetery grows
Several other people were buried at Lloyd Cemetery in the 1860s, including a three-year-old boy named Henry Provins, 49-year-old Fielding Pennington, and his infant nephew, James Martin Pennington.
Five years later, Fielding Pennington’s granddaughter, infant Sabie Pennington, died and was buried there. And exactly one month after her death, her father, who was also named James Martin Pennington, died and was buried in the cemetery.
Several other members of the Pennington family were buried in the cemetery in the years that followed, including Fielding Pennington’s daughter, 34-year-old Amanda Pennington Braden, and another of Fielding Pennington’s grandchildren, infant Charaty Pennington.
On June 10, 1887, Lark Cross’s mother, Lovis Duncan, died and was buried at the cemetery.
Through the 20th century, the cemetery continued to be used for burials, though not frequently. In fact, no one was buried there for 14 years between 1941 and 1955. But then the burials resumed, and the cemetery continued to be used until 1985, when Joseph K. Sexton was the final person buried there. His mother, Mildred Sexton, had also been buried there after being murdered in 1965.
The Sexton story is its own tragedy. Joseph Sexton’s younger brothers, 11-year-old Marvin “Buddy” Sexton and 10-year-old Melvin “Tiny” Sexton, were both killed when they were struck by lightning on May 16, 1971 in Muncie, Ind. They are both buried at Lloyd Cemetery, as well.
Among other notable graves at the cemetery is the grave of James M. Pennington, who died of a heart attack at his Smith Creek home on Nov. 8, 1978. He was a long-time pastor of churches in the community, including for 35 years at New Salem Baptist Church.
A final note on Lark Cross
One of the five children left fatherless when Larkin Cross was murdered in 1862 was Claiborn Cross. He was just five years old at the time of his father’s death. Known for most of his life as “Clabe,” young Cross grew up to become an influential businessman in Oneida’s early days. He was the chief organizer of Scott County’s first bank, which later became First National Bank.
Clabe Cross operated the Hotel Cross in Oneida, along with a general store and a stave and lumber business. He was the first board chairman of the Oneida Independent School District, and he was a visionary who thought that Oneida should be incorporated and have paved streets, sidewalks, a sewer system, and a public water supply.
Of course, no one could’ve envisioned in 1862 the prominent role that Clabe Cross would go on to play in the formational days of Oneida. But one thing was clear: what was happening here was a travesty. When news of the Confederate guerrillas’ raid on Scott County — including the murders of Vanover and Lark Cross — made the newspaper, Congressman Horace Maynard clipped the story and sent it to Maj. Gen. Henry Wager Halleck, who had been placed in command of the Union armies by President Lincoln, along with a note that spoke of how Scott Countians had remained fiercely loyal to the Union and were now paying a heavy price for their loyalty. Maynard ended his letter: “Oh, Lord, how long?”
Cemetery Location & Inventory
36.452935, -84.615654
JB, Unknown
O Bots, Unknown
Amanda P. Braden, 1848-1883
Rachel Marcum Chambers, 1863-1924
William Chambers, 1908-1981
Didama Freels Cooper, 1861-1910
Marsha Crabtree, 1973-1973
A.J. Cross, Unknown
Henrietta Duncan Cross, 1825-1889
Larkin Cross, 1823-1862
L. Micajah Cross, 1780-1846
Lovis Cross, 1799-1887
Mary Lay Cross, 1847-1898
Maudy Pennington Cross, 1881-1934
William H. Cross, 1838-1918
William J. Elli, 1902-1905
Squire C. Freels, 1859-1900
B.H., Unknown
J.H., Unknown
Sarah E. Hughett, 1846-1890
Betty Trammell Sexton, 1875-1925
Emma Laxton, Unknown
Samantha P. Laxton, 1850-1917
D.B. Lay, 1918-1919
Edna Pennington Lay, 1896-1978
Martin Lay, 1890-1964
Daniel C. Lloyd, 1894-1896
Infant Lloyd, 1909-1909
Infant Lloyd, 1892-1892
George W. Marcum, Unknown
Mary A. Marcum, Unknown
Sally Marcum, 1879-1909
Martha Hughett Moore, 1854-1904
H.P., Unknown
Aldo Pennington, 1899-1900
Andrew Pennington, 1861-1927
Arnold Pennington, 1923-1959
Boy Pennington, Unknown
Charaty Pennington, 1886-1887
Clifford Pennington, 1921-1936
Elizabeth Pennington, 1822-1904
Ella Cross Pennington, 1903-1941
Ellen Smith Pennington, 1841-1905
Elvin Pennington, 1891-1910
Fielding Pennington, 1817-1867
Infant Pennington, 1941-1941
Harvey Pennington, 1898-1898
Infant Pennington, 1935-1935
James Pennington, 1899-1978
James M. Pennington, 1844-1874
James M. Pennington, 1869-1869
Mary Pennington, 1936-1936
Mary Grant Pennington, 1868-1940
Ollie Pennington, 1889-1983
Rose Pennington, 1888-1888
Sabie Pennington, 1874-1874
Sarah C. Pennington, 1822-1904
Toney Pennington, 1904-1905
Vera Pennington, 1927-1984
William T. Pennington, 1841-1913
Claudia Cross Posey, 1901-1929
Henry Provins, 1864-1867
Bobby Sexton, 1961-1961
Joseph Sexton, 1963-1985
Lewis Sexton, 1916-1955
Marvin “Buddy” Sexton, 1959-1971
Melvin “Tiny” Sexton, 1960-1971
Mildred Sexton, 1942-1965
Clifford Abe Shaheen, 1916-1916
Florina Cross Terry, 1833-1901
Infant Tramel, 1910-1910
Manerva Tramel, 1887-1888
Frederick Trammell, 1846-1894
Mary Crabtree Trammell, 1851-1934
George Webb, 1835-1901
Editor’s Note: Lloyd Cemetery is the fourth cemetery featured as part of our Sacred Ground series.