Sacred Ground: Marcum Creek Cemeteries
About as far east as you can travel in Scott County without crossing into Campbell County — not to mention about as far as you can get from Walmart or McDonald’s and still be in Scott County — is Marcum Creek.
Emptying into Smith Creek several miles from where Smith Creek empties into Buffalo Creek, Marcum Creek drains the western slopes of Buffalo Mountain, Ned Mountain and Chimney Mountain. The average Scott County probably couldn’t pinpoint any of those peak names on a map, but they collectively form what is commonly referred to in these parts as “Chitwood Mountain,” and they separate the valleys of eastern Scott County — like Buffalo and Rock House — from Elk Valley in Campbell County. The dirt road following the creek is muddy and rutted, with a number of unbridged creek crossings. It is not maintained by the county beyond the point that it leaves Smith Creek Road.
Today, Marcum Creek seems very much like a sort of no man’s land — maybe even close to uninhabitable. So it might surprise first-time visitors to this remote valley to find out that not one, two, or even three, but four cemeteries dot the landscape of this small mountain stream.
That’s because Marcum Creek was once very much inhabited, though the last homeowners left here decades ago. The cemeteries are family burial grounds that tell part of the history of the families that lived here: the Marcums, the Honeycutts and the Crabtrees.
Most prominent among them are the Marcums. It isn’t just the stream snaking down the valley floor that draws its name from the Marcum family that once lived here. High above the valley floor, a passageway through the mountains is called Marcum Gap.
The Marcums of this family have a long and exciting history — particularly during and just after the Civil War. Julia Marcum, the Civil War heroine who became famous after defending her family’s farm from an attack by Confederate soldiers when she was just 16, was one of the Marcum Creek Marcums. Other members of the Marcum family hid the horses of outlaws Jesse and Frank James when the James brothers were in Scott County after the war.
And that’s where this story begins.
The Marcums in history
It has been well-established that America’s most famous outlaw brothers — Jesse and Frank James — spent time in Scott County after the Civil War. Both of Scott County’s best-known historians, Esther Sharp Sanderson and H. Clay Smith, wrote about the James’ brothers time in Huntsville in their widely-read books. Historical accounts tell us that the James brothers lodged with merchant Billy Sharp in Huntsville and were even joined in their exploits by a native Scott Countian.
What is perhaps somewhat lesser known is that the James brothers reportedly kept their horses at a remote mountain farm over in Buffalo, east of Huntsville, while they were here. The family who kept and cared for the horses were George Washington Marcum and his wife, Mary Ann Hanks Marcum.
We will revisit the history of the Marcums and the James brothers later in this story.
The teenage Civil War heroine, Julia Marcum, was George Washington Marcum’s niece. Her family lived nearby when a Confederate regiment visited Buffalo and the Smith Creek area during the Civil War. Her father, Hiram Marcum, was a marked man — not because he was fiercely opposed to secession and loyal to the Union; most Scott Countians were — but because he served as a guide for East Tennessee loyalists who were slipping north into Kentucky to join the Union army. It was because they wanted to capture and hang Hiram Marcum that Rebel soldiers visited Smith Creek in 1861.
The Marcum family
Arthur Marcum III was born in Virginia in 1757, the son of Arthur Markham Jr. and Martha Hill Markham. He married Anna Bransgrove, and they moved to the Cumberland Mountains, settling in the Smith Creek area.
There are two separate Marcum families who migrated to present-day Scott County in the early 1800s, but they are connected. If you read the “Sacred Ground” installments about Sunnyview Cemetery and Blevins Cemetery at Pine Creek, you may remember that the West Oneida Marcums who settled Pine Creek, Litton Road and Grave Hill descended from John A. Marcum Sr., who arrived in Scott County from Virginia by way of Claiborne County. John A. Marcum was the son of Beverly and Elizabeth Ward Marcum.
We can’t know for certain when each of the Marcum families arrived in Scott County — John A. Marcum settling in the Oneida area; Arthur Marcum settling in the area of Smith Creek — or whether they decided together to move to the Cumberland Plateau, but we do know they were related.
The connection between Scott County’s Marcum families is Arthur Markham I (1690-1732). The Arthur Marcum who moved to Smith Creek was his grandson. John A. Marcum Sr. was his second great-grandson, through Thomas Granville Marcum, Thomas Marcum and Beverly Marcum. That would make Arthur Marcum of Smith Creek and John A. Marcum Sr. of West Oneida first cousins, twice removed.
Arthur and Anna Marcum had several children. The oldest, born in 1812, was Hiram C. Marcum. The second, born in 1816, was George Washington Marcum.
There were at least three others: Arthur Marcum IV, William Marcum and Lavina Marcum. Arthur married Nancy Delk, and moved to Whitley County, Ky. late in life. He is buried at King Cemetery in Whitley County. William remained in Scott County his entire life. He married Cynthia West. He had died by 1870, but his burial location isn’t clear. Lavina first married Elisha Daugherty and later married Jarett Trammell, a grandson of Revolutionary War veteran Dennis Trammell. She lived in Scott County her entire life, and is buried at Duncan Cemetery in Strunk, Ky.
As has already been mentioned, the oldest child of Arthur and Anna Marcum was Hiram C. Marcum (1812-1864), who was the father of Civil War heroine Julia Marcum. He survived at least two attempts by the Confederate army to capture him before deciding in January 1862 to leave his Smith Creek farm. He joined the Union army, while his wife and children moved to Kentucky, not too far from present-day Somerset. He died of small pox during the war and is buried at Nashville National Cemetery. His Smith Creek home was auctioned by Scott County after the war because of back-taxes owed on it. During the second attack on Hiram Marcum’s Smith Creek home in January 1862, a family member, Union soldier George Marcum, was shot and killed. He is buried at Lloyd Cemetery on Smith Creek. This George Marcum was the son of John A. Marcum Sr. and Rachel West Marcum of Oneida. In her memoirs, Julia Marcum refers to George Marcum as her cousin.
And then there was the second-oldest, George Washington Marcum. It was he and his wife, Mary Ann, who helped Jesse and Frank James while they were in Scott County in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. They were the parents of at least six children. One of their grandchildren was Scott County Sheriff Richard Ellis (the son of their oldest daughter, Martha Ann), who was assassinated in 1925.
A grave robbery
If you take the dirt road up Marcum Creek today, less than a mile beyond the cow pasture owned today by retired educator Gary Cross is a hollow that the old-timers called “Horselot Hollow.” It was here that G.W. Marcum reportedly hid the James brothers’ horses.
Just a short distance downstream from Horselot Hollow is Marcum Cemetery, the largest of the four cemeteries located on Marcum Creek. It is here that George W. Marcum and his wife, Mary Ann, are buried.
Mary Ann died in 1887. Her husband died in 1891. Many years later, one of their graves was apparently dug up by looters hoping to find some of the James Gang’s gold. Sanderson wrote about the incident in her book, County Scott & Its Mountain Folk:
“It was generally understood that the Marcum family, who fed and cared for the fine saddle horses of the outlaws, seemed to always have money regardless of how hard the times were,” she wrote. “It is doubtful whether the Marcums knew the actual identity of the outlaws, but inasmuch as they had to hide their loot, some of it could possibly have been found; while on the other hand, they could have been paid ‘liberally’ for their kindness and services. According to stories told by descendants of the Marcum family that before Mr. Marcum’s death he gave each one of his children $600.00 in gold, and where it came from they never knew.
“Several years after the pounding hooves of the sleek, fleet-footed saddle horses of the James brothers were heard no more, Mrs. Marcum died. As was the custom the neighbors ‘set up’ with the dead. According to tradition, as night wore on, those keeping vigil sometimes fell asleep. Just before daybreak in the eerie stillness of a dimply lighted room, a relative tiptoed softly into the room, and placed something at the foot of the casket. Could this have been some of the hoarded gold of the James brothers?
“Almost three quarters of a century had elapsed when three men on Buffalo decided to find the answer to the buried treasure. Under the cover of darkness, they slipped to the cemetery and dug up the remains of Mrs. Marcum. They did not find the expected pot of gold, but they did encounter the unexpected law who lodged them in the Huntsville jail where one died immediately after, presumably from poisonous fumes from the grave.”
The Marcum Cemetery
The Marcum Cemetery, where George and Mary Ann Marcum are buried, is located nearly a mile up Marcum Creek from Smith Creek Road, on a small mountain bench just above the creek. It dates back to at least 1851, when an unknown person was buried there.
In all, there are at least 18 graves at Marcum Cemetery, many of which are unidentifiable.
The burial location of Arthur and Anna Marcum, who are believed to have died around 1832 and 1851, respectively, isn’t clear.
However, when Theresa McCoy and Felicia Bunn transcribed Marcum Cemetery in 2002 (available on Tim West’s genealogy website), they located a fieldstone that was engraved with the date “1851.” They were unable to make out the name on the stone.
There are a total of 10 field stones marking graves at Marcum Cemetery. However, their condition has further deteriorated over the past two decades and we were unable to find a stone with the “1851” engraving. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted by family genealogists that Mary Ann Marcum died in 1851. She appears in the 1850 census but not the 1860 census. Is it possible that she is the unknown person who was the first burial at Marcum Cemetery in 1851? If so, is her husband buried in one of the other graves that cannot be identified?
Unfortunately, there is no way to conclusively answer those questions; the answers rely on speculation and are highly circumstantial. But it makes sense.
The earliest grave at Marcum Cemetery that is conclusively identifiable is that of Jonathan Marcum, a two-year-old boy who died on January 7, 1862. This could have potentially been John Marcum, the son of George and Mary Ann Marcum, who appeared in the 1860 census but not the 1870 census.
The next two graves at the cemetery are those of Mary Ann Marcum, who died in 1887, and George Marcum, who died in 1891. They are buried side-by-side on the west side of the cemetery.
In his 1994 book, Cemeteries of Scott County, TN, Robert Bailey lists a “Marcum Griffith” as being buried at the cemetery, but questioned the name on the hard-to-read stone. This is another of those field stones that has been badly eroded by time and is no longer legible. Today, a name cannot be made out at all. McCoy and Bunn were also unable to locate the stone in 2002. However, it stands to reason that the Marcum on the stone may have been the surname, not the first name. In the 1860 census, George and Mary Ann had a one-year-old son listed who was not listed in the 1870 census. His first name was John. His second name starts with a “G” and appears to be Green, but it’s hard to make out in the original, hand-written ledger. Whether this child actually died between 1860 and 1870, or whether he is buried at the Marcum Cemetery, are questions that remain unanswered.
The Honeycutt Family
The Marcum family was the largest family that lived at Marcum Creek but two other families were prominent there, as well: the Honeycutt family and the Crabtree family.
The Honeycutts were Hardy Honeycutt and his wife, Nancy Smith Honeycutt, who were married in February 1845.
Mary Jane Marcum, the second-oldest daughter of George and Mary Ann Marcum, married Edward “Ned” Honeycutt, the oldest of the Honeycutt children, on February 26, 1873.
The first-born child of Ned and Mary Ann Honeycutt was Bud Honeycutt, born in December 1873. He died of a stroke in 1951. Both he and his wife, Peggy Honeycutt (1879-1959), are buried at Marcum Cemetery, as are several of their children.
Bud Honeycutt’s real name was George Monroe Honeycutt, while Peggy Honeycutt’s real name was Margaret. Both were long-time members of New Salem Baptist Church on Smith Creek.
According to an obituary, Bud Honeycutt — who had been blind for several years — said just before he died that he “would soon be in a land where there would be no blind people.”
Among the children of Bud and Peggy who are buried at Marcum Cemetery are: Martha, who died on April 4, 1908 at the age of eight months; an infant who was born and died on June 23, 1911; Mary Jane, who died on July 29, 1913 at the age of seven; and Elmer, who died on March 10, 1923 at the age of 20.
The surviving children of Bud and Peggy Honeycutt included Michael Marion Honeycutt (1898-1982), Carl Honeycutt (1903-1984), Lottie Laxton (1909-1977) and Nannie May Allen (1914-1978).
With the exception of Mike Honeycutt, who moved to Virginia, the children of Bud and Peggy Honeycutt settled in the Oneida area. Lottie married Jacob Laxton. Nannie May married Robert Allen. One of her sons was Marshall Allen, known to most Scott Countians simply as “Marshall,” a familiar figure about town in Oneida until his passing in 2017.
Mary Jane Marcum Honeycutt was buried at Marcum Cemetery when she died on November 15, 1923, at the age of 65.
Honeycutt Cemetery
Across the creek and on the end of a ridge, just a few hundred feet away from the Marcum Cemetery, is the Honeycutt Cemetery. Unlike the Marcum Cemetery, which is no longer maintained, the Honeycutt Cemetery is maintained fairly regularly. There are six graves located there.
One of those graves is unidentifiable, other than being a Marcum. Bailey described it in his 1994 book as being a field stone with the only legible engraving being the last name. However, it is no longer able to be located at the cemetery.
Otherwise, the cemetery seems to date back to 1919, when Ned Honeycutt died. He was the husband of Mary Jane Marcum Honeycutt, the oldest child of Hardy and Nancy Smith Honeycutt who lived at Smith Creek.
Another grave at the small cemetery is that of William Crabtree, the son of William Henderson Crabtree (1881-1936) and Mary Lydia Hutson Crabtree (1890-1974). He was born and died on the same day, April 22. However, the field stone marking his grave has weathered to the point of being difficult to read and a year cannot be made out.
The Crabtree family was the third prominent family who lived on Marcum Creek, along with the Marcums and the Honeycutts. John Crabtree married Nancy Marcum in 1875. Nancy was one of the daughters of George and Mary Ann Marcum.
William Henderson Crabtree, also known as “Willie,” was born in 1881. He was a World War I veteran who married Mary Lydia Hutson in 1905. They had 13 children. One of those was daughter Sylvia, born in 1913. Another was daughter Elizabeth, born in 1920. The sisters married brothers from the Honeycutt family: Sylvia married Elvin Honeycutt in 1931, and Elizabeth married John Calvin Honeycutt in 1937. Elvin and John were the sons of James Michael Honeycutt and Ida Belle Riseden Honeycutt — the grandsons of Ned and Mary Jane Marcum Honeycutt.
In July 1938, one-month-old Ida Bell Honeycutt died and was buried at Honeycutt Cemetery. Her grave was surrounded with rocks that are now covered in moss. She was the oldest daughter of John Calvin and Elizabeth Crabtree Honeycutt. She is the only person buried at Smith Creek with surviving siblings. Several of them reside in the Oneida area: sisters Dessie Coffey and Essie Lowe, and brother Avery Honeycutt.
Also buried at the Honeycutt Cemetery are Elvin Honeycutt, who died in 1991, and his daughter, Margie Honeycutt, who died in 1996.
Joseph Marcum Cemetery
About three-quarters of a mile deper into the mountains from the Marcum and Honeycutt cemeteries are the graves of Joseph and Florina Jeffers Marcum, who died in 1927 and 1929, respectively.
Joseph Marcum was the oldest son of George and Mary Marcum.
Florina Marcum was first married to Absalom Cross of Jellico Creek, who is buried at Riverview Cemetery. She married Joseph following Absalom’s death in 1887.
Willie Crabtree Cemetery
William Henderson “Willie” Crabtree, the father of William D. Crabtree and grandfather of Ida B. Honeycutt who are buried at the Honeycutt Cemetery, is buried on the mountain above the Honeycutt Cemetery. He died in 1936 at the age of 54.
Cemetery Census: Marcum Cemetery
GPS Coordinates: 36.471279144, -84.360153198
First Burial: 1851*
Last Burial: 1959
Marcum Griffith* N/A-N/A
Bud Honeycutt 1873-1951
Elmer Honeycutt 1923-1923
Infant Honeycutt 1911-1911
Martha Honeycutt 1907-1908
Mary J. Honeycutt 1858-1923
Mary J. Honeycutt 1905-1913
Peggy Honeycutt 1879-1959
George W. Marcum 1816-1891
Jonathan Marcum 1859-1862
Mary A. Marcum 1822-1887
Cemetery Census: Honeycutt Cemetery
GPS Coordinates: 36.471149445, -84.356979370
First Burial: 1919
Last Burial: 1996
William D. Crabtree N/A-N/A
Edward Honeycutt 1854-1919
Elvin Honeycutt 1909-1991
Ida B. Honeycutt 1938-1938
Margie Honeycutt 1949-1996
Unknown Marcum N/A-N/A
Cemetery Census: Joseph Marcum Cemetery
GPS Coordinates: 36.482109070, -84.355133057
First Burial: 1927
Last Burial: 1929
Florina Marcum 1845-1929
Joseph Marcum 1844-1927
Cemetery Census: Willie Crabtree Cemetery
GPS Coordinates:
First Burial: 1936
Last Burial: 1936
William H. Crabtree 1881-1936
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.