Sacred Ground: Overton Cemetery (Lone Mountain)
There are several cemeteries scattered up and down the Brimstone Creek valley on Scott County’s south end, some of them larger and more prominent than others.
The one that is just about the furthest up Brimstone Creek that you’ll find is the Overton Cemetery — though it really isn’t on Brimstone Creek but on Mill Creek, which empties into Little Creek and then into Brimstone Creek just below Lone Mountain Baptist Church.
The Overton Cemetery isn’t especially difficult to get to, but you cannot get there in the family sedan; a 4×4 vehicle — or at least a vehicle with some ground clearance — is required. There has always been an unbridged stream crossing along the old dirt road that accesses the cemetery, and now the main bridge over Mill Creek is also out, apparently with no intention of being replaced.
This family cemetery is located in a dense stand of mountain laurel on a small, flat ridgetop above Mill Creek, a short distance beyond the popular Mill Hole waterfall and swimming area. It contains 16 graves, only four of which have stones with inscriptions. In fact, when Robert Bailey transcribed this cemetery in 1994, he included only six graves. Descendants of the families later placed cemetery markers at the graves that had previously been marked only with uninscribed field stones. And when Tim Smith and Sue Posey transcribed the cemetery in 2008, they were able to identify all 16 graves.
The Overton family
The Overton Cemetery started with William “Bill” Overton and his wife, Elizabeth Harness Overton.
Today, no one lives on Mill Creek Road once you turn off the “main road” just below Lone Mountain Baptist Church. But Bill and “Lizzie,” as Elizabeth was known, and their family once lived here, where they rented a farm. That’s how their cemetery came to be located here.
Bill Overton was the first to die, on Aug. 30, 1920. There is no birth date on his stone, which contains the epitaph, “Gone to rest.”
The 1920 census, which would’ve been taken shortly before his death, indicates that Bill was born in 1868 and was 52 years old that year. (However, earlier censuses indicated he was born between 1871 and 1873.) Lizzie was 42 in 1920, and they had six children living at home: Freeman, Eva, Marse (or Morse), Gertie, Leeman and Bertha. They also had an older child who was not living at home in 1920: Son Sherman, born about 1898.
That 1920 census indicated that several other members of the Overton family lived nearby, along with the Wilson family, the West family, the Webb family and the Emory family.
Ten years earlier, the 1910 census had indicated that Bill Overton was employed at a sawmill.
Bill Overton was the son of John and Nancy Overton, who lived at Brimstone, and their second-oldest child. John Overton was the oldest child of William and Catherine Overton.
In fact, there is a large overlap of the Overton families between the Overton and Lone Mountain cemeteries, which is not surprising, given their close proximity to one another and the once-prominent nature of the Overton family that made their home in the area.
The growth of the cemetery
Unfortunately, we don’t know what Bill Overton died of at a relatively young age in 1920. Remember, he was likely only in his late 40s at the time, and had several children living at home.
Nor do we know what his wife, Lizzie, died of three years later, on Dec. 10, 1923. She was only 44 at the time of her death, and several of her children still lived at home.
What we do know is that Bill and Lizzie are two of only four people buried at Overton Cemetery with commercial head stones. One of the other is their son, Morse. He was born in 1907 and died on Sept. 10, 1924, at about 17 years of age. He was the third person buried on the family plot, after his parents.
After that, the cemetery becomes a little more confusing. Two of the cemetery markers indicate that there are graves belonging to Carrie Overton and Cassie Overton. Both are listed by family members as being born in 1918 and dying in December 1932.
Is it possible that these girls were twins who also died at about the same time? Or was a mistake made in genealogical records?
What seems a little more certain is that they were the daughters of Franklin Overton and Pricie Keathley Overton, both of whom are buried at the Overton Cemetery, as well. Franklin was Bill Overton’s brother.
A Nancy Overton who is buried at the Overton Cemetery may be their mother. It isn’t clear where their father, John, was buried.
Update: The murder of the Overton twins
Other burials at Overton Cemetery included Emily Overton, Bill and Franklin’s sister, who died in 1962, and Helen Harness Overton. There’s also a Charlie Overton, Dillard Overton, Joe Overton, Maxie Overton and Nancy Overton.
Other graves
The only other graves at the cemetery include Lovella Wilson, whose grave is marked by an uninscribed field stone and a funeral home marker, and Howard Bunch, who was a World War II veteran and died on June 30, 1968 at age 62. He was a member of the Overton family. His brother was Franklin Overton, who died in 1984 and is buried at Lone Mountain.
Cemetery Inventory
Overton Cemetery (Lone Mountain)
GPS coordinates: 36.250591278, -84.474700928
First burial: 1920* Last burial: 1968*
Burials since Robert Bailey’s 1994 cemetery census? No
Howard Bunch 1905-1968
Bill Overton ~1872-1920
Carrie Overton 1918-1932
Cassie Overton 1918-1932
Charlie Overton N/A-N/A
Dillard Overton N/A-N/A
Elizabeth Overton 1879-1923
Emily Overton 1877-162
Frank Overton N/A-N/A
Helen Overton N/A-N/A
Joe Overton N/A-N/A
Maxie Overton N/A-N/A
Morse Overton 1907-1924
Nancy Overton N/A-N/A
Pricie Overton N/A-N/A
Lovella Wilson N/A-N/A
*Most of the graves at Overton Cemetery were originally marked only by uninscribed field stone. Funeral home markers have since been placed but do not include birth or death dates.
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.