Sacred Ground: Terry Cemetery (off O&W Road)
The “Sacred Ground” series began with a look at the Dewey Phillips Family Cemetery in the “Forks of the River” area west of Helenwood, and continues this week by remaining in the same area and examining the Terry Cemetery.
Terry Cemetery is located on the end of a narrow ridge above Pine Creek and was established in 1896 with the grave of John H. Terry. The last person to be buried there was Lillie Bell Miller, in December 1932, and the cemetery is sometimes called the Terry Miller Cemetery.
John Terry was the son of Rev. Calvin C. Terry, an early Baptist preacher in Scott County who was later buried on the same ridge top when he died in 1909. He was the grandson of Elijah Terry, one of the early settlers of the Oneida area. In fact, Elijah Terry and his family once owned much of the land that is today Oneida proper. Elijah’s brother, Josiah Terry Sr., is said to have been the first permanent settler of what is now Oneida.
The Terry family has remained prominent in the West Oneida area ever since. Bertha and Dorothy Terry, the sisters who owned Terry & Terry Store at the intersection of Coopertown, Leatherwood and Station Camp roads for many years, are the granddaughters of John H. Terry. And the land the cemetery is located on is today owned by Joyce Terry Watson, John Terry’s great-granddaughter, and her husband, John Watson.
Perhaps the biggest legacy of the Terry family has been in education. Many of the children and grandchildren of James Calvin Terry — the son of John Terry — were schoolteachers, including both John and Joyce Watson. His grandson-in-law, Amon Lay, is a former principal at Oneida High School and Scott County School Superintendent. Terry descendants continue to teach school locally today.
There is a connection between this cemetery on the peaceful ridge top above Pine Creek and the nearby (at least, as the crow flies) Phillips cemetery near the Forks of the River: John H. Terry married Nancy Jane Thompson. Her sister, Phoebe Jane Thompson, married Robert Phillips and was the mother of Lindsay Haywood Phillips, the Scott County game warden slain in 1936 and the man whose family established the Dewey Phillips Family Cemetery.
John and Nancy had eight children — six sons and two daughters. James Calvin Terry was the second-oldest of those children and also the longest-living: he died in May 1983.
For about 10 years, John H. Terry’s grave was the only one on the wooded knoll. Then, one day before Valentines Day in 1906, John Riley Phillips died at the age of 59 and was buried at the cemetery. His mother, Ester Jane Terry, was the daughter of Josiah Terry — Elijah Terry’s niece, and Calvin Terry’s cousin.
Just a few months later, in May 1906, Lcannie Terry was buried there. She was the 19-year-old daughter of John H. Terry; she had been only 10 years old when her father died.
In September 1907, 33-year-old Newton Terry died and was buried in the cemetery. He was John H. Terry’s brother.
The following year, Charnetti Phillips was buried in the cemetery when she died at the age of 25. Called “Belle,” she was born a Cecil and married Ewell Phillips, the son of John Riley Phillips and Rebecca Jane Thompson.
On Feb. 1, 1909, Rev. Calvin C. Terry died at the age of 75 and was buried in the cemetery that had been started with the grave of his son.
Later graves include that of Sarah Smith (1834-1910), an infant Sarah Smith (died at age four months in April 2010), and an infant Silcox boy, who was the son of F.N. and Lillie Silcox.
On. Feb. 15, 1919, Henry Terry, the son of John H. Terry, died and was buried in the Terry Cemetery. And on Sept. 4, 1922, Warren G. Terry, the 8-month-old son of James Calvin and Angie Terry, was buried there.
On Jan. 20, 1926, Rebecca Jane Thompson Phillips, the wife of John Riley and mother-in-law of Belle, died at the age of 74 and was buried in the cemetery.
On Oct. 3, 1927, Esta Agnes Terry, a granddaughter of John H. Terry (daughter of Segal and Nova Terry) died at the age of six months and was buried there.
There are also newborn triplets buried in the cemetery, the children of Granville and Katherine Phillips.
Unfortunately, this is not a complete listing of the graves at Terry Cemetery. Several of them are unmarked, denoted by simple field stones.
However, temporary markers have since been placed for two of those stones: Jennings Osco Miller, who died on Aug. 14, 1932 at the age of exactly 17 months, and Lillie Bell Terry Miller, his mother, who died less than four months later at the age of 20. Lillie was a great-great-granddaughter of Josiah Terry — the first settler of Oneida — who married Charley Miller.
Cemetery location & inventory
Terry Cemetery is located several miles beyond Scott County Airport. From U.S. Hwy. 27 in Helenwood, turn onto Airport Road and travel 1.9 miles before veering left onto John Long Road. Continue to Oakmont Road (the construction entrance for the Big South Fork Airpark) and turn right. Continue to Blaze Gum Road and turn right again. After a short distance, turn left onto Wild Turkey Trail. The gravel road is fairly well maintained. After seven-tenths of a mile, it will cross a TVA transmission line right of way, drop over a steep hill, continue for a short distance further, then drop over an even steeper hill. At the bottom of the second hill, hang a left, then look for an unmarked road going uphill to the right. The cemetery is located at the end of the unmarked road.
The cemetery’s coordinates are 36.452935, -84.615654. It is maintained.
Jennings O. Miller, 1931-1932
Lillie Terry Miller, 1912-1932
Belle Cecil Phillips, 1882-1908
Phillips Triplets, N/A-N/A
John R. Phillips, 1847-1906
Rebecca T. Phillips, 1851-1926
Infant Silcox, 1911-1911
Sarah Smith, 1909-1910
Sarah Smith, 1834-1910
Calvin Terry, 1833-1909
Esta A. Terry, 1927-1927
Henry Terry, 1891-1919
John H. Terry, 1860-1896
Lcannie Terry, 1886-1906
Newton Terry, 1874-1907
Warren G. Terry, 1921-1922