Elmwood Cemetery Biographies George
Edwards, Jr.: While
his tombstone indicates that he was a part of "Co. F of the 8th W.Va.
Cavalry", there was no such regiment and the original stone must be
considered carved in error (not an uncommon situation). Military record
shows that George Edwards, 18, mustered
into Company D of the 8th Virginia Infantry December 31, 1861. This regiment
was organized in the Kanawha Valley in the Fall of 1861. George
Edwards died April 2, 1862 at Buffalo, Putnam County, West Virginia. Later that year, the
regiment was assigned to General Averell's brigade. They were
mounted and became part of the 7th West Virginia Cavalry. Elizabeth Harrison Knapp: Daughter of Joseph and Isabella Harrison, first wife of William Knapp, Sr., and mother to 2 sons [John A. and Joseph Harrison Knapp]. William and his second wife Almira Buck are buried in unmarked graves at Smith Church Cemetery in Union District, a few miles northwest of Elmwood. There is no record of Elizabeth being buried at Smith Church, and considering her young age at death, only a few short years into her marriage with William, there is considerable likelihood that she would have been buried near her parents' farm. If this is the case, she may be one of the earliest interred at Elmwood Cemetery. John
C. Harrison: John was the husband of Nancy B. Hill, daughter of
Jonathan B. Hill and Roxanna Warner, and father of 7 known children [William
M., Marion, Thomas C., Francis M., Mary, John C. Jr., & Permelia]. He died from
cholera at the age of 32, the first recorded case of this disease in this part of the
state. According to Hardesty he died about 1832. However, John was
included in legal dealings with family estates in 1835, and his daughter
Permelia was born in 1835, so it is known that he had to have at least
survived to that time. Some have speculated that he may have been buried
at Warner Chapel Cemetery, though the church was only newly established in the
early 1830's and was still meeting in homes. The cemetery had not yet been
established, nor the church building built. The stronger likelihood is that
John was buried alongside his parents. Joseph
Harrison: Born in Rockingham County, Virginia at Lacey Springs, the son
of Capt. Reuben and Lydia Donnell Harrison and twin brother of Reuben H.
Harrison. Joseph and his brother Reuben settled first in Monroe County,
WV on Second Creek not far from Gap Mills, where they met and married the only
wives either would have in their lives. In 1789 Reuben married Mary
Higginbotham, the daughter of Moses Higginbotham (a large landowner in the
Second Creek area), and in about 1795, Joseph married Isabella Jeffers.
Near the turn of the century, both Joseph and Reuben had migrated
northwestward with their young families into the Kanawha Valley and finally
settled on the lands where they would later be buried. Reuben near (according
to family tradition) the Dog
Fork of the Pocatalico near Goldtown in Jackson County, and Joseph on the
banks of Mud Lick Fork of Thirteenmile Creek at what was later to become known
as Elmwood. Joseph's land lay just to the west and north of the site of
Elmwood Cemetery. Isabella Jeffers Harrison: (to be written) |