The earliest "written in stone" legible death date is 1896.
The latest death date is 1935.
...........................................................................
.........SHRADER(Swader) Cemetery, Windmill Gap Mtn.,
Coaldale, Mercer County, West Virginia
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---Directions to this cemetery::
.......................from Bluefield, north on Route #52, to Bluewell;
.......................from Princeton, west on Route #20, to Bluewell;
.......From Bluewell, West Virginia:
-----North on Route #52,
past Pinnacle Rock State Park,
down the mountain,
passing the Bramwell / Simmons / Freeman area;
-----in the community of Coaldale,
turn right(north) on Windmill Gap Road,
for about two and one-half miles.
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-----There are no "good" defineable land marks,
that can be described for reference points.
Even the local folks do not know about this cemetery,
which dates prior to 1900.
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.............Cousin, Kenneth Davidson, of Freeman, wv,
had a scheduling conflict,
and could not participate
in this November 2002 fellowship and activity.
..............Kenneth "found" this cemetery location a few years ago.
The qualifier for the word "found" does not consider the many trips
of trompin' through the brush, briers, poison ivy, etc.,
over a span of many years.
............Kenneth and his brother, Roger Davidson,
have maintained the grave sites
of our "written in stone" relations, at this location,
on an annual basis, since that discovery.
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.....This cemetery was visited, once again,
by a group of cousins:
-----Woody and Norma Pigg Duncan, of Princeton, wv; 2002, 2003;
-----Eve Wyesloiff Sheets Welch, of Lexington, nc; 2002, 2003;
-----Celeste Davidson Schnabel, of Columbus, oh; 2002, 2003;
-----Sonny and Betty Auton Farmer Bircham, of Lexington area, nc; 2002;
-----Arthur L. Davidson, of Columbus, oh; 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003;
-----Linda Stocker Davidson, of Columbus, oh; 2002;
-----Lorene Stowers Beggs Black, of Lexington, nc; 2000;
-----Elaine Beggs Duncan, of Bluewell, wv; 2000;
-----Clifford Davidson, of Glenwood, wv; 2000;
-----Frances Harvey Mabe, of Montcalm, wv; 2000;
-----Kenneth Davidson, of Freeman, wv; 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002;
-----Shirley Quesenbury Davidson, of Freeman, wv; 2000.
......................................................................................................................
.....The group project for the day was to:
clean the cemetery;
cut and remove the underbrush, briers, fallen trees;
rake and remove leaves;
stake and ribbon the sunken, un-marked grave sites;
take photographs; and,
prepare for another such enjoyment,
here, or, at a different cemetery location.
....................................................................................................
Our discovery, on that November 2002 date, is that there may be fifty (50) grave sites,
possibly more, that are sunken, and do not have markers, or, any type
of identification. We have family members in some of these
sunken areas.
The vital records reveal that many family members died, in such a short period
of time, often within days or weeks, during the influenza epidemic, of
the 19-teens, and, early 1920's, that the conclusion may be valid, that
the then economic situation, did not have the flexiblility, for such an
outlay of resources, for the cost of placing permanent markers.
Also, there were other family members, that survived, but, were too
incapacitated, at the time of the death of their other family members, that
they could not participate in the burials.
After recovery, from this family-break-up disease, and, in subsequent years,
sanity may have insisted that "it is best to forget".
....................................................................................................
...........Transcribers of this Shrader Cemetery are:
............Norma Duncan, of Princeton, WV;
......................Eve Welch, of Lexington, NC;
................................ Arthur Davidson, of Columbus, OH.
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Last Updated: 11 August 2003
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........................................................................................
Arthur L. Davidson----------------
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