Oliver's Diary: The Schools 1870 - 1905

This week I received an e-mail from a fellow Rockcastle Co., Kentucky researcher who had started corresponding with me last year when he found this blog. His ancestors were from the same area of the county as mine and he still lives in the area today. He and I are familiar with many of the same family groups that lived in the same community. We have exchanged information, documents and photos.

(photo just for illustration)

In this latest e-mail he said he knew my paternal great grandfather, Oliver M. Wallen, was a teacher and he wanted to know if Oliver had ever taught at the "Rocksprings" school, which is still standing today. I was pretty sure the answer was "no" and, since I was busy, it would have been easy just to tell him so and be done with it. I knew that many of the names Oliver used for these schools were probably names of the current teacher at the time, or the name of the teacher that first taught there. However, it was an honest question and deserved a little more than a quick dismissal, so I decided to run a search for the term "school" in the transcription of the diary on my computer. I was surprised with what I found. Again I learn to "never say never".

(photo just for illustration)

First of all "school" is probably one of the most common words throughout Oliver's diary. There were "Select" schools, "Common" schools, "Subscription" schools, and of course "Public" schools. I finally had a list of 17 to 19 different schools to send off to this researcher, not that it was any help to him, but it was certainly worth it to me to save the list in case I ever needed to refer to it. Some of these were schools that Oliver attended as a boy, others are where he taught. I have included the teachers where named, and some of the general locations.

These are the schools mentioned, from the years 1870 through 1905, in Oliver's diary:

1) The Public school at Maretsburg (teachers Harvy Vanhook, M. B. Debord, Miss Ada Hunt)

2) Silas Martin's Select school (Maretsburg)

3) Miss Lucy Martin's Select school

4) The Old Tyree school (teachers William Bloomer, Jo Vanhook, T. J. Cress, W. A .B. Davis)

5) Unnamed Public school (teachers Mr. J C. Watson, Mr. S. D. Lewis, Miss Lucile Joplin, Miss Alice Lewis) (May be the same as #1)

6) The Mount Vernon (Public) school (teachers: Mrs. Rosalind Nesbitt, Miss Ella Joplin)

7) The Kirby school, "near Blue Springs on the Dry Fork of Skaggs Creek".

8) J. N. Brown's Normal school at Level Green (Jasper Newton Brown)

9) The school at Sand Hill

10) Sayer's school house

11) The Copper Creek school

12) The Caloway school (Caloway District)

13) The Estes school house (Pulaski Co.)

14) The Thompson school house

15) Mat Colson's school

16) Miss Ida May Adam's school

17) The Brown school house (may be the same as #8)

18) Milton Wheeldon's school

19) The Norton school house

After I made this list, I went back to recheck words in and around the word "school", and that's when I found it, just what my researcher friend was looking for: "the trustees in Rock Spring Dist (No. 71) gave me their school." This was the school year starting in the fall of 1894. I had missed it during the first search.

So, we have another school, making it 18 to 20 schools mentioned in Oliver's diary. 

20) Rock Springs school

And no, the photos are not of Rockcastle county schools. They are photos from the time period that are no longer under copyright and are just for illustration....because I like illustrations!

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Surname Saturday: BLOOMER

England to America

Descendant Chart: Robert Bloomer 1634 to Lisa Wallen 1952

A brief description of each generation from my 9th great grandfather, Robert Bloomer, to my 4th great grandmother, Elizabeth Bloomer Wallen, where the Bloomer line daughters out. 

1) Robert Bloomer b. ca. 1634 in Birmingham, England - Early (mid 1800s) family histories coincide on certain details: Robert was a foundling, adopted in infancy by the Bloomerings. He was kidnapped from the streets of England as a teenager and sold in America into four years of indentured service. Married Rachel ca. 1670. Lived in New York.

2) Robert Bloomer b. bet. 1671-1673 - Miller. Married Elizabeth Sutton (The Sutton lineage is where my father is twice descended from my mother's ancestor, Vincent Rongnion/Runyan). Lived in Rye, Westchester Co., New York. Filed a will on 12 March 1738/39.

3) John Bloomer b. bet. 1705-1710 - Mentioned in Rye, Westchester Co., New York from 1735 to 1740 and was justice of the peace in 1746. He married Berthia Fowler, daughter of John and Mary (Tatum) Fowler.

4) Nehemiah Bloomer b. ca. 1754 - Taylor. Left New York just before the Revolution and is found in Pennsylvania by 1777 and appears in tax records (Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd series p. 53) for Hampton Township in Cumberland Co., NY in 1778. By 1790 Nehemiah was in Wilkes Co., North Carolina. He married Elizabeth Ketcham, of Welsh descent, in New Jersey in 1773.

5) Daniel Bloomer b. ca. 1778 - Married Lucinda. Her maiden name is recorded by some as Defoe and by others as Looney. Neither name has been verified. In May of 1821 Daniel made an entry for 86 1/2 acres on the North Fork of the Clinch River in Hawkins Co., Tennessee. On 30 Nov 1836 Daniel bought 432 acres of land laying on both sides of the North Fork of the Clinch river near Wallen's Bend in the same county. His children are listed in his will.

6) Elizabeth Bloomer b. 12 June 1801 - d. April 1860. Married William Wallen/Walling, Jr. ca. 1820 in Tennessee. Family migrated to Rockcastle Co., Kentucky around 1851. Elizabeth gave birth to 10 children, two boys died as teenagers. This is where the Bloomer line daughters out and becomes Wallen all the way down to me. (click on descendant chart above to enlarge.)

For much more information on the descendants of Robert Bloomer I highly recommend the following book:

Bloomer, Robert John. The Bloomer Family in America, 1655-1988: a History and Genealogical Record of the Bloomer Family. Fountain Valley, CA: R.J. Bloomer, 1988. Print.

Sorry Michael, another "damned Anglish" pedigree in your bloodlines...but at least it's tempered with a wee bit o' Welsh!

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Treasure Chest Thursday: Finding a Genealogical Jewel

LOUISA TYREE WALLEN 

b. Feb. 1830 in Scott Co., Virginia - d. circa 1913 in Cooke Co., Texas

Louisa was my paternal 3rd great grandmother, wife of Jesse B. Wallen. She was responsible for raising the younger 7 of her son William's 9 children, with the help of the two oldest, Jesse Uriah and my great grandfather Oliver Morton Wallen, after their mother died. Louisa, "Grandma Wallen", is mentioned regularly in Oliver's diary. Their home had been in Wabd, Rockcastle Co., Kentucky from the early to mid 1850s until 1905 when most of them packed up and headed for Texas. By that time nearly all the children were either grown or had died of Consumption. All 9 siblings eventually perished from that disease (as had their mother) and Louisa would outlive them all with the exception of Jesse U. who died in 1917.

For nearly 15 years I'd tried to prove the parents of Louisa. My dad's first cousin and my closest cohort in genealogical research, Charlie Wallen, never let go of the belief that Louisa was the daughter of David and Rachel Rogers Tyree. I went along with him on that assumption for nearly 10 years until I started digging up new clues that pointed to Louisa as being the oldest child of David and Rachel's son William and his first wife Lucy Osborne. The clues were all over the place but I couldn't convince Charlie. Anyone can read more about those clues here and here at my other blog "Genealojournal" where I tend to muse about things yet unproven. There were more clues too that I discovered in Oliver's diary since writing those notes. None of them said what I needed to know...not quite.

I was obsessed with knowing the truth about Louisa's parentage and I had exhausted all my resources short of making a trip to Scott Co., Virginia or hiring a researcher there. Then, a little over a week ago I was browsing the Rockcastle County newspaper, the Mt. Vernon Signal, and I had decided to do a search on the name of the tiny town of Wabd to see if anything interesting might surface. Now, over the years, I'd done many a search in this newspaper on the surname Wallen, including all the variations in spelling. Many years ago the Signal had been transcribed from microfilm and posted to a genealogy web site by a dedicated genealogist, Cindy Crawford, to whom I will always be humbly grateful. I copied and pasted Cindy's entire transcription to my computer's hard drive (hundreds of pages) and I've been over it dozens of times with a fine toothed comb. In other words, I didn't really expect to find anything monumental on this day, I was just browsing and enjoying reading about all the people of the county that I had come to know over the years.

And suddenly, there it was! Just a dozen little words. My proof. The genealogical jewel that became my gift. I immediately got writer's block..that is, after I spazzed out and danced and babbled and sobbed for a few hours. It was so big I couldn't write about it..I couldn't write about anything. I always thought I'd find the proof of Louisa's ancestry by using my skills. But this wasn't skill at all. It was simply a gift, the perfect gift.

Yesterday I came across this quote by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings in his comments to Martin Hollick's post "Genealogical Gimme":

"...the record that provides direct evidence of a relationship or fact, might better be called a "genealogy gem" or "genealogy jewel." Often, these are hard to find and, when they are published and made known, then they become a "genealogy gimme." or "genealogy gift."

For whatever reason, this little excerpt gave me what I needed to help me write about my new discovery.

So, what were those few special words I found in the Mt. Vernon Signal?

Well, under the title "WABD" - dated Friday, August 12, 1904, were the words: "Mrs. Louisa Wallen, of Wabd, is visiting her sister, Mrs. John Sowder".  

I froze when I saw it. My heart stopped...and then my mouth flew open..and then I did all that heebee jeebee stuff they call "happy dancing". Every Tyree researcher of this particular Tyree lineage knows who Mrs. John Sowder was. She was Elizabeth Tyree Wallen Sowder, daughter of William and Lucy Osborne Tyree! What a jewel, what a gift! I had been interpreting the clues right all along!

I  just wish cousin Charlie was still alive so I could have the pleasure of saying  (respectfully of course) "I told you Charlie!". 

And I still can't get this newspaper article to come up using "Wallen" as a search word!

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Jesse B. Wallen: Tax Schedule Timeline 1854 - 1875

JESSE B. WALLEN 

1827 - 1877

KENTUCKY
Tax Schedules 1854 through 1875

In my opinion not enough is known about my paternal 3rd great grandfather Jesse B. Wallen. He died in 1877 when my great grandfather, Oliver Morton Wallen, was just 7 years old and, in his diary, Oliver only mentions his grandfather in reference to his tombstone in the family burying ground. 

"Dec. 23, [1904] - ...Jess and I went to Langford station and got nice sawed stone and cut names, birth, and death on them and put to all their graves except grandfather's which had a marbel stone but it had fallen down. I fixed it up this week. We have cleaned the graves off nicely and filled them up well....Jess done the cutting and dressing and most of the work at our family burying ground. Sleep on dear ones and take thy rest, it will not be long until I come to meet thee. O. M. Wallen."

View looking Southeast from the family burying ground "Wallen Francisco Cemetery"

I have the 1830 through the 1870 census information for Jesse, from Hawkins and Hancock Co., Tennessee to Rockcastle Co., Kentucky. I know who all his children were and where they lived, who they married, their escapades out West and who all their children were, etc. And Jesse's wife, Louisa Tyree Wallen, lived to a pretty old age, passing away sometime between 1913 and 1914 in Texas. As "Grandma Wallen" she is mentioned throughout Oliver's diary. I know that Jesse's immediate cause of death was "liver complaint", whatever that means, and I have touched his tombstone, but so far I know very little about the man Jesse B.

Once I collected all the data from the yearly tax schedules, I found I had quite a bit of new and interesting information. It would appear Jesse was a fairly successful farmer on a decent sized farm with horses, mules, cattle, hogs, hay, corn, wheat, and he even tried growing tobacco one year. He was enrolled in the militia from 1860 through 1872 and his nearest neighbor was J. C. Graves. (Boy, have I got some stories about HIM!) 

This is the 21 year Tax Schedule Timeline for Jesse B. Wallen:

1854 -Walden, Jesse  100 ac   Skeggs Crk   $300 land val.- 1 horse $75 - 7 cattle $15 - 18 hogs - $390 total value

1855 - Wallen, Jesse  100 ac  Skeggs Crk  $400 - 1 horse $100 - 13 hogs - $500 total value

1856 - Wallen, Jesse  100 ac  Skeggs Crk $300 - 1 horse $100 - 10 cattle $25 - 1 child bet. 6-18 yrs - 4 hogs - $425 total value

1857 - Wallen, Jesse  100 ac  Skeggs Crk $500 - 2 horses $130 - 6 cattle $10 - 1 child bet 6-18 yrs - 10 hogs - $640 total value

1858 - Wallen, Jesse B.  100 ac Skeggs Crk $400 - 2 horses $150 - 6 cattle $10 - 8 hogs - $560 total value

1859 - Wallen, Jesse B.   100 ac Skeggs Crk $400 - 2 horses $175 - 7 cattle $25 - 2 children bet 6-18 yrs - 12 hogs - 250 bu corn -  49 bu wheat  - $600 total value

1860 - Wallen, Jesse B.  100 ac Skeggs Crk. $400 - 2 horses $200  - 7 cattle $10 - 2 children bet. 6-18 -  8 hogs - enrolled militia - 300 bu corn - 47 bu wheat - $610 total value

1861 - Wallen, Jesse B.   100 ac Skeggs Crk $500 - 3 horses $225 - 7 cattle $25 - 2 children bet 6-18 yrs - 10 hogs - enrolled militia - 350 bu corn - 10 bu wheat - $750 total value

1862 - Wallen, Jesse  100 ac Skeggs Crk $400 - 3 horses $200 - 6 cattle - 3 children bet 6-18 yrs - 23 hogs - enrolled militia - 250  bu corn - 25 bu wheat - $600 total value

1863 - Wallen, J. B. Jr.  100 ac Skeggs Crk $400 - 4 horses $140 - 7 cattle - 3 children bet 6-18 yrs - 4 hogs - enrolled militia - 400 bu corn - 30 bu wheat - $540 total value

1864 - Walden, J. B.   100 ac Skeggs Crk  $400 - 4 horses $175 - 5 cattle $15 - 3 children bet 6-18 yrs - 3 hogs - enrolled militia - 300 bu corn - 55 bu wheat - $590 total value

1865 - Wallen, Jessee   100 ac Skeggs Crk. $500 - 4 horses $200 - 6 cattle $ - enrolled militia - 4 children bet 6-20 yrs - 7 hogs - 30 bu corn - 20 bu wheat $765 total value

1866 - Wallen, Jesse Jr.  100 ac  Skeggs Crk $500 -  4 horses $200 - 7 cattle $70 - 7 children bet 6-20 - 5 hogs -  350 bu corn - $770 total value

1867 - Wallin, Jesse B. 100 ac  Skeggs Crk $500 - 3 horses $185 - 6 cattle $60 -  enrolled militia - 4 children bet 6-20 yrs - 15 hogs - 400 bu corn - 20 bu wheat - $745 total value

1868 - Wallin, Jesse B.  100 ac  Skeggs Crk $500 - 4 horses $200 - 6 cattle $50 - enrolled militia - 4 children bet 6-20 yrs - 15 hogs - 400 bu corn - 40 bu wheat - $750 total value

1869 - Wallin, Jessee B.  100 ac  Skeggs Crk $500 - 3 horses $180 - 10 cattle $95 - enrolled militia - 6 children bet 6-20 yrs - 9 hogs - 10 pounds of tobacco - 75 bu corn - $775 total value

1869 - Wallin, Jessee B.  $200 - Increased Valuation

1870 - Wallen, Jessee B.  100 ac Skeggs Crk $700 - 3 horses $150 - 7 cattle $65 - enrolled militia - 3 children bet 6-20 yrs - 1 hog - 2 tons of hay - 400 bu corn - 59 bu wheat - $915 total value

1871 - Wallin, Jesse B.  100 ac  Skeggs Crk $700 - 3 horses $150 - 7 cattle $50 - enrolled militia - 3 children bet 6-20 yrs - 9 hogs - 2 tons hay - 500 bu corn - $900 total value

1871 - Wallin, Jessie B. $100 Increased Valuation

1872 - Wallin, Jessee B.  100  Skeggs Crk $800 - 3 horses $150 - 10 cattle $70 - enrolled militia - 2 children bet 6-20 yrs - 10 hogs - 2 tons hay - 400 bu corn - $1020 total value

1873 - Wallin, Jesse  100 ac Skeggs Crk $800 - 3 horses $100 - 1 mule $50 - 10 cattle $70 - 3 children bet 6-20 yrs - 12 hogs - 3 tons hay - 350 bu corn - 73 bu wheat - qualified voter - $1020 total value

1874 - Wallin, Jesse B.  100 ac - NR John Graves - $800 - pct. #1 - 3 horses $175 - 1 mule $75 - 10 cattle $75 -  legal voter - 2 children bet 6-20 yrs - 5 hogs - 3 tons hay - 300 bu corn - $1125 total value

1875 - Wallin, Jesse B.   100 ac  NR  J.C. Graves $800

           Wallin, Jesse B.      40 ac  NR  J.C. Graves  $85  - 4 horses $175 - 2 mules $100 - 8 cattle $50 -  legal voter - 2 children bet 6-20 yrs - 5 hogs - 2 tons hay - 500 bu corn - 25 bu wheat - $1210 total value

Page from the Rockcastle Co. tax schedule

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Treasure Chest Thursday: From Diamond Came Gold

 UNCLE TOM
My all time favorite Find A Grave discovery

Above photo courtesy of Shalina Thomas

Diamond Cemetery, Stephens County, Oklahoma

Above photo courtesy G. William Whitworth, Jr.

Daniel Thomas (D. T. or Uncle Tom) Wallen was the fifth and last child born to my paternal third great grandparents, Jesse B. and Louisa Tyree Wallen, (born 1861 not 1871 as shown on stone).  He and three of his siblings, Oliver, Isaac, and Lucy left Rockcastle Co., Kentucky around 1882 for Texas and promptly disappeared. That was back fifteen years ago in my research and the Internet was not quite as easy to navigate as it is today and so I preferred staying back in Kentucky where I was comfortable and where my own great, great grandfather William M. Wallen remained until he too left for Texas many years later. I knew these other four would surely turn up sometime in the future, which of course they all did. William was the oldest of the siblings and would probably inherit his parents Kentucky homestead. Of the remaining siblings, D. T. was the youngest, barely 20, and the only one of the four Westward bound that was not married with family. William's son, my great grandfather Oliver Morton Wallen, wrote a few excerpts in his diary concerning his uncle:

1894 - "In March I bought 50 acres of land joining Grandma's farm for $50.00, of D. T. Wallen." 

Jan. 17, 1900 -" Went to papa's, worked some in a new ground. Wrote two letters after dinner, one to D. T. Wallen and one to Guy Griffith.  Jan. 18 - Went to Mt. Vernon. Sent D. T. Wallen $10.00."

And after Oliver also went to Texas:

Aug. 2, 1905 - "...After noon went to Uncle Tom Wallen's rock query 11 N. W. Sanger..."

I didn't think Uncle Tom would even have a marker. After all, he was never married and had no known descendants and much of the time he lived in a tent in the rock quarry where he made a living. So, when I was making a rather broad search of Find A Grave using the Wallen surname, I was stunned to see "D. T. Wallen" in the list I pulled up. "D.T." was the name besides "Uncle Tom" that he was most known by. Of course, I wasn't sure it was really his tombstone until I clicked on his name and saw the cemetery was in Stephens Co. Oklahoma. The birth date was off by 10 years and I never really knew his death date. The State and County were what hit me! Now it all made sense! The thing that threw me off in earlier years was a letter copied for me by my distant cousin Connie Borgren that was to her grandmother from a lady in Gainesville, Texas.

"January 17, 1961

Yes, we knew uncle Tom Wallen since very early childhood.  He came to Texas from Kentucky and was a rock mason.  In fact he lived in a tent in the rock quarry near Clear Creek.  Later Uncle Tom's mother, Grandma Wallen came with her Granddaughter Viola Hays, to live with him.  It was through Viola that I knew them best as I went to school to Viola in the terms 1912-13 and 1913-14.  She married in the spring of '14 and left here.  It must have been either in '13 or '14 that her grandmother passed away for I do remember that she was not here when Viola married.  Uncle Tom built concrete cellars all over this country.  Which still stand as a memorial to him.  Infact we have one here in our yard.  When he got too old to work, he went to live with his niece Mrs. John Anderson in Sulphur, Okla., as you perhaps know. Mrs. E. W. Grundy, Gainesville, Texas"

Now, Mrs. John Anderson (Rebecca Ellen Sowder Anderson, daughter of Lucy Wallen Sowder) did not live in Sulphur and I knew this from the census. She and her family lived in Stephen's Co., Oklahoma for well over 30 years. However, there were other nieces and nephews that lived in Sulphur which is in Murray Co., Oklahoma so I thought Mrs. Grundy was probably mistaken in who the elderly Uncle Tom ended up living with. It turns out it wasn't the person Uncle Tom went to live with, but the county she lived in that Mrs. Grundy was mistaken about! Earlier census data showed his residence as that of Rebecca Anderson's half sister, Louisa Sutton Gregory. Louisa resided in the Texas counties of Denton and Cooke. Those counties were close to the rock quarry which was in the vicinity of Era, Texas northwest of Sanger. Regardless of who he ended up living with, I assumed Uncle Tom would be buried with no marker so, imagine my surprise in finding his tombstone in the Diamond Cemetery in Stephens Co., Oklahoma! My thanks to Jean for adding his memorial to Find A Grave and again for transferring the memorial to me. 

I'd love to find out more about Uncle Tom's rock quarry and I have used Google Earth to try finding it but I was unsuccessful. It could be abandoned by now. There are many rock quarries in the vicinity but none near Era which is almost exactly 11 miles N.W. of Sanger as my great grandfather described. Maybe if I actually went there.......

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1920s Beeville, Texas: Shades of the Ku Klux Klan

1914 Beeville

My second great grandparents William M. and Serena Sutton Wallen were married in Rockcastle Co., Kentucky in 1869. My great grandfather Oliver was the oldest of their 9 children. Serena died in 1886, and in 1892 William married Sofa Thacker. Sofa had a young son named Brack from a previous "relationship". William and Sofa had 6 children together, the last being born about 1906. In August of 1908 Brack, now married, went and got himself shot and killed by John Calvin Graves and I believe that is why Sofa and William packed up their family and left for Texas.

They settled in Bee county and for a number of years William was a night watchman for the city of Beeville. He died February 14, 1922.

Ten years ago I wrote to the South Texas Genealogical Society for help in locating information on William. An obituary was found and a death record. He was buried in the Glenwood Cemetery but there was no stone. The Recording Secretary at the time, Kay Pacheco, went above and beyond the call of duty for me going through records and newspapers on microfilm and making trips to the library. Nothing else was found. She was copying the obituary from the "Beeville Picayune" when another article on the front page caught her eye. She e-mailed me right away to tell me about it and copied that page and included it in the package she sent me. For 10 years my dad's first cousin Charlie and I puzzled over that front page article...what did it mean? What did Sofa DO to "assist" the Klan?

Beeville Picayune for Thursday,

16 Feb 1922 Front page:

"Bereaved Widow Very Grateful to Klan for Donation - Writes Note"

The Picayune is in receipt of the following letter from the Ku Klux Klan organization, at the bottom of which the recipient of the latest donation from this organization pens her appreciation:

Beeville, Tex., Feb. 15, 1922

Mrs. W. M. Wallen

City

Dear Mrs. Wallen:

Enclosed you will find $25.00, which is a donation from the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for your assistance, as well as to show our respect for your deceased husband. We hope you will accept the same in the spirit in which it is given. If so, will you kindly acknowledge the receipt of same by handing this letter to one of the local papers for publication? 

Done by order of the Exalted Cyclops, Bee County Klan, No. 121, Realm of Texas. (SEAL)

----

Beeville Picayune

Beeville, Texas

Gentlemen:

I accepted the above well placed donation in the spirit in which I feel sure it was given, and shall ever feel grateful to the members of the klan. May the helpful work the klansmen of Bee county are doing continue successful.
 

Very respectfully,

Mrs. Wallen"

Naturally, I hope William was not involved in any way with the KKK, although I suppose it's entirely possible. ...but I'll think about THAT tomorrow!

Comments and speculation welcomed!

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Headstones And Cow Pies - Cleaning up the family cemetery

Wallen/Francisco Cemetery - Wabd, Rockcastle Co., Kentucky

Back in May of 1999 my Mother (then age 75) and I took nearly 2 weeks out of our busy lives to take a genealogical vacation to Kentucky where my dad's family was from and to Indiana where her family was from and where some still live. We stopped in Kentucky first and visited many of the more well known cemeteries in Rockcastle and Pulaski counties. Then we drove and drove and we backtracked and drove some more, but the most personal cemetery, the family cemetery, eluded us over and over again. We traipsed up hills and down, we climbed fences and crossed creeks....and we drove some more, and we got ticks! The Wallen Francisco cemetery simply was not where the book said it was. Severely disappointed, we finally had to give up and go on to Indiana where we stayed until it was time to start our journey home.

On the return trip, as we once again entered Kentucky and approached Rockcastle county I began to get wistful.....as we approached the Mt. Vernon exit, I simply couldn't resist one more last ditch effort. They were calling me, I heard their voices. At the last second I whipped off onto that exit with a heart full of hope. If my mother was ever bored or doubtful she never let me know. She was a trooper and a delightful companion the whole time.

We went back to the same area and retraced our steps. We knocked on doors and we got one "wall, I thank it might could be o'er yon", pointing a finger...and we got some folks that jus didn't know fuh sure, but thought they had heard tell of a ol' graveyard nearabouts. After a few more hours we were thinking it just wasn't meant to be. Then, my mother said "pull down that driveway, I'm going up to that door". Glory be, this time someone knew right where it was! The woman was happy to help and took us to her side yard for a better view and pointed to three trees off in the distance (the Walnut trees the cemetery book said to look for) and she said "you'll have to drive around and pull off the road and park and then you'll have to climb the gate because there's cows in there. After you get over the gate then just follow the fence line on up the hill to those trees." Oh boy, was I excited! My heart was pounding with anticipation!

Well, we got up to the gate and the darn thing was 5' high at least and we had to carry tools and camera; both of us had our hands full. Somehow we managed to get over it without a mishap. At the time, I wasn't even thinking about how old my mom was. She's always been an active and limber person and "75" just didn't enter my mind. 

Oh, what a glorious afternoon it turned out to be! Of course, many of the headstones were laying down and had thick dried cow pies on them, that part wasn't so glorious, but I didn't mind. We scraped those off and pulled some of the grass from around the stones before photographing each one. Every few minutes I had to stop and gaze in all directions. From this hill you could see all around for miles and miles; what a lovely peaceful spot and I could just imagine my great grandfather, his parents, his grandparents and other family members burying their kin and coming to visit and clean and reset stones from time to time. It almost seemed that I could feel their presence! We had honored them by our perseverance and tenacity and they cherished our visit, I just knew it!

My great grandfather was Oliver Morton Wallen. He left us a diary and in it he often wrote of the burials at the old family burying ground. His mother and most of his siblings were buried there, all having died fairly young. 

"December 23, 1904 - I finished up some work at the old family burying ground, which is about 3/8 of a mile from my present home and 1/4 mile from Wabd Post Office.  These are the relatives we have buried there:

Grandfather Wallen born Sept. 26, 1827, died Sept. 30,1877

Uncle Willie Sutton - Cousin Harvy Sowder, no dates

Mother Serena Susan born Mar. 20, 1851, died Jun. 28, 1886

Sister Mary Hayes born Jan. 31, 1872, died Mar. 27, 1895

Sister Emiline Wallen born about 1876, died about 1879 

Sister Lieuesa Wallen born Aug. 25, 1877, died Dec. 11, 1896

Sister Lucy Wallen born Aug. 15, 1883, died Mar. 15, 1901

Sister Mary's daughter, Ora born Oct. 15, 1891, died Jan. 6, 1893"

While we worked the cows decided to pay us a visit. The walnut trees offer the only shade in the pasture so I don't know if they came for the shade or came because they had visitors and were curious about us. Every time we looked up the line of cream colored cows was a little closer. Now, I'm a "wanna-be-farmer city girl" so my mother who was raised on a farm, assured me they meant no harm and wouldn't stampede us or anything...I had to ask just to make sure, you know. Kinda spooky how they just got closer without appearing to actually move....and how they just stared at us and chewed.

As we left for home I said a little prayer...."Thank you Lord for seeing that we found the family cemetery! The long and arduous hunt made it all the more precious!" 

More information on all known persons buried in the Wallen/Francisco Cemetery:

Jesse B. Wallen - son of William & Elizabeth Bloomer Wallen, md. Louisa Tyree

William R. Sutton - son of Uriah & Euna Delaney Sutton, md. Lucy Jane Wallen daughter of Jesse B. & Louisa Wallen

Harvey Sowder - son of Madison U. & Sibby Jane Owens Sowder

Serena Susan Sutton Wallen daughter of Uriah & Euna Delaney Sutton, md. William M. Wallen son of Jesse B. & Louisa Wallen

Mary J. Wallen Hayes - daughter of Wm. M. & Serena S. Wallen, md. James Luther Hayes

Ora Hayes - daughter of Mary J. & James Luther Hayes

Emiline Wallen - daughter of  Wm. M. & Serena S. Wallen

Louesa Wallen - daughter of Wm. M. & Serena S. Wallen

Lucy Wallen - daughter of Wm. M. & Serena S. Wallen

Sarah Elizabeth Wallen - daughter of Wm. M. & 

Serena S. Wallen

Sarah Jane Wallen - daughter of Isaac & Elizabeth Bloomer Wallen - Isaac was son of William & Elizabeth Bloomer Wallen, married his first cousin, another Elizabeth Bloomer.

W. Bloomer - I believe this to be Wisdom Bloomer, son of Nehemiah & Jane Payne Bloomer.

Thomas Graves - Husband of Sarah Matilda Grider, b. 1814 d. 1887

Sarah Francisco - Daughter of Jasper & Sarah E.

Graves Francisco, b. 1883 d. 1887

William T. Francisco - Son of Jasper & Sarah E. Graves Francisco, b. 1868 d. 1887

Eleanor Forgey, daughter of Archibald & Eleanor Roller 

Forgey, b. 1836 d. 1878, wife of William Tyree

Many others are certainly buried here but stones are missing or buried.

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