Three Spann Graves

On the side of a hill behind someone's house is the Spann Cemetery, not to be confused with the Spann HILL Cemetery, both in rural Wayne County, Kentucky. I've heard this cemetery has been cleaned up and fenced. It was terribly overgrown when I was there twenty-three years ago. The tombstones for Benjamin Franklin Spann and his wife Mary "Hiley" Ann Decker are all lying down there. Their daughter Allie Lucinda Spann is my Great Grandma.

Fortunately for me these fell with the inscription side up.  It baffles me why there are two tombstones for Hiley Ann, but they are inscribed exactly the same, just with a different style letters. I have video of these which shows how near they are to each other. I did not try to flip them to see if something else was inscribed on the other side. Ben had a second wife who might also be buried in this cemetery, and I just wonder if somehow one of Hiley's stones was supposed to be for her. 

Ben and Hiley had 10 children. Their daughter Polly Spann is buried in the same cemetery. The others lie in other parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois and Nebraska. One daughter's grave is unknown to me yet. 

BENJAMIN SPANN

BORN

OCT  --  1827

DIED

DEC 15, 1901

HILEY DECKOR

WIFE OF

BENJAMIN SPANN

BORN

SEPT 26, 1838

DIED

JULY 1, 1884

HILEY DECKOR

Wife of

Benjamin Spann

BORN

Sept. 26, 1936

DIED

July 1, 1884

Ben's parents are Hartwell "Jack" and Mary Spann. Hiley Ann's parents are Abner & Nancy Deckor. I don't know the location of their graves. Mary Spann died before 1879, likely in Williamson County, Tennessee. The other three would likely be somewhere in Wayne County, Kentucky.  

The Relocated Grave of Polly Parmley

The daughter of Revolutionar War Soldier John Adair Jr and his wife Mary, Mary "Polly" Adair was more likely born about 1795 than the 1799 date on her tombstone. Her marriage to David Bell occurred in 1812 when she would have been about 17 which seems more realistic. David & Polly Bell had 4 children, John Silas, Barbara, William Beaver and Elizabeth. David died in 1818 and the next year, Mary was married to Garner Parmley who is buried beside her. 

A cemetery listing that was created in 1978 gives her death date as 1875. She was originally buried in the Twyford Cemetery #1.  Her grave was relocated before the creation of the Wolf Creek Dam in 1952. She was moved to a cemetery originally called New Bethel Cemetery, now called Parnell Methodist Church Cemetery. I would guess her tombstone has been placed sometime in the past 50 years or so. Her  I visited her grave in 1996 and got this poor photo with the sun behind it. It was amazing to be standing at the grave of my Fourth Great Grandmother.

I've never found a record of a grave for Polly's parents, John and Mary Adair, but it may not have been marked when graves were relocated for the dam. David & Polly's daughter Barbara is buried in Bearwallow Cemetery in Adair county. William Beaver's grave is unknown to me. Elizabeth is also buried in the Parnell Methodist Church Cemetery. 

Bells in the Stringer Cemetery

In what seemed like just a field, was the very small Stringer Cemetery in Wayne County, Kentucky. It had not been mowed in a very long time when we were there in July of 1996. Martha Bell's parents, John Silas and Rutha (Simpson) Bell are resting there.

Rutha Bell's inscription is very hard to make out in this photo. It was hard enough in person. I had my video camera when we were there and on the video I am saying that "I think that says Ru something a Bell April something April 1907". Rutha died April 11, 1907. I wonder what it looks like now. 

Also on the video I show the grave for Elizabeth Stringer, a daughter of John Silas and Rutha. I remember seeing a grave for Emily Bell with no dates which could be another daughter, but I don't have that on video. Ursula Reynolds, another daughter, is buried there and likely a daughter named Sophronia Bell, but I didn't see graves for either of them. John Silas and Rutha had two sons - Ira Garner Bell, buried in the Simpson Cemetery, also in Wayne County and Elisha Bell, who is buried in Rusk, Texas in the State Hospital (Asylum) Cemetery.

Ruth was one of 12 children born to Reuben Simpson & Martha Merritt. I don't know the location of her parents graves, but they would also be in Wayne County.

John Silas Bell's grave inscription was also barely legible. He died in 1878, It was incredible to me that I could find it at all. You can just barely see that the inscription "John S Bell". 

I remember reading somewhere that marked graves were moved to higher ground before the Wolf Creek Dam was built on the Cumberland River in 1952. John's father David Bell died in 1818. His grave marker, if there ever was one, was likely not found and no record of one exists. 

On this trip to Wayne County, I also visited John Silas' mother's grave which I'll post next. 

Bells in the Giltner Cemetery

Quiety resting in the Giltner Cemetery are several members of the Bell family. In January, I wrote about my maternal Grandparents grave in the Aurora Cemetery and then followed my Grandma's ancestoral line as far as the graves I have visited. Just a few miles southwest of Aurora is the Giltner Cemetery on the east edge of the small town of Giltner. It's a good sized cemetery with all natural grass, once lined with cedar trees on the north side, there are no trees left there. The grave of my Great Grandparents, Cicero and Allie Bell is sinking.

BELL

Father                      Mother

CICERO                      ALLIE L

June 29, 1869              May 19, 1871

Apr 4, 1944                  JAN 19, 1959

Cicero and Allie were both gone before I was born so I have no memories of them. Both orginally from Kentucky, they moved several times before bringing their combined family to Nebraska. There is no mention of it on the grave, but both Cicero and Allie had lost a previous spouse. The blended family of seven boys remained close throughout their lives. 

Allie had one son from her first marriage, Bill Vickrey, who is buried in Fairbury, Nebraska. Her parents are buried in Wayne County, Kentucky. Allie had one brother living in Illinois who died just 3 months after her death. Another brother and seven sisters died before her and are buried in Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois. Allie also had two half-sisters who were 20 and 21 years younger than her. 


Cicero had four children from his first marriage to Mittie Ramsey. Two infants died and are buried in Flint, Texas along with their mother. The family had only lived in Texas a few years. Cicero and the two oldest boys, Frank and Oren, moved back to Kentucky and the boys grew up with Allie as their step-mom. Frank is also buried in the Giltner Cemetery. Oren is buried in Oklahoma. At the time of Cicero's death he knew seven grandsons and eight granddaughters. Two grandsons and another granddaughter were born in the following few years. 

The four sons Cicero and Allie had together all died in Hamilton County and are buried within 30 miles of each other. Ben, the oldest, is also in Giltner, Virgil, the youngest, lies in Phillips, and Ed and my Grandpa Stan, are in Aurora.

I know I was at this cemetery in the 1980's or even earlier, but I was surprised when I learned from the book "Historical Sketches of Giltner," that Cicero's mother was buried there. Until I saw that I assumed she had never left Kentucky. It was probably 1995 when I first visited Martha's grave and aside from getting chipped up by the lawnmower, it's in good shape and not sinking much. It sits right next to Cicero and Allie's grave.

Martha Bell's daughter, Laura Alcorn, is buried in the Westlawn Cemetery, here in Grand Island. John, the middle son of Martha, is buried in Russellville, Kentucky. I have been to Martha's parents grave in Wayne County, Kentucky, which I'll post next.