History

Cemetery History

Located at the corner of Witcher Creek Road and Branch Road, the Witcher Community Cemetery has graves dating as far back as the early 1800's. Care of the cemetery throughout the years has remained in the hands of various Nelson family members until 2020 when a committee was formed to attempt to ensure care continues through upcoming generations.

Witcher Community Cemetery

Currently, the earliest record we have of a sale of the property which included what is now the Witcher Community Cemetery was by William and Rachel Tompkins to William Dickinson and Joel Shrewsbury in 1838. The Tompkins sold 5,905 acres of land for $3,222.00 (around $87,000 today) on what is now Witcher Creek and Branch Road all the way to Campbell's Creek.

The Tompkins family was no stranger to historical events. Rachel Tompkins was the daughter of Noah Grant, who participated in dumping British tea overboard during the Boston Tea Party of the Revolutionary War. She was also the aunt of Union General and President Ulysses S. Grant.

William Tompkins, a veteran of the War of 1812, manufactured salt at the Burning Springs furnace and was one of the pioneer salt manufacturers in the Kanawha Valley. He and Mrs. Tompkins originally resided on an estate at Burning Springs until 1845 when they moved to the now historic "Tompkins House" in Cedar Grove, WV at the mouth of Kelley's Creek.

For more information on the Tompkins Family, visit:
- Rachel E. Tompkins in "History of Kanawha County: From Its Organization in 1789 Until the Present" by George Wesley Atkinson, p. 305-307. (Mirrored Here)
- The William Tompkins House, also known as "Cedar Grove" on Wikipedia.
- Full Text PDF of the Tompkins to Dickinson/Shrewsbury Deed - Obtained on 06/30/2020 from the Kanawha County Courthouse by Chris Davis.

William Dickinson and Joel Shrewsbury, beyond being brother-in-laws, were very successful businessmen in the Kanawha Valley. Originally, the pair founded Dickinson & Shrewsbury, a tobacco-handling firm in Virginia, and later a very profitable salt-manufacturing company in the Malden, Rand, and Belle area. William also founded the Kanawha Valley Bank. The partnership between William Dickinson and Joel Shrewsbury was not to last, however. In 1882, the dissolution was complete and the men divided up their very successful businesses and holdings (a preview of this information can be found by clicking here).

The next deed on record is from 1926, when Charles Peter, acting as Trustee for the J.Q. Dickinson Estate (son of William Dickinson), conveyed for $5.00 645 acres and the trusteeship to Mary and F. A. Wheelwright, Sallie P. Smead, and Mattie C. Rowan, a group known locally as the "Cobb Heirs", a family which had married into the Dickinsons.

- Full Text PDF of the Peters to Wheelwright/Smead/Rowan Transfer - Obtained on 06/30/2020 from the Kanawha County Courthouse by Chris Davis.

The next deed is of the 1937 sale of the property by the "Cobb Heirs" to W. F. (William "Bill") Peters. This is the first deed that specifically mentions the "Witcher's Creek cemetery", and the land was sold for $10.00. As of this time, graves already existed on the hill top (as mentioned below) and Mr. Peters had the property surveyed and a map filed with the Kanawha County Courthouse.

"Bill" and his wife Joan moved to Florida and left Joseph Jackson Nelson, the grandfather of committee member Steve Nelson, to sell cemetery plots in his stead for a small stipend and a plot of land for his family.

- Full Text PDF of the Wheelwright/Smead/Rowan to Peters Sale - Obtained on 6/30/2020 from the Kanawha County Courthouse by Chris Davis.

The final recorded transfer of property took place in 1996. Mrs. Joan Peters, the widow of "Bill " Peters sold the cemetery for $100.00 to Witcher Memorial Gardens, Inc. As all of the plots in the cemetery have been sold, Witcher Memorial Gardens essentially purchased the main right of way through the cemetery and the right of ways between rows. One of the officers of Witcher Memorial Gardens, Inc. - Scotty Allen - is also on the cemetery committee.

- Full Text PDF of the Peters to Witcher Memorial Gardens, Inc. Sale - Obtained on 06/30/2020 from the Kanawha County Courthouse by Chris Davis.

Hilltop Cemetery

The cemetery at the top of the hill was dedicated as a community cemetery and made available to local families on a "first come, first served" basis by John Quincy Dickinson, President and son of the founder of Kanawha Valley Bank and J.Q. Dickinson and Co. (a large salt works located on the Kanawha River near Malden, WV).

Lower Cemetery Plot Map

To the left is a scan of a copy of the map on file with Kanawha County showing the original filing date of August, 1937. These are the original plots in the lower cemetery that were made available for sale to community members by William "Bill" Peters.

Notice that the name on the creek at that date was "Witchers Creek". The creek has gone by several different name variations over the years, including "Witcher's Creek" (U.S. War Department. Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 31-Dec-1895), "Witchers Creek" (U.S. Geological Survey. Geographic Names Phase I data compilation (1976-1981). 31-Dec-1981), and finally Witcher Creek (1960 Official Board Decision by the USGS, based upon citations from various residents of Cambell's Creek).

Information above obtained from: USGS GNIS Detail - Witcher Creek
Note: The banks of the creek, road, and "bridges" have changed position over the years.

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