reclaiming

A few months ago we made a visit to the Pierce (Samuel A.) Cemetery where some of my relatives are buried and we found it to be so overgrown that we could not see the markers.

The heat of summer kept us from trying to clean it up and the width of the gate keeps us from going in with a tractor.  So we were waiting on cooler weather to go in with weed eaters.  Today we made the first attempt to reclaim the cemetery.

Equipment failure kept us from finishing but we did make it look better and more accessible.

This cemetery is located on a knoll in a pasture on the Pierce Farm.  It is off Clark Mountain Road about a mile from the town of Byrdstown.  There are ten people buried here.

Samuel Pierce  June 10, 1842-Dec. 23, 1901
(Son of Sion and Elizabeth Heatherly Pierce)

Margaret Irene Sells Pierce   Nov. 1846-Feb 10, 1929
(Daughter of Henry Sells: Wife of Samuel A. Pierce)

Margaret Irene Sells Pierce

Margaret and Samuel would be my great, great grandparents.  They are the parents of Joe Charles Pierce my great  grandfather.

Eula Pierce   April 15, 1887-Sept. 28, 1946
(Daughter of Samuel A. and Margaret Sells Pierce)

Rebecca Pierce   December 14, 1868-February 27, 1952
(Daughter of Samuel A. and Margaret Sells Pierce)

Eula and Rebecca were two of four unmarried sisters who lived on the Pierce Farm.  My mother has told many stories about these sisters that she refers to as "The Old Women."  According to my mother  Eula did not want to be buried here because no one would ever visit her grave.  She always placed roses on all the graves every year on May 30.  Hopefully, we can get the cemetery in better shape so that next year on May 30 we can take Eula a rose.

Lillie B Pierce   March 14, 1884-March 27, 1905
(Daughter of William B. and Mary E, Huddleston Cargile and First wife of Dillard G, Pierce)

Owen Pierce March 1905-July 1905  This grave is a fieldstone marker
(Son of Dillard G and Lilly B. Cargile Pierce)

Four of the graves are children of Joe Charles and Edna Barnes Pierce.  Three of these children died in an 11 month span between October 1919 and September 1920.  It is hard to imagine such a loss for one mother and father to endure.

Fred Pierce   January 16, 1914- January 28, 1914
Eather  Pierce   August 14, 1918-October 21, 1919
Ruby Pierce   March 14, 1920-April 8, 1920
Geneva Pierce   Sept 24, 1916 -Sept 2, 1920

These children were all siblings of my grandfather, Arthur Pierce.  They all died from childhood diseases like diphtheria and whooping cough.

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