Maplewood Cemetery

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Entrance at Maple Street.
Gravestone of Linie Winston (Williams family plot); inscription reads: A FAITHFUL SERVANT
Sunrise over Maplewood Cemetery. View facing east, April 9, 2023.

Maplewood Cemetery was established as the town of Charlottesville's first official resting place for the dead in 1827.[1] However, its oldest grave marker is from 1777, which suggests that some graves may have been moved to Maplewood after the cemetery was opened. [1] The cemetery is a few blocks north of downtown, with the main entrance gate at 425 Maple Street. The 3.6 acre historic burial ground is bordered by Maple Street, Lexington Avenue, Taylor Street and 8th Street NE. The land is owned and maintained by the city of Charlottesville.[1] Among the burials at Maplewood are scores of noteworthy citizens who left their mark on the city. In addition, there are over 100 unmarked graves of civil war soldiers.[1]


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There are two large, public cemeteries in Charlottesville: Maplewood Cemetery and Oakwood Cemetery. Maplewood contains hundreds of burials; it was established in 1827 or 1829 by the city of Charlottesville. Several African American families have plots in Maplewood. There are also a handful of slaves buried adjacent to family plots. For example, the photos at the right illustrates a gravestone for "Linie Winston." The inscription reads "a faithful servant." She is buried in the Williams family plot - adjacent to the graves of Thomas J. Williams (1832–1922) and his wife, Anna Harman Williams (1840-1922) - suggesting that she worked for that family. Unfortunately, her stone does not include a date.

Landscape

The imposing tree at the center of the walled cemetery displays characteristics of two members of the White Oak group—the Bur Oak and the Post Oak. Oaks often intermix within their groups, but this cross is unusual. The Bur Oak and the Post Oak are both known for their distinctive leaves. They are round-lobed, waxy, and deep green in color. To take a closer look at this tree on foot, enter the cemetery on Maple Street. Now part of the Martha Jefferson Historic District, Maplewood Cemetery was established in 1827, but it reflects the burial and landscaping practices of an earlier century. There are no formal streets or paths, and no formal plantings. Trees and shrubs appear randomly among the weathered headstones and monuments, as in an old country churchyard.

Why Do So Many Headstones Face East

Many headstones in cemeteries face east for religious or practical reasons. This practice can be traced back to ancient Egyptians and Greeks, who worshipped the sun god. Biblical scripture also contributes to this practice among Christians. The concept of being buried facing east came to represent embracing the next life, which contributed to its widespread acceptance, especially in Judeo-Christian societies.[2]

Biblical Inspiration

Of Christians, the practice of east-facing tombstones can also be traced to the bible. The scripture (Matthew 24:27), which talks about the second coming of Christ, teaches that he will come from the east. This belief also affects how Christian churches are built. The entrances face the west so that during services, worshippers face the east while looking at the altar.[2]

Since most Christians prefer burying their dead in this direction, many headstones in Maplewood cemetery have this arrangement. A notable exception is clergy members who are buried facing west. This is based on the belief that when the rapture occurs and the dead rise, the clergy will rise and face their congregation, positioned and ready to lead them again.[2]

Historic Residents

See also Category:People buried in Maplewood Cemetery

As of 1899, there were between sixty and seventy Confederate soldiers buried at Maplewood, among them field officers – Generals John M. Jones and A. L. Long. There are also a number buried at Oakwood.[3]In the first half of the twentieth century private citizens participated in maintaining the grounds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Virginia_Cemetery

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List of notable interments and their families

A

B

  • Angus Rucker Blakey (1816-1896) — also known as Angus R. Blakey — of Madison County, Va. Born in 1816. Delegate to Virginia secession convention, 1861. Died in 1896 (age about 80 years). Interment at Maplewood Cemetery.
  • George McIntire Baker (1881-1918) — Second Lieutenant of Company "L", 313th Infantry, 79 Division. A. E. F., was killed in action at Argonne Forest France -- a major part of the final Allied offensive of World War I. [4] A cenotaph in his honor was placed in the family plot by his uncle, Paul Goodloe McIntire.
  • Angus Rucker Blakey (1816-1896) — also known as Angus R. Blakey — of Madison County, Va. Born in 1816. Delegate to Virginia secession convention, 1861. Died in 1896 (age about 80 years).
  • Portrait of Colonel J. Thompson Brown, officer of the Confederate Army
    John Thompson Brown (known as J. Thompson Brown; February 6, 1835 – May 6, 1864) was a Confederate States Army colonel and artillerist in the American Civil War. He participated in the first exchange of cannon fire, in fact the first shots fired, between a Confederate force and a Union force in Virginia during the Civil War. He was killed by a sharpshooter at "The Battle of the Wilderness", May 6, 1864.[5] His life-long friend and neighbor, John Marshall Jones, was killed the same day. "Their remains were brought to their old homes, which were opposite each other, and from there the two processions wended their way to Maplewood where, in opposite sections, their bodies at the same time were lowered into their last resting places."
  • Walter Bowie — Captain in the Fortieth Regiment, Infantry, Virginia Volunteers.
  • Lutie M. Brockman[6]

C

D

  • James L. Daniel (December 2, 1811-July 2, 1862), Confederate Lieutenant, Company B, Nineteenth Regiment Virginia Volunteers, killed in battle near Richmond, July 2, 1862. (Div C Blk 4 Sec 4)
  • Marcus Dodd (unknown-1865), CSA private, Company D, 46th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, transferred to Mosby's Command. Said to have been murdered while home on leave.[7]
Epitaph (from the Greek epitaphion, "a funeral oration") on the gravestone of RTW Duke Sr.: "EVERYTHING WE LOVED, WHATEVER WE ADMIRED, REMAINS, AND SHALL CONTINUE TO REMAIN IN ETERNITY, OH BEST OF PARENTS."
  • Richard Thomas Walker Duke (1822–1898) — of Virginia. Born near Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Va., June 6, 1822. U.S. Representative from Virginia 5th District, 1870-73; member of Virginia state legislature, 1870. Died near Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Va. at his estate called "SunnySide, July 2, 1898 (age 76 years, 26 days). Interment at Maplewood Cemetery.

E

F

  • Captain A. J. Farish, for many years County Treasurer, died in office January, 1892.
  • Shelton Farrar Leake (1812-1884) — of Virginia. Born near Hillsboro, Albemarle County, Va., November 30, 1812. Democrat. Lawyer; member of Virginia state house of delegates, 1842-43; U.S. Representative from Virginia, 1845-47, 1859-61 (5th District 1845-47, 6th District 1859-61); Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, 1852-56. Died in Charlottesville, Va., March 4, 1884 (age 71 years, 95 days). Interment at Maplewood Cemetery.[8]
Charlie Ferguson, starred for the Philadelphia Quakers of the National League from 1884 through 1887.
  • Charles J. "Charlie" Ferguson (1863-1888) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire four-year career for the Philadelphia Quakers (who were later renamed the Phillies). During the Quakers’ spring preparation for the 1888 season, he contracted typhoid fever and subsequently died on April 29, 1888, less than two weeks after his 25th birthday. To honor Ferguson, the Quakers along with the Washington Nationals, New York Giants, and Boston Beaneaters wore black crepe on their left sleeves during the season.
  • Benjamin Franklin Ficklin (1827–1871), Noted for helping start the Pony Express. Civil War blockade runner for the Confederacy and once owned Monticello.
  • Slaughter W. Ficklin (1816–1886), was a partner in Farish, Ficklin & Co., a stagecoach enterprise that also delivered the U.S. mail; brother of Benjamin Franklin Ficklin.
  • Job Foster, performer in Robinson & Eldred’s Circus Company, was killed by an elephant while visiting Charlottesville with the circus. A Batavia, State of New York native, Foster died October 22, 1851, aged 23.

G

  • Judge Charles Goodyear (1804-1876) — Born in Cobleskill, Schoharie County, N.Y., April 26, 1804. Democrat. Lawyer; Schoharie County Judge, 1838-47; member of New York state assembly from Schoharie County, 1840; U.S. Representative from New York, 1845-47, 1865-67 (21st District 1845-47, 14th District 1865-67); banker; delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York, 1868; in 1869 Goodyear moved to Charlottesville. He practiced law in Virginia and in 1869 received an appointment from Virginia's post-Civil War military government as a justice of the peace for Albemarle County. Died in Charlottesville, Va., April 9, 1876 (age 71 years, 349 days). Interment at Maplewood Cemetery.[8]

H

  • Elbridge George Haden (1853-1933) was well known realtor and a popularly elected mayor of the city for three terms.
  • T. T. Hill, Civil War Confederate Major, Judge Advocate of his brother A. P. Hill's Corps. (Div C Blk 4 Sec 4 Extension)
  • Rev. James Stuart Hanckel (1817-1892; aged 75), first rector of old Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, Charleston, S. C., prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, and for 24 years was rector of Christ Episcopal Church, this city. Father of Louis Trapman Hanckel I.
  • Louis Trapman Hanckel I (1846-1914; aged 67), Confederate veteran, leading member of the Albemarle Bar, banker and twice mayor of the City of Charlottesville.
  • R. F. Harris (1827-1893), re-elected mayor of the Town of Charlottesville in 1883 and served until 1888 when Charlottesville received its charter as a city.
  • Lieut. Col. G. A. Harrell of the 14th Tennessee regiment.
  • Thomas Russell Hill, Lieutenant in Poague's Battalion. (Div C Blk 4 Sec 4)
  • Carl H. Hotopp, who was killed on the C. & O. Railway near Basic City.

I

J

  • Major Horace W. Jones (1835-1904, aged 68), a University of Virginia graduate, officer on General Pickett's staff and teacher for 50 years. After the war, he move with his wife and sons to Ivy Depot. He established a school in Charlottesville to prepare boys for entering the University; among his many former students, know as the “Old Boys”, were Paul Goodloe McIntire and R. T. W. Duke, Jr. The “Old Boys” erected the monument that marks the Major’s grave. The school, know as “Major Jones’ University School,” was located on East Jefferson Street.
  • General John Marshall Jones (1820-1864, aged 43), born at Social Hall, professor at West Point, U.S. Army officer and Civil War Confederate Brigadier General killed in action at the Battle of Wilderness on May 5, 1864. His life-long friend and neighbor, John Thompson Brown, was killed the same day in the Battle of the Wilderness at Locust Grove, Orange County. (The Wilderness of Spotsylvania was a tightly forested area nearly twelve miles wide by six miles long; it was located south of the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers, ten miles west of Fredericksburg, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.) Their remains were brought to their old homes, which were opposite each other, and from there the two processions wended their way to Maplewood where, in opposite sections, their bodies at the same time were lowered into their last resting places. (In the Jones Family section, little memorial crosses once marked the graves of five confederate officers. The Southern Cross of Honor was a commemorative medal established in 1899 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to honor Confederate Veterans.)
  • James R. Jones (1820-1862), Born on November 20, 1820, he died at the Battle of Seven Pines on June 1, 1862. Headstone erected by his mother (Div E Blk 1 Sec 3).
  • William T. Jones, first City Treasurer of Charlottesville. His brother James R. Jones died at on the last day of the Battle of Seven Pines; their father was a lineal descendant of John Paul Jones.

K

L

  • Henry Laning (1843-1917), M. D. — Medical missionary in Osaka Japan from July 4, 1873 to April 30, 1915. (Div A Blk 4 Sec 4)
  • Shelton Farrar Leake (1812-1884) — was at one time a Representative in Congress, and was first lieutenant-governor elected under the constitution of 1851. Died at his residence in Charlottesville on Wednesday February 13, 1884, aged 72 years.
  • Armistead Lindsay Long (1825-1891) — a canal engineer and staff officer to Robert E. Lee. After the war he was chief engineer of the James River & Kanawha Canal. He soon afterward lost his eyesight, and at Charlottesville passed the last twenty years of his life in total darkness, during which time he wrote his "Memoirs of Gen. Robert E. Lee," a model of biographical history and military operations. He died April 29, 1891.
  • Mary Heron Sumner Long (1837-1900) — appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as postmistress for Charlottesville, a position she held for twenty-two years and until her death; daughter of Civil War Union Major General Edwin Vose "Bull" Sumner; wife of Confederate Brigadier General Armistead Lindsay Long; younger sister of Margaret, wife of Col. (C.S.A.) Eugene E. McLean; brother was Union Brevet Brigadier General Edwin Vose Sumner Jr.

M

  • Edward M. Magruder (1858-1925), A well-renowned physician who worked for railroads, established the Magruder Sanitarium and practiced medicine at Martha Jefferson Hospital.[9]
  • Julia Magruder (1854-1907, aged 52), author of 16 novels, as well as short stories and essays; born in Charlottesville but lived most of her life in DC. Her literary work is sentimental, focusing on stories of love and defending the post-Civil War reputation of the South. Her essays addressed more serious social issues, such as child labor laws and women’s changing roles. A week before her death she became the first American woman to be awarded the “Order of the Palms” by the French Academie.
  • Colonel John Bowie Magruder (CSA), age 23; fell mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, within twenty yards of Cushing's guns at the Angle during Pickett's Charge; Born in Scottsville, his early childhood was spent at the family estate of "Glenmore". [10]
  • Major Robert F. Mason.
  • Paul Goodloe McIntire (1860–1952) was an American stockbroker, investor, acknowledged as one of the great benefactors of the City of Charlottesville, the County of Albemarle and also the University of Virginia. McIntire placed a cenotaph at the family plot in honor of his nephew, Second Lieutenant George McIntire Baker, who was killed in action at Argonne Forest France during the final Allied offensive of World War I.
  • Philip Agnew McNeal, a student who lost his life at the Brown's University School fire on May 7, 1902, aged 16. Grandson of Judge Charles Goodyear.

N

1870-Marble Works ad.JPG
  • John Neilson (c. 1770-1827), United Irishman and political exile who worked with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello and the University of Virginia grounds. Emigrated to America from Ballycarry County, Antrim Ireland. (Div A Blk 8 Sec 1)

O

P

  • Benjamin R. Pace, ex-Mayor.
  • William A. and Crawford J. Patterson, youngest son of John C. Patterson, Jr., who lost their lives at the great theatre fire in Chicago on December 30, 1903.
  • Brigadier-General Mosby Monroe Parsons in uniform, c. 1861. Parsons was murdered by Captain Dario Garza, at the head of a body of Mexican soldiers, on or about August 15, 1865, near China, Nuevo León, Mexico.
    Mosby Monroe Parsons, born in Charlottesville, May 21, 1822; son of Gustavus Adolphus Parsons, who was the last personal secretary of Thomas Jefferson. Served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War; U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, 1857-58; Major General in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Killed, along with Aaron H. Conrow and four others, by bandits in Nuevo León, Mexico on August 15, 1865 (age 43 years, 86 days). Interment somewhere in Nuevo León; cenotaph at Maplewood Cemetery; cenotaph at Woodlawn Cemetery, Jefferson City, Mo.[8]

Q

R

S

  • Letitia Shelby (d. 1777), mother of Kentucky’s first governor. A weather-beaten stone lies near the center of Maplewood Cemetery, inscription reads: "HEAR LIES THE BODY OF LETTITIA SHELBY DIED SEPTEMBER 6TH 1777 AGED 52 YEARS. Her's is one of several older stones relocated from graveyards in the area - and Maplewood’s oldest identified gravestone.
  • Stephen Valentine Southall (1830-1913) — also known as S. V. Southall — of Charlottesville, Va. Born in Charlottesville, Va., April 27, 1830. Democrat. Lawyer; served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War; delegate to Democratic National Convention from Virginia, 1876; delegate to Gold Democrat National Convention from Virginia, 1896. Died in Lynchburg, Va., March 20, 1913 (age 82 years, 327 days). Interment at Maplewood Cemetery.
  • John Bowie Strange (1823-1862) — Colonel of the 19th Virginia Infantry Regiment during the Civil War, he was killed at the Battle of South Mountain (Maryland) on September 14th.
  • Celestine "Cecile" Garth Walker Stockton (1836-1915). [11] She was the widow of Brigadier-General Lucius Marshall "Marsh" Walker (1829–1863), a Confederate general mortally wounded in a duel with fellow general John S. Marmaduke and the daughter of William Garth of Birdwood.

T

  • Fairfax Taylor, an African-American civil rights activist who lobbied for equality for newly freed black citizens after the Civil War. Father of James T. S. Taylor.
  • James T. S. Taylor (1840–1918), represented Albemarle County at the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868. Born to free parents, Taylor served with the U. S. Colored Troops (USCT) during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Son of Fairfax Taylor.
  • Lt. Col. St. George Tucker, Virginia militia officer during the Revolutionary War, distinguished Virginia lawyer and jurist, professor of law at William and Mary, authored 1796 treatise advocating emancipation of slaves; edited an American edition of Blackstone's Commentaries.[12]

U

W

Colonel Wertenbaker was a Civil War veteran, having served in the 19th Virginia Regiment
  • Annie W. Walker (1874-1960), businesswoman and suffrage activist. In the first municipal election after the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920, she was the first women candidate to run for a seat on the city council.
  • Judge Egbert R. Watson, ex-Mayor.
  • Wertenbaker section:
    • Colonel Charles C. Wertenbaker (1834-1819) a Civil War veteran he served in the 19th Virginia Regiment, he was in Pickett's Charge the climax of the Battle of Gettysburg (1863), and one of the most famous infantry attacks of the American Civil War (1861–1865); son of William Wertenbaker (1797-1882), second librarian appointed by Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia (1825).
    • the bodies of six children who in 1862 died within a few weeks of each other.
    • Here too is the body of the boy Stuart Wertenbaker who died August 21, 1872 and stone tool chest containing tools laying near the grave.
  • Stewart Randolph Williams (1875-1902), son of T. J. Williams, he was assistant superintendent of the city gas works until his untimely death at age twenty-nine after a short onset of illness.
  • Thomas J. Williams (1832 – 1922), became Charlottesville’s Fire Chief in 1853 and one of the oldest fire chiefs in active service in the United States at the time of his death at age 90. Superintendent of gas for the City.
  • Dr. Edgar Woods (1827-1910), a prominent pastor, educator and gifted speaker in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
  • Maud Coleman Woods (1877-1901, aged 24), considered the first "Miss America." An active worker in the Daughters of the Confederacy, she was one of the two women chosen to typify the beauty of North and South America on the official emblem of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901.
  • Micajah Woods (1844–1911), served as the Commonwealth's Attorney in Charlottesville, Virginia for 41 years, remembered locally as the prosecuting attorney in the 1904 murder trial of former mayor J. Samuel McCue and as the father of Maud Coleman Woods, the first "Miss America".

X

Y

Z

Mourners honored the dead by decorating their graves with flowers, ca. 1913.
Map of Maplewood Cemetery (1938)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Charlottesville : Maplewood Cemetery." Charlottesville : Home. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. <http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=1566>.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Web. Why Do So Many Headstones Face East, Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC, retrieved May 7, 2023.
  3. Web. Maplewood Cemetery And the Confederate Soldiers Buried There., Staff Reports, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, May 24, 1899, retrieved July 19, 2019 from University of Virginia Library. Print. May 24, 1899 page 1.
  4. https://archive.org/details/historyofseventy0079th/page/146
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Thompson_Brown
  6. Web. Buried in Maplewood, Staff Reports, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, August 9, 1918, retrieved August 9, 2016 from University of Virginia Library. Print. August 9, 1919 page 1.
  7. Dodd: Find A Grave. Web: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24633502/marcus-dodd accessed March 5, 2020
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Web. Cemeteries and Memorial Sites of Politicians in Charlottesville city, politicalgraveyard.com, retrieved Feb. 16, 2023.
  9. Web. Funeral Rites for Dr. E.M. Magruder, Staff Reports, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, January 13, 1925, retrieved May 12, 2016 from University of Virginia Library. Print. January 13, 1925 page 1.
  10. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0285%3Achapter%3D1.32
  11. https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/uva-lib:2135796
  12. St George Tucker, web: Wikipedia, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._George_Tucker accessed March 5, 2020

External links

Official site