DUTY VA
DIRECTIONS
From Route 80 at Bee VA, turn up Indian Creek toward Duty VA (Indian Creek road is route 602, when you cross the bridge at the homeplace of Franklin Rose, you are in Buchanan County, the route becomes 601). Continue toward Duty to what some calls the pine thicket, turn right toward Clinchfield Mine, make another right just within 150 yards cross a bridge. This leads you past the Fletcher Place to the mountain road. Stay on dirt road to Day Field. Take left fork, then on top of mountain take a left at that forks, there is a large tobacco field on the right as you turn (summer time only).Stay left to cemetery. Cemetery will be on your left, on a knoll. This cemetery is well-kept and mowed. Has large tree in center and some around the green chain link fence. Our caretaker, Eivens Lester passed away November 22, 2005. He will surely be missed. I hope his sons can take over the job of caring for this beautiful cemetery. Below is his obituary.
Eivens Lester DAVENPORT – Eivens Lester, age 79, passed away Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005, at his residence. Born in Dickenson County, he was a son of the late Walker and Lula Stevens Lester. He was a retired miner, a World War II veteran and a member of the Trinity Freewill Baptist Church. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Fern Lester, a son, Danny Lester, a sister, Alpha Sutherland, and a brother, Arthur Scott Lester. Survivors include one son, Eivens (Deborah) Lester Jr. of Davenport; one sister, Ruby Lester Powers of Frying Pan; four grandchildren, Will (Sharon) Lester, Jacob (Valerie) Lester, Sarah Lester Nunley and Melissa (Ronald) Lester Eanes; four great-grandchildren, Shawn and Sydney Nunley and Alexa and Walker Lester; and stepgrandchildren, Devon, Kayli, Chase, James, Cord Loftis, Eugene Lee Loftis and Joshua Mullins. Funeral services will conducted at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 25, 2005, at the Haysi Funeral Home, with the Rev. Roy Lee Wilson and Keith Harris officiating. Burial will follow in the Owens Cemetery, Duty. Pallbearers will be Will Lester, Jacob Lester, Ron Eanes, Blaine Sutherland, Don Owens and Kevin Sutherland. Honorary pallbearers will be Garrett Barton, Rick Breeding, James Harris and June Gilbert. VFW Post 8979 of Clintwood will conduct military graveside rites. The family will receive friends after 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005, at the funeral home, where an evening service will be held at 7. Haysi Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Published in the Bristol Herald Courier on 11/24/2005.
NOTES
Items I have added will be in parenthesis ( ) and brackets[ ] will be my comments. Double stone will be indicated as such. As best as I could document there was a total of 63 graves, marked and unmarked.
This file documented by David and Fon (Fontell) Owens Sexton (Fon is a daughter of Donald Owens and granddaughter of Rufus Owens), accompanied by Brady and Cloya Church (Cloya is a daughter of Chatman Owens and granddaughter of Rufus Owens), visited 20th June 1999
SURNAME LIST
Owens, Sutherland, Bailey, Sheckler, Lester, Mullins, Powers, Bumgardner
LISTING OF GRAVE MARKERS
Thru gate first row
1.David Crocett Owens
February 20 1953-April 16 1953
[son of Luther Crockett and Edith Deel Owens, grandson of Rufus Owens]
2.Onie Bowman Owens
April 17 1927-April 16 1978
[full name Easter Onie Owens Bowman, daughter of Rufus Owens married Cecil Bowman]
3.Rufus Grimsley (Grizzle)Owens
August 5 1880-January 25 1950
[husband of Cynthia Margaret Sutherland and son of Sylvia and James Owens,my grandfather]
4.Rosie Sutherland
September 13 1949-September 13 1949
[stillborn daughter of June and Tivis Sutherland]
5.Carson Edward Owens
August 28 1935-October 6 1935
[son of Donald Douglas and Nora Belle Rasnake Owens, my brother]
6.Emma Bailey (wife of Tom Bailey, now deceased, daughter of Bruce and Matilda Tiller/Sutherland)
December 19 1903-February 5 1934
[double stone]
7.Eunicy (Nicey)Mae Owens
January 13 1882-November 3 1938
[wife of Albert Ross Owens]
8.Albert Ross Owens
[married Eunicy Mae Sutherland, he was son of James and Sylvia Owens,brother of Rufus Owens]
[double stone]
9.Dewey B. Sheckler
July 9 1927-November 3 1931
[son of Flora Lee Sutherland/Sheckler and William Henry Sheckler, he died of typhoid fever]
10.Paul R. Sheckler (middle name Revere)
May 24 1914-December 16 1931
[son of Flora Lee Sutherland/Sheckler and William Sheckler, he died of typhoid fever]
11.Fern Lester
March 11 1935-February 2 1998
[wife of Eivens Lester, daughter of Dave (Dave is a brother of Margaret Owens, wife to Rufus Owens, my grandparents) and Ida Sutherland]
[double stone]
12.Alice Lester (still living)
13.Danny Lee Lester
January 15 1955-April 4 1977
[drowned in flood at Birchleaf VA]
(son of Eivens and Fern Lester, husband of Alice Lester)
14.grave-unmarked
15.grave-unmarked
16.Vallie E. Owens
December 26 1908-May 30 1925
[daughter of Elizabeth and Walter Owens]
17.Elizabeth Owens
September 12 1882-May 16 1944
[daughter of James and Sylvia Sutherland Owens, sister of Rufus Owens]
18.grave-unmarked
19.Kelsie O. Mullins (middle name Odell,s/o Willie "Otis" and Susie "Sue" Sutherland, grandson of Bruce and Matilda Tiller/Sutherland)
March 2 1937-March 4 1937
20.grave-unmarked (said to be stillborn Addington child)
21.grave-unmarked (said to be stillborn Addington child)
22.grave-unmarked (saidd to be stillborn Addington child)
23.Betty Mayrlin Owens(middle name should be spelled Marlene, daughter of Bascom Guy and Edna Sutherland, granddaughter of Bruce and Matilda Tiller/Sutherland)
April 27 1932-August 15 1952
24.Millisa Sautherland
April 11 1852-April 25 1952
(Granddaughter has her death date as November 26, 1952. Milissa always attested to being 104, Madeline Owens Kerr gave me this info, she remembers her well, she lived with her grandparents, Bruce and Matilda Tiller/Sutherland during her later years and also having spent time with her daughter Fannie Sutherland/Wise, in Jewell Ridge, VA. I feel her last name is misspelled, should read Sutherland)[Millisa was a Kiser wife of Z.T.Sutherland]
25.Z. T. Sutherland
March 5 1847-December 18 1923
[Zachary Taylor Sutherland husband of Millisa Kiser Sutherland brother of Sylvia Owens]
26.Oliver Owens
(This is said by many to be the son of Burb Owens, full name Oliver Evans Owens, b/February 06, 1897 d/December 13, 1928. I must have made a mistake in my documents. I hope to go back to the cemetery and make a picture. It does seem correct, because the dates match, only the year is wrong with what I wrote.)
February 6 1819-December 13 1902
27.Utah Owens (son of Burb Owens)
March 1937-September 1937
[no day given]
28.Mazie Owens
November 23 1926-May 3 1927
[this is a daughter of Ross & Bessie Smyth Owens, her name was found spelled Mazel Owens]
29.Delhv Owens
October 3 1930-February 7 1935
[this is a daughter of Ross & Bessie Smyth Owens, her name found spelled Delphis Annis Owens]
30.Arther Scott Lester
October 20 1917-July 28 1981
[brother of Eivens Lester, son of Walker and Lula Lester]
31.Lula Lester
September 29 1889-September 11 1963
[wife of Walker Lester,mother of Eivens Lester]
32.Walker Lester
September 22 1887-June 17 1936
[husband of Lula Lester,father of Eivens Lester,and son of Jessie and Ella Lester]
33.Ella A. Lester
October 13 1867-March 8 1945
[wife of Jessie Lester]
34.Jessie Lester
October 11 1863-June 4 1931
[husband of Ella A. Lester]
35.Jim Lester
April 13 1890-May 9 1907
(brother of Walker Lester)
36.Sylvia Owens
March 6 1856-March 17 1938
[wife of James Owens, daughter of Henry Homer and Margaret Mary Counts Sutherland and mother of Rufus Owens also my great grandmother]
37.James Owens
March 17 1849-December 28 1922
[husband of Sylvia Sutherland Owens,father of Rufus Owens,also my great grandfather]
38.Maxie Dona Powers
July 4 1898-July 8 1946
[daughter of James and Sylvia Sutherland Owens, sister of Rufus Owens,wife of Bryon Powers]
39.Bryon Powers
1897-1953
[no other dates are given, husband of Maxie Dona Owens Powers]
40.Ruby H. Powers
[still living, Walker and Lula Lester's daughter]
41.Frank H. Powers
July 10 1914-February 16 1992
[Frank Harlen Powers son of James Harvey and Celia Rasnake Powers and husband of Ruby H. Powers. Ruby still living]
42.Lacy P. Owens
April 16 1905-May 9 1907
[son of Elizabeth and Walter Owens]
43.grave-unmarked
44.grave-unmarked
45.grave-unmarked
46.grave-unmarked
47.Bonnie Owens
April 21 1907-April 21 1907
[bible records show her born in March, she was a daughter of Allen Rean and Mary Sutherland Owens]
48.grave-unmarked
49.Jack Owens
July 7 1897-March 19 1910
[son of Almareen Rean and Mary Sutherland Owens, accidently shot by his uncle. The gun was dropped as his uncle was coming down the stairs]
50.Lullie B. Owens
August 17 1900-November 13 1919
[bible records spell her name as Lillie, she was a daughter of Almareen Rean and Mary Sutherland Owens]
51.Mary Owens
October 18 1874-May 5 1941
[wife of Almareen Rean Owens daughter of Lizzy Sutherland]
(Rean's headstone)
52.Rean Owens
January 27 1876-May 5 1941
[Almareen "Alvareen" "Reen" Allen Rean Owens, he had several spellings of his name, Rean Owens is on the headstone.Son of James and Sylvia Sutherland Owens and brother to Rufus Owens]
53.grave-unmarked
54.grave-unmarked
55.grave-unmarked
57.Margret Counts Sutherland
[no dates]
(This appears to be wife of Henry Homer Sutherland, mother to Sylvia Sutherland Owens, if so she was born 1828 and died 13th February 1892, this would be my G-G-Grandmother, her name is spelled Margret/Mary Margaret Counts)
58.Henry Sutherland
[no dates]
(This appears to be husband of Margret/Mary Margaret Counts Sutherland, father of Sylvia Sutherland Owens, if so he was born 1823 and died 9th April 1905, he would be my G-G-Grandfather)
59.grave-unmarked
60.grave-unmarked
61.grave-unmarked
62.Carolyn Ruth Bumgardner (last name should be spelled Bumgarner)
December 13 1941-November 15 1942
Mr.& Mrs.Carl Bumgardner (last name should be spelled Bumgarner)
(daughter of Carl and Pearl/Penland Bumgardner/Bumgarner)
[died of typhoid fever]
63.Jackie Ray Bumgardner (last name should be spelled Bumgarner)
April 4 1937-July 20 1938
Mr.& Mrs. Carl Bumgardner/Bumgarner
(son of Carl and Pearl/Penland Bumgardner/Bumgarner)
[died of typhoid fever]
Glenn Dale Kiser (1st September 1912 - 21st December 1933) and Earnest/Ernest Gimmoil Kiser (10th September 1910 - 18th August 1925)sons of Minda (Minda was a sister to Rufus Owens) and Frank Kiser were moved from this cemetery and layed to rest in Russell County Memorial Cemetery in Lebanon VA. This will account for two of the unmarked graves.
