James Bibb and Thomas Wood Families

The James Bibb family came to Missouri from Virginia in 1831 with the Thomas Wood family. Sara Bibb, the younger sister of Thomas Wood, was 29 years old, James Bibb was 43, and Thomas Wood was 41. Theirs is the story of the early settling of a wilderness called Missouri by those who emigrated from the Eastern United States.

The group left Virginia in the late September, planning to travel to Saline County, Missouri where Charles Wood, brother of Sarah and Thomas had settled. They traveled overland by wagon with eight Wood childen, at least seven slaves, stock of different kinds, household effects, farm implements, chickens, turkeys, cats and dogs. They used ox teams to pull the wagons and took the usual route, finally crossing the Mississippi River at St. Louis, which was then a small frontier village of a few hundred people. They proceeded west another 45 miles and camped at what was known as Shaw Spring on about the tenth of November. Concluding that they had gone far enough and winter was coming on, they decided to stop for the winter. The next day some of the old settlers came to the camp and persuaded them that they had gone far enough.

And so it was that Sara and James Bibb settled about a mile from Thomas Wood and his family in the area that became known as Villa Ridge in East Central Missouri.

One of the interesting stories and mysteries at the Bibb Cemetery involves a little girl named Sarah Wood. According to her stone she was born in Salien County in 1838 and died in Franklin County in 1846 before reaching the age of 8. What caused her death is unknown. She was in Franklin County at the time of her death, according to one family source, to visit her Aunt Sarah Wood Bibb. Her father, Charles Wood, was the older brother of Sarah Bibb and Thomas Wood. Charles had settled several years before 1831 in Saline County, which is the place that the Bibbs and Woods had originally set out to reach.

The Sarah Wood stone was found without its base, so the FCCS made a new base and reset the stone. Included in this group of cemetery restorers were two great, great grandaughters of Thomas Wood.

Others buried at the Bibb Cemetery are Jinnie Bibb King, daughter of James and Sarah. Jinnie died in January of 1861 at the age of 22. Her infant son, James King died one month and one day later at the age of just 9 months.

David Bibb, son of James and Sarah, died in 1848 at the age of 19.

Another mystery is the child, James B. Bibb, son of William R. and L. A. Bibb, who died at the age of 1.

Others buried there are:
William T. F. Desper died in 1853 at age 15.
Son of F. G. Desper
F.G. Desper, born in 1812 and died before 1854.
Frances (Bibb) and W.T.A. Allegree, who were born in Virgina.
W.T.A. died in 1855 at age 76.
Frances died in 1864 at age 71.
Frances was James Bibb’s sister

BIBB CEMETERY
Boles Township (TWP 43 N, R 1 E)
Villa Ridge, Franklin Co., Mo.

Front Row: Left to right (Southeast) corner

01) Bibb, James B. [25 Oct 1865] 25 Mar 1867, Aged 1Y 5D, Son of Wm. R. & L. A.
02) King, Jinnie L. 12 Feb 1839 11 Jan 1861, Wife of Robert A. King,
Daughter of James & S. E. Bibb
03) King, James B. 22 Apr 1860 12 Feb 1861, Son of R. A. & J. L.
04) Wood, Sarah Hall, Dau of Charles W. & Sarah H. Wood,
b. Salien Co., Mo. 16 Aug 1838
d. Franklin Co., Mo. 27 Apr 1846
05) Allegree, Frances (Bibb) [b. VA] 1793 - 1864
05) Allegree, W. T. A. [b. VA] 1779 - 1855

Back Row: Left to right (Southwest corner)

07) Desper, F. G. 13 Dec 1812 Before Nov 1854
08) Bibb, James 25 Jany 1788 27 Jany 1852, Born in Louisa Co., Virginia
09) Bibb, Sarah E. [31 Jul 1802] 29 Dec 1864, Aged 62Y 4M 29D, Wife of James Bibb
10) Bibb, David W. [05 Nov 1828] 21 July 1848, Aged 19Y 8M 16D, Son of Jas. E. Bibb
11) Desper, William T. F. 27 Oct 1838 24 Dec 1853 , Son of F. G. & Sarah P.

Unmarked burial, no stone:

North, Anthony (African American) (No stone)
There are likely other African American burials here. The field stones that
may have marked their burial places are now gone.

The First Small Step...

BIBB CEMETERY in Boles Township

At the meeting held on June 26, 2006, officers were chosen
and Bibb Cemetery was selected as the first project.

Bibb was started prior to the Civil War and ended during
the Civil War (1861-1865) era. Only one stone was still standing.
Some of the stones were underground as were a couple of the
bases.

We currently have record of one African American burial af-
ter the Civil War and are certain there were at least a dozen ear-
lier ones. No markers or field stones survive in the present day
to locate their graves.

In the end, we only found bits and pieces of two separate
stones belonging to a man and wife. The two stones were re-
placed with a new flat stone with their birth and death years on
it. The fragments were reburied.

All of the stones were cleaned according to accepted practices
and beamed with a new appearance.

One stone had been placed in storage for repairs and was re-
turned to the cemetery. A second one had a piece put back in
place with special epoxy. A new base was made at the cemetery
to replace one that could not be found.

On July 12, 2007, Bibb Cemetery was declared completed.