John Finney was a native of Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky and came with his parents to Missouri in 1832. They settled in Warren County and he later moved to Franklin County in 1845.
On 23 October 1845, John Finney of Warren County, was married in Franklin County to Miss Louisa "Louisey" Elizabeth Roark, a daughter of John & Elizabeth (Napper) Roark of Berger.
John and Louisey Finney were the parents of nine children. Namely; William Roark, Nancy Jane, John M., James Harrison, Elige T., Zimri Carter, Timothy, Benjamin F. and Mary Finney.
The Finney family was well-to-do and highly respected in the community. They were very private people and kept close to home. That could explain why most of them died single.
By 1888, the land owned by John Finney consisted of 750 acres. A piece of the land had formerly been owned by the Cole Family and is the parcel where the cemetery is located. The Finney graves are located in a row in the back of the cemetery and two graves are located in the front of the cemetery. Down the middle there are approximately eight fieldstones believed to mark the graves of Cole family members.
However, James H. Finney, had an African-American hired hand named Howard Bland. It could be that some of his family is buried there.
John Finney was a Master Mason. He and his son, William R. Finney, was affiliated with the Robertsville Lodge #363, A.F. & A.M.
William Roark is the only one of the Finney children known to have married. On 04 Dec 1876, in Jefferson County, he married Virginia F. North, a daughter of Arthur C. and Pauline E. (Watkins) North. Virginia died in 1923 and was buried near House Springs, Missouri. They are known to have had one daughter, Elizabeth called "Bessie" and a son named Frederic. Elizabeth "Bessie" Finney married John M. Allee who was considerably older. They resided in St. Louis County, but he was buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, near Eldon, Miller Co., Missouri. He had children by his first wife who died in 1899. Frederic Finney, age 19, was living in Jefferson County with his grandmother, Paulina North, in the 1900 census.
Elige Finney committed suicide by cutting his own throat with a razor. He was never married. His brother, John M. Finney also committed suicide. He shot himself in the heart.
Zimri Finney had grabbed his fiddle and started playing, then slumped over and died. When his body was found, the bow was still in his hand.
The Finney Cemetery was visited by members of our group in November 2006. At that time, the results of a previous windstorm had left cedar trees broken and mangled all over the cemetery. It was a horrible sight.
In the spring of 2007, our members began the laborious task of uncovering the tombstones. It took several long days of chainsaw work to view the cemetery lawn once more. The debris removed was burned next to the cemetery at the proper time allowed by law. Miraculously, none of the grave markers were damaged. One larger stone had been knocked off its base. The group is seeking outside help to get it back upright again.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
FINNEY CEMETERY
CALVEY TOWNSHIP, FRANKLIN CO. MISSOURI
Township 42 North, Range 2 East, Section 21
Near Robertsville, Franklin County, Missouri
Township 42 North, Range 2 East, Section 21
Near Robertsville, Franklin County, Missouri
FINNEY, ELIGE T. 12 OCT 1861 26 DEC 1909
Not lost, blest thought, But gone before, Where we shall meet, To part no more.
FINNEY, JOHN 22 AUG 1822 19 APR 1909
FINNEY, LOUISEY ELIZABETH 12 FEB 1824 07 JAN 1900
FINNEY, JOHN M. 23 DEC 1853 27 APR 1894
FINNEY, W. R. (Mason) 27 JUN 1847 01 FEB 1896
FINNEY, NANCY JANE 12 NOV 1849 10 APR 1940
FINNEY, JAMES H. 11 SEP 1855 06 SEP 1953
FINNEY, MARY 08 FEB 1878 08 FEB 1878
FINNEY, BENJAMIN F. 18 JAN 1866 12 DEC 1866
FINNEY, TIMOTHY No Stone No Dates
Monday, January 14, 2008
VITT-BURCHARDT CEMETERY
From Your President:
On January 12, 2008 our crew tackled the Vitt-Burchardt Family Cemetery near Campbellton. January was chosen because of the extreme overgrowth in the cemetery. We chose wisely. The weather couldn’t have been better, with sunshine and highs in the upper forties.
Our small but effective crew is certainly worth their weight in gold. Beginning at 9:00 a.m., they had removed nearly all of the brush and undergrowth by 11:00! Our biggest stumbling block was getting the rather wet brush pile to ignite. However, by lunch time, the fire was sufficient to roast the hotdog's that a couple provided for our midday snack.
A special thanks to our friends who live in the a historic limestone house nearby. It was at their suggestion, and with much of their help, that this workday was accomplished. I am confident that they will maintain the cemetery for many years to come. Also, a big thanks to the man who owns the field surrounding the cemetery. He readily agreed to the cleanup and allowed us to burn the brush in his field.
The last burial at Vitt-Burchardt was in 1945. That year saw the end of World War II and the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As Mrs. Ida Vitt’s casket was lowered into the earth, one can imagine the sorrow of her four surviving sons and her three grandchildren. Twenty-nine years earlier, Mrs. Vitt would have stood by the side of her husband’s grave. Julius Vitt was tragically killed when stepping over a fence with a loaded gun. The gun went off and Julius joined his relatives in the family graveyard.
A little place with a large amount of human tragedy. Infants and small children nearly outnumber the amount of adults buried here. Such was common a hundred and more years ago. As of yesterday, this sad place looks much brighter and so much better! We can hope that the scattered descendants of the Vitts and Burkhardts will appreciate what has been done. And, don’t we all feel a little better?
This is a small family plot located on private property. The cemetery is in a field and is surrounded by an iron fence and when visited in the summer of 2002 and January 2008, it was extremely overgrown with multi-flora roses, poison ivy and other vegetation.
Vitt, Pauline Oct. 9, 1864 January 29, 1873
Vitt, Anna T., geb. Schmidt 19 Apr. 1841 4 Jan. 1912
Vitt, Henry 22 Oct. 1835 1 Mar. 1920
Vitt, Arthur W. Aug. 31, 1888 Oct. 28, 1888
Burchardt, Theckla March 11, 1885 Oct. 6, 1889
Burchardt, William July 4, 1859 Feb. 5, 1888
Burchardt, Ida A. B. Sept. 14, 1883 Oct. 3, 1889
Vitt, Adele C. May 4, 1900 Jan. 9, 1901
Vitt, Julius Oct. 10, 1860 Nov. 30, 1916
Vitt, Ida Sept. 15, 1864 March 31, 1945
On January 12, 2008 our crew tackled the Vitt-Burchardt Family Cemetery near Campbellton. January was chosen because of the extreme overgrowth in the cemetery. We chose wisely. The weather couldn’t have been better, with sunshine and highs in the upper forties.
Our small but effective crew is certainly worth their weight in gold. Beginning at 9:00 a.m., they had removed nearly all of the brush and undergrowth by 11:00! Our biggest stumbling block was getting the rather wet brush pile to ignite. However, by lunch time, the fire was sufficient to roast the hotdog's that a couple provided for our midday snack.
A special thanks to our friends who live in the a historic limestone house nearby. It was at their suggestion, and with much of their help, that this workday was accomplished. I am confident that they will maintain the cemetery for many years to come. Also, a big thanks to the man who owns the field surrounding the cemetery. He readily agreed to the cleanup and allowed us to burn the brush in his field.
The last burial at Vitt-Burchardt was in 1945. That year saw the end of World War II and the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As Mrs. Ida Vitt’s casket was lowered into the earth, one can imagine the sorrow of her four surviving sons and her three grandchildren. Twenty-nine years earlier, Mrs. Vitt would have stood by the side of her husband’s grave. Julius Vitt was tragically killed when stepping over a fence with a loaded gun. The gun went off and Julius joined his relatives in the family graveyard.
A little place with a large amount of human tragedy. Infants and small children nearly outnumber the amount of adults buried here. Such was common a hundred and more years ago. As of yesterday, this sad place looks much brighter and so much better! We can hope that the scattered descendants of the Vitts and Burkhardts will appreciate what has been done. And, don’t we all feel a little better?
VITT-BURCHARDT FAMILY CEMETERY
GPS: 38º 32.916; W091º 08.302; Elevation 681
GPS: 38º 32.916; W091º 08.302; Elevation 681
This is a small family plot located on private property. The cemetery is in a field and is surrounded by an iron fence and when visited in the summer of 2002 and January 2008, it was extremely overgrown with multi-flora roses, poison ivy and other vegetation.
Vitt, Pauline Oct. 9, 1864 January 29, 1873
Vitt, Anna T., geb. Schmidt 19 Apr. 1841 4 Jan. 1912
Vitt, Henry 22 Oct. 1835 1 Mar. 1920
Vitt, Arthur W. Aug. 31, 1888 Oct. 28, 1888
Burchardt, Theckla March 11, 1885 Oct. 6, 1889
Burchardt, William July 4, 1859 Feb. 5, 1888
Burchardt, Ida A. B. Sept. 14, 1883 Oct. 3, 1889
Vitt, Adele C. May 4, 1900 Jan. 9, 1901
Vitt, Julius Oct. 10, 1860 Nov. 30, 1916
Vitt, Ida Sept. 15, 1864 March 31, 1945
Sunday, December 16, 2007
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
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
Monday, November 26, 2007
BIBB CEMETERY
Boles Township (TWP 43 N, R 1 E)
Villa Ridge, Franklin Co., Mo.
Front Row: Left to right (Southeast) cornerBoles Township (TWP 43 N, R 1 E)
Villa Ridge, Franklin Co., Mo.
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.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The First Small Step...
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.
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.
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