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No visit to Adair complete without visit to Bear Wallow Cemetery By Jason Harmon bjeharmon@hotmail.com No visit to Adair County is ever complete for me without a trip to Bear Wallow Cemetery. I have paid tribute to many Adair County cemeteries, but I have a special fondness for "Bear Waller". Sometimes my visits are somber gatherings and other times they are they are great reunions of our shared families. I find a lot of peace and curiosity walking among the tombstones of Bear Wallow Cemetery and reflecting on the people that have gone before us and paying homage to the successes and hardships our ancestors faced. Their are many men and women buried here that have shaped many lives and I want to offer up some of the many people whose stories have never been told and some that have been told time and time again. A good distance from the church house is the grave of Elijah "Lige" Burton. The stories of Lige Burton have been told over and over again. Lige believed in protecting the honor of his family. He never cared of the price he paid to protect his family. He killed Jim Dooley in 1908 on the old Stanford Road. His punishment for the crime was to have Mr. Dooley buried across from his home to remind him of the event. As an older man, Lige killed Owen Alley in the 1930's for the disrespect of his daughter. He served little time for the murder. Walker Cowan was father of very large family Just North of the Bear Wallow U.M.C. in the cemetery is the grave of Walker Cowan. Mr. Cowan raised what was disputedly the largest family in Adair County. Walker Cowan was married twice and fathered some twenty children. Many of Mr. Cowan's children have now left this earthly world, but he will always be remembered for the large family he reared in the county. The Cowan family is not complete without mention of brothers, Uncle Shelby Cowan and Cy Cowan, who both rest in Bear Wallow. They were both the sons of Thomas Cowan and Elizabeth "Betsey' Burton. Shelby and Cy Cowan are responsible for ALL of the Cowan family surnames in Adair County. If your last name is Cowan, then you can trace your ancestry to either William Shelby Cowan or Cyrenius Cowan. Tandy and Dollie Streeval went north to earn money to return to Adair County Close to the highway is the plot of Mr. Tandy Austin Streeval. Mr. Streeval and his wife, Dollie Burton, left Adair County at an early date with a simple plan. They wanted to make enough money in the industrialized northern cities to return to Adair County and live well. They saved many of the pennies they made up north and returned to Adair County. They bought a farm on Snake Creek Rd. Austin Streeval at one time had a store and post office in that area. Mr. and Mrs. Streeval never had a family of their own. Their only child, Austin Streeval Jr., died February 1, 1928 and is buried with them in Bear Wallow. Pete McQueary operated a store in Christine Mr. Pete McQueary was buried in Bear Wallow in 1972. He operated a store at Christine for approximately 50 years. I don't think their was a ever a finer man than Uncle Pete. His store was the centerpiece of events in his community. Pete was well versed in his heritage and had a keen memory for the people and happenings of Burton Ridge. He would often loan people money on good faith for their trips from Indiana to visit their families in Adair County. His old Store still stands today. Just on your right after the cemetery entrance, you can see the graves of Rollin and Dolfred Burton. These two brothers met their end after being gunned down just two months apart in 1927. On Christmas Day, 1927, Rollin Burton had an altercation with his best friend, Joe Sinclair, at Pete McQueary's store over a convertible car top. Joe Sinclair was wounded in the arm, but he managed to shoot young Rollin Burton dead. Almost 45 years later, Joe Sinclair died and is buried a few yards from his friend, Rollin Burton. Otis Burton died on January 16, 1930 near the creek behind the Bear Wallow meeting house. Everett Farris and Otis Burton had deep feelings of resentment between each other and in 1930 it was all the young Mr. Farris could stand. He shot Otis Burton several times behind the church house and he was buried here in Bear Wallow. In 1977 a fire at the hotel in Columbia also claimed the life of former mail carrier, Everett Farris. John Ed Burton's grave is most visible The most visible grave in Bear Wallow is that of John Ed Burton Sr. John Ed Burton was a large farmer and was first married to Lissie Burton in 1888. Lissie died in 1914 and John passed away in 1943. They are both buried in a fenced in enclosure in the cemetery. In the early days of the cemetery, cattle would roam through the graveyard and had destroyed many of the tombstones. John Ed's children had the fence erected to protect the resting place of their father from destruction. Mr. and Mrs. Burton are now surrounded by many of the graves of their children. Directly behind the headstone of John Ed Burton is the grave of his daughter, Leona Burton Curry. The grave of Leona Curry is delightful to see on Memorial Day weekend. You can be sure that this grave will be adorned with the most beautiful flowers in the cemetery from her descendents. Ruel Bryant and Myrt Mcgaha are buried under a large rock in Bear Wallow. During the great depression, when people had very little, Mr. and Mrs. Bryant had a little more than some folks in the area and didn't mind to share in their good fortune. The old Ruel Bryant home place still stands off HWY 206. It was a real treat for kids to spend the night at Ruel and Myrt's house. Mr. and Mrs. Bryant never had any children of their own, but really loved and doted on kids. They did take in a couple of children and raise them as their own. Sarah Ellen Harmon, a midwife, delivered many of the babies on Burton Ridge Sarah Ellen Harmon was buried in the south side of the cemetery in 1949. She was a midwife and delivered many of the babies on Burton Ridge. Some of the old death certificates call her a doctor. She lived on the Snake Creek Rd in a small one room house. Many people of the older generations recall that no one walked closer to God than Aunt Sarah Ellen. Aunt Sarah Ellen could not read and write. She would often recite over and over again the weight and a babies parental information and deliver it to the county clerk's office to be recorded. As one enters Bear Wallow Cemetery you might notice the grave of Lucian and Belle Burton. A person would notice that Lucian and Belle died just one day apart in 1965 after 63 years of marriage. Some even say that Lucian and Belle Burton died the same day on November 10, 1965. Lucian died first that day and folks say that Belle was heart broken and after seeing her deceased husband, she laid down on her bed and died right after he did. After 63 years of marriage, I find it romantic that one refused to live without the other. The couple was interred in one large grave, together forever, in the fall of 1965. One grave is of child who fell out of bed and froze to death On a cold night on December 11, 1950, Edd Judd passed away at the home of his grandparents, Richard and Emily Burton. Edd lost his mother at the age of five and lost his father when he was just nine years old. Edd was mentally handicapped and had lived with grandparents for a number of years. On that night in 1950, he fell out of bed and froze to death. Before he was found the next morning, rats had already gnawed on his poor body. Cornelius "Neal" Burton lies sleeping in the old section of the cemetery under a pretty tablet. Neal was the youngest child of Cyrenius Burton and Julia Burton. After his mother and father's death he stood to inherit the bulk of their estate. This caused a great deal of controversy between him and his many siblings. Neal and Becky had cared for their mother during her declining years and she reversed the will to Neal and her daughter, Becky's favor. Neal Burton was a sickly man and is remembered for dismissing the congregation at Bear Wallow Church with the shortest verse in the bible, "Jesus Wept" as he shook hands. If you view many old Burton marriage records, you will see the name James DeHuff Burton. James was a lay methodist minister and performed a number of marriages on the ridge. James was married to Clarie Ellen Cowan in 1884 and is buried in the middle of the south side of the cemetery. James was well thought of in the community and his wife had bourne witness to many marriages. John W. Foster sleeps in old section of cemetery John W. Foster sleeps in the old section of the cemetery under a stone that is broken in half. He is the patriarch of a large amount of Foster kin in Adair County. Mr. Foster was originally from Casey County and removed to Adair County in about 1900. He was skilled in the musical arts and taught many students the musical notes. John Foster and his wife, Nicey Overstreet, raised a large family in Adair County that continues to grow. William Hamilton Streeval and Mary Louisa Powell represent more than half of Streeval descendants in Adair County today William Hamilton Streeval and Mary Louisa Powell represent more than half of the Streeval descendents in Adair County today. They raised a family of eight children that have extended from Adair County to the far reaches of the United States. Many of the unusual sounding nicknames also reside in Bear Wallow Cemetery. A person can also stroll along the tombstones and find the resting places of Granny Sam Burton, John Matthew "Lincoln" Burton, Isaiah "Cook" Burton, Ambrose Seber "Gooley" Burton and many many others. Bear Wallow U.M.C. barely resembles the old boarded church it was Bear Wallow U.M.C. barely resembles the old boarded church that it was many years ago. I am not sure when the old church was officially organized, but I know that William Frank Burton mentioned it as a meeting house in his will in 1871 as a division of his home place and the lower part of the mill that he owned on what is now Liberty Road. The cemetery is now dotted with the headstones of Burton families and their descendents. ALL members of the Burton families in Adair County can trace their roots to this sacred burial ground. This is a wonderfully maintained cemetery and I am proud to say that it is our family cemetery. To comment on this article, please email: bjeharmon@hotmail.com, or, ed@columbiamagazine.com, or linda@columbiamagazine.com. You may also comment on this story by entering your comments in "Submit a Story," by phoning 270-384-0612 or 270-384-3979. Our postal address is: ColumbiaMagazine.com, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Comments may be abbreviated and/or edited. Click here for photo of the Pete McQueary Store This story was posted on 2006-01-10 08:49:43
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