Galbraith Cemetery

Draper, Pulaski County, Virginia

Donated by Elizabeth Galbraith DeCarolis

The Galbraith Cemetery is most easily reached from Virginia Interstate 81, Exit 92 for Draper. Continue through Draper on Secondary Route 654, the Old Baltimore Road or Wilderness Road, until the junction with Secondary Route 658, Delton Road, to the left. Do not turn left, but instead cross over a small branch of Harmony Creek and stop just beyond the junction. The house on the corner is the former Red Horse Tavern which was in operation from the 1790's until about 1856, one year before Catherine Kissecker Galbraith's death. Park on either side of Route 654.

From the intersection, and with the Galbraith (now Honaker Walton) house located behind you, the cemetery is on the high hill in the upper left rear of the picture above. If you go through the farmyard gates, ask permission first at the house. Otherwise you'll need to climb over, under or through the fence next to Route 654. The land surrounding the cemetery is currently owned by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and has been placed under a conservation easement. The cemetery itself is to remain perpetually open to those who wish to visit it. Family members may still be buried there.

Walk up the hill to the fenced enclosure and enter by the gate on the west side.

The graves, by row, are as follows:

Row 1 (left to right): Edith Evelyn Galbraith Honaker - b. 22 May 1914; d. 5 October 1996

George Randolph Honaker - b. 10 October 1898; d. 4 March 1965

Headstone and space reserved for John Ray Jennings, b. 2 June 1934

Infant son of Lillian Galbraith and Mark H. Jennings - d. at birth 7 November 1935

Lillian Beatrice Galbraith Jennings - b. 12 October 1904; d. 30 March 1994

Mark Howard Jennings - b. 11 May 1897; d. 24 July 1977

Row 2: Space

Minnie E(lizabeth) Collins - b. 7 May 1915; d. 1 June 1919 (influenza)

Martha K(atherine) Galbreath Collins (Aunt Kate) - b. 4 January 1873; d. 6 June 1919 (influenza)

Space

Row 3: Unknown grave

Unknown grave

William B. Galbreath (Uncle Billy) - b. 26 December 1806 (Maryland); d. 27 December 1881

Mary F(ranklin) Quesenberry - b. 29 December 1861; d. 10 August 1885 of rabies

Daughter of Franklin Sam and Louemma Tipton Quesenberry

Bartrom Galbreath - b. 26 October 1814 at Fort Chiswell, Wytheville; d. 6 September 1894

Luemma Reaves Tipton Quesenberry Galbreath - b. 17 February 1839; d. 4 September 1916

Second wife of Bartrom Galbraith; married 11 February 1872

William Bartrom Galbreath - b. 26 May 1879; d. 8 June 1937

Nellie Gray Allison Galbreath - b. 4 May 1882; d. 1 February 1959

Row 4: Unknown grave
             Unknown grave
             Unknown grave
             Unknown grave
             Elmira Allison Galbreath - b. 1839; d. 8 October 1863
                   First wife of Thomas Whitfield Galbreath (married 12 September 1859) who moved to Tennessee
                   Mother of Cynthia Jane Galbreath and James Whitfield Galbreath who moved to Tennessee with their father
             Space
             Unknown grave - believed to be twin boys
             Unknown grave

Row 5:
             Thomas Galbreath - b. Maryland about 1775; d. 9 October 1843
             Catherine A. Kissecker Galbreath - b. Pennsylvania about 1782; d. 8 June 1857
                          Thomas and Catherine married 7 August 1803 in York, PA
                          Owned and operated the Red Horse Tavern

              Space
              Space
              Unknown grave
              Unknown grave

Below Thomas and Catherine Galbreath and outside the fence marked by stones are believed to be buried former slave Uncle Jim Hall (1841 - 1938) and his wife Molly.

Unmarked Graves

Of the 40 possible spaces in the cemetery, 17 are occupied or reserved (1); 13 are vacant; and 10 are marked as graves but not identified. It may be presumed that some of these are listed in the family Bible; some have been discussed in family tradition. All deaths probably occurred in Draper since the difficulties of transporting bodies in the 1800's must have been numerous.

The older graves are located on the lower area of the hill, nearer the Red Horse Tavern and easier to access. Newer graves have been located progressively higher up the hill and further from the house. A sketch done by Bartram Allison Galbraith (my father) must have been drawn prior to 1959 because it does not show his mother's grave, Nellie Allison Galbreath, who died 1 Feb 1959. And the older sketch indicates a gate on the south side.

According to Ray Jennings' notes on a photocopied sketch of the cemetery in May, 1997, his mother, Lillian Galbraith Jennings, had the cemetery re-fenced in the 1950's-1960's. The slave graves, which according to family tradition are also there, would be below those of Thomas and Catherine, and they are possibly outside the old enclosure. Probably when the new fence was designed, the gate was moved to the top of the hill, on the west side where it now is located.

By matching the number of un-identified graves with some of the deaths assumed to have occurred in Draper, it may be possible to present some identities. Bible record deaths have been matched with existing marked graves by a process of elimination. Some of the unmarked graves may be the gravesites of the following:
· Of the depressions on the lower east side there may be graves of slaves who died either before or following emancipation. Tradition tells us that some remained on the farm, including Uncle Jim Hall (b. 1841, d. 1938) who refused to leave when freed because "this was his home." When Uncle Jim's house burned about 1900-1902, William Bartrom Galbreath (b. 1879) had it rebuilt. Uncle Jim and his wife Aunt Polly or Molly Hall are buried just outside and below the present fence, only marked by a granite rock - no marker or dates.
· John Farmer, stepfather, and Hester Rees Galbraith Farmer, mother of Thomas Galbreath. They seem to have lived and moved together, but this is only conjecture. I have not found their graves elsewhere.
· Sarah Elizabeth Ragel, b. 7 Jul 1831, daughter of Mara (Mary) Galbreath and John Ragel, d. 23 Aug 1831 before her parents moved to Abingdon, VA.
· Cintha-Victoria Honaker Galbreath, first wife of Bartrom (b. 1814 Ft. Chiswell. They were married 31 January 1834 and Cintha d. 09 Feb 1870.
· William B. Galbreath, [perhaps a son of Thomas W. Galbraith (b. 4 Jul 1835) and Elmirah Allison Galbreath,] b. 17 Jun 1862; d. 21 Feb. 1864 when not quite 1½ years of age. His birth is listed in the Bible between that of Cintha Jane (1860) and James Whitfield Galbreath (1863) as if he were a middle child. Both he and his mother died before Thomas W. married, secondly, Callie Rupe on 15 May 1872 and moved to Greene County, Tennessee with children Cynthia Jane ("Aunt Jennie") and James Whitfield Galbreath.
· There is a family story of twin boys, never listed among the births, who probably died at or shortly after birth. This could account for two of the small, unmarked graves.
· Nellie Gray Allison Galbraith also mentions two other boys, Matthew and John, missing from the Bible pages of births and deaths. Boy John could explain the use of that name by Bartrom (b. 1814) and Cintha Honaker when they named John C. Galbreath, b. 1839. Boy John could also have been a son of Hester Galbraith (b. Maryland 16 April 1804) and John Harrell, who lived in Wythe/Pulaski counties until about 1849 to 1851 when they removed to Patrick County, VA.
· Wife of "Uncle Billy" William B. Galbreath, born 1806 in Maryland. "Uncle Billy" was always described as a bachelor. His census data of 1880, however, lists him as widowed.
· Margaret Collins tells me that, with the exceptions of Elizabeth Collins and Martha K. Galbreath Collins, no other Collins are buried here. Martha K.'s husband Henry Collins is buried at Cecil's Chapel Cemetery.
· One other possibility could be the orphans, Mary Blanchet, age 12, bound by Orphan's Court to Thomas in 1836, and Nancy Blanchet, age 8, bound to Bartram in 1836. The census of 1840 shows a category for Nancy (then age 12) in the household of Bartram and Mary (then age 16) in the household of Thomas. Daughter Sarah Katherine (age 24) is missing on the listing for Thomas. The agreements for both orphans would have been fulfilled before census 1850. It is possible that either Mary or Nancy could have become ill and died while serving out their time learning the trade of "spinster."

These are some of the possible identities of the unknown graves. There are, no doubt, several more.

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