18 Sunday May 2014
Posted in Cemeteries, Civil War, Fourteen, Wewanta
Tags
Brandon Kirk, Caleb Headley, cemeteries, Fourteen, Fourteen Mile Creek, genealogy, history, Lincoln County, photos, Sulphur Spring Fork, West Virginia
Caleb Headley grave, Sulphur Spring Fork of Fourteen Mile Creek, Lincoln County, WV, 2014
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Brandon Ray Kirk 
Reblogged this on Henry Vinson .
Is he buried alone, or is his grave part of a cemetery (even a small one)? I’ve made a memorial for him on findagrave.com (Memorial# 135915033) and put that he is “Buried along Sulphur Spring Fork of Fourteen Mile Creek in Lincoln County, WV”. Is that correct? The photo would make a nice addition, but I understand the issue of copyright. Could I add this photo with the caption “Caleb Headley grave. Photo: (c) Brandon Ray Kirk”? If you have or want to create a findagrave account, you can upload it yourself. The direct link is:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=135915033
I really appreciate all that you’ve written about Caleb. He’s my 5th great-grandfather (via Sarah Ann, from his marriage with Nancy) and seemed like a really odd/interesting character just from the info I had before coming across your blog.
This remark belongs on another post, but while I’m commenting here…Caleb’s military service was as Captain of Company “C”, 154th Regiment (Wetzel Co.), West Virginia militia (state militia, not federal). I’ve searched for him on the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System database, with no results. Some correspondence from Caleb while serving as Captain can be found online at the link below from the WV State Archives. Click on “Folder 8” to read.
http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvmemory/militia/militiabox29.html
I’m so glad to hear from you, cousin. I have some questions regarding your family’s memories of Caleb Headley. You state in your message that he was an odd/interesting character. Please tell me more! Caleb is my great-great-great-grandfather. I descend through his daughter Ida Cosby (Headley) Fry. Some years ago, I made a tombstone and placed it at his grave. I have copied pages from his old geography book, which lists vital statistics in his handwriting for his children, even those by his first wife in Wetzel County. The story handed down in our family was that his first wife died and he remarried and settled in what is today Lincoln County, WV. I later located his first wife in census records after his remarriage; she listed herself as a widow. Please feel free to use any image pertaining to Caleb at Find A Grave. No need to credit me as the photographer of his grave, although you might provide a link to my blog so researchers can find my information. I’d love to hear from you. Email me at brankirk@yahoo.com.
I’m really, really sorry that I never responded (every time I remembered about responding it was mentally put on my ‘to-do’ list, but I never got around to doing so). Unfortunately, I do not know anything about Caleb besides census records, the above military records, the biographical sketch in “Hardesty’s Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia”, and what I have found in your posts. It’s from your posts and the biographical sketch that I find him to be an “odd/interesting character”.
Hi Brandon, looks like we are related through Caleb through my maternal grandfather’s line. My grandfather’s name is Brooks Samuel Headley. His father Ben Headley and his Benjamin Headley who was the son of Caleb I believe through Nancy. Do you have much info on his father Dr. Thomas Headley?
Also, where is this graveyard? I found a Headley Cemetary up the road from Reader, WV last year which has Ben Sr, Anthony Headley, and others. I’m trying to gather as much info as I can. Thanks so much for the article on Caleb. Makes me so happy and proud of our heritage. 🙂 —JoLinda Schrag
Hi Linda! I believe we are related too, as Benjamin Franklin Headley had a son Elihu, who had my great grandma, Ella Victoria (Headley) Yoho. I would be interested in finding that Headley Cemetery you said you found near Reader. Glad to find another cousin!
Do you know the story of why Caleb Headley left his first family in Wetzel County?
Hi Cousin E.H. Nice to meet you! My mom and uncle grew up in Reader and Grandmother from Walnut Fork up the road from there. I visited there for first time a couple years ago and that is when we discovered the graveyard. I have been researching on ancestry.com for a couple years and my husband helped locate it. My uncle said he couldn’t believe it’s been there all along. How could my family have grown up there and not known of it? Benjamin Headley Senior is buried there along with his first wife and son. My grandfather Brooks Samuel Headley’s sister is buried there while the rest of the family is at the larger cemetery in New Martinsville. When mom goes back I’ll have her look for Nancy specifically to see if she could be in the small graveyard where some of the Headley’s are buried. We do not know the story of Caleb. I thought he died but I guess not from what everyone is finding. Interesting! I would love to know more if anyone has more info!
I found the name of the cemetery…
Martin Flats Cemetery – Piney Fork Rd
This cemetery is off Rt 20 at Galmish. Go across the railroad tracks and turn to the left.
@JoLinda: Among the others in the cemetery, Sarah Ann (Headley) Henderson (my 4th great-grandmother) is another child of Caleb and Nancy.
@E.H.: A list of internments (likely incomplete and/or only ones with legible headstones) can be found here:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=79052
My grandfather was Friend Elihu Headley. Wetzel County. His father had a store in Reader Wv.
Hey Brandon! Glad to find another cousin! I’ll email you with the address you posted above, as I would love to learn the location of his grave, and how you made his gravestone.
Thanks!
Its always nice to meet a new cousin. Do you know any stories about Caleb?
Pretty much the only ones I know of is your posts and the Hardesty’s article. Right now I am working on trying to find out where Nancy Wright Headley, his first wife is buried. I think I have pretty much narrowed it done to 2 cemeteries: the Steele Cemetery about 4 miles up Piney Fork in Wetzel County, or the Martin Flat Cemetery at the mouth of Piney in Wetzel County. Do you have any information on her?
I really do not have information on Caleb’s first wife, outside of what could be seen in censuses and so forth. The story always told by his descendants here in Lincoln County was that his first wife had died. Clearly that was not true. I would love to know the story.
I would too. Just piecing it together with the evidence, it looks like what you said. It looks to me kind of like he faked his death or something, or just figured put a way to make Nancy think that he was dead, because Nancy listed herself as a widowed the Census. So what can you tell me about Caleb’s burial site? Could you give me directions maybe? Thanks!
JoLinda, who s your family from Walnut Fork? I descend both from Caleb (Benjamin F. Headley Sr. > Elihu M. Headley > Ella V. Yoho > Floy S. Yoho > then my mom) and from Caleb’s brother, Elisha Headley, who settled on Walnut Fork at an early date. I descend from Elisha like is: (Elisha Headley > James W. Headley > S. Benton Headley > Clara Jane Winland > Phyllis Henthorn > then my dad). And AHeneen, is your findagrave.com username ‘AH89″? I found Martin’s Flat Cemetery at a more trustable source: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wvwetzel/green/MartinFlatsCemeteryPiney.htm
Thanks!
My grandmother was born and raised in walnut fork. She is Wanda LeMasters who married Brooks Samuel Headley. Her parents Laura and Silas Nelson LeMasters. One of my grandfather’s sisters married a Yoho.
We are cousins then 🙂 ! Silas’s dad was Elisha Lemasters (named after his uncle, Elisha Headley, which is Caleb’s brother) and Elisha’s dad was Enoch Lemasters and mother was Sarah Headley, brother to Elisha and Caleb. Did you Elisha Lemasters’s original log cabin is still standing? Have you ever been to the Lemasters Cemetery where Elisha Lemasters, his wife, his parents and a couple children are buried? I am going to be maintaining it starting this spring. The only problem now is that you have to sign a waiver to set foot on the property. Elisha Headley, brother to your ancestor Sarah Lemasters, is my 4th great grandfather.
Hi EH, sorry it’s taken so long to get back. I have had some health problems. By any chance is this LeMaster’s Cemetery you speak of off of 8 mile ridge just past William LeMaster’s homeplace? Are you a son of Henzel LeMasters or relative of? We have contributed money in the past for the care of the cemetery and would like to know if this is the same one. I went there two years ago in May to see Silas and Laura LeMaster’s grave. my email address is jschrag3@tampabay.rr.com if you’d like to discuss more. If you are maintaining that particular cemetery I’d like to discuss contributing to that. Thanks, JoLinda
I found some information on Caleb Headley while working on my family tree. I am a descendant of Margaret Headley and Z.T. Neace. While poking around I found the marriage bond for $100 of Caleb Headlee and Sarah Ann Farley dated May 23rd, 1866.
I also found the permission slip signed by William W. Farley (father), Margaret Ann Farley, and Pricy Ann Chatman dated May 22nd 1866 to allow the Clerk of the County Court of Boyd County, Kentucky, to grant a marriage license to Caleb Headlee and Sarah Ann Farley.
There was a license issued in Boyd County, Kentucky, which stated that the marriage was to be solemnized on May 23rd, 1866 at the house of W. H. Shaw in Catlettsburg, Kentucky. Caleb was stated to be widowed and 46 years old. He was born in Greene Pennsylvania. Both his mother and father were reported to have been born in W.S. She was stated to be 17 and single and born in Logan County, Virginia. Her mother was born in Ohio. The return was dated the same day and signed by W. H. Shaw.
The only thing that doesn’t fit is the date of birth of the groom. Vanity?
Anyway, I included some pretty poor, but readable, jpgs of these documents on Findagrave.com in the Caleb Headley memorial if anyone wants to view them.
I don’t remember my mother relating any family stories about Caleb Headley although she grew up at Ranger in Lincoln County.
That’s a wonderful find, Cousin Rose. Of course, Caleb’s first wife was alive and well for many years after 1866. She lists herself as a widow in Wetzel County census records long after 1866. Sad!