Higginbotham Family Cemetery
Amherst County, Virginia
Located on property originally divided among the siblings of Moses Higginbotham (ca1713-1791) in 1751, the Higginbotham Family Cemetery may be the oldest cemetery bearing this surname in the United States. The cemetery is located on that portion allotted to John Higginbotham (1726-1814), which is adjacent to the allotment of his brother Moses, who being the eldest son, presumably kept the land owned by his parents, thought by many to be John (ca1695-ca1741) and Frances Riley Higginbotham. Located on the parcel allotted to Moses was, until a few years ago, an old house foundation that may have been dated to the early to mid 1700’s, according to Beverly Morris Higginbotham (1886-1968). The foundation stones have since been removed by person (s) unknown according to Eric Smith of Westvaco, who saw the stones when his company was harvesting the trees located thereon.
The property passed through several hands down through the years, among which have been a family by the name of Whitten. It is currently owned by Westvaco and is used as a tree farm. The cemetery was not disturbed during the original harvesting and is currently untended and overgrown.
This cemetery is listed in the "Gravestone Inscriptions in Amherst County Virginia", Revised Edition 1999, published by the Amherst County Museum and Historical Society, as the Whitten Place Cemetery on page 292. The entry reads:
"Thomas Higginbotham large stone only marked grave, surrounded by graves marked with field stones said to be the graves of his slaves who were freed long before the "War Between the States".
Higginbotham, Thomas, Jun 10, 1767-Feb 1835
Thomas was the eldest son of John and Rachel Banks Higginbotham and the grandson of John and Frances Riley Higginbotham.
On my visits to this cemetery during the fall of 1999 and spring of 2000 I have uncovered the following headstones:
Mr. William M. Ware
Was born Nov 21, 1810
And died Oct 9, 1883
Age 72 yrs 10 mon 11 days
At Rest
====================================================================================================
In Memory of
Clifton Ware
Died Feb 15, 1896
Age 2(_)y 6m 12d
(The complete age and other info was flaked off)
===================================================================================================
L.A.W.
(This headstone was unreadable and these initials were on the footstone)
In addition to these stones I have uncovered more than 75 fieldstones, some as large as 3’ wide by 4’ high by 6" thick and weighing several hundred pounds. Most of the stones had only 2-3" visible above ground level, attesting the length of time that has passed since they were initially laid.
The cemetery proper is surrounded by an old wire fence that, for the most part, is buried. The dimensions are approximately 100’ by 130’. There are 11 rows of graves with room for about 25 graves per row. I could not locate stones for many graves but there are obvious depressions in the ground where they are located. All graves are oriented pointing east-west with headstones facing east. I estimate a total of about 120 graves.
Based on genealogical research, this cemetery may contain the graves of the following members of the earliest Higginbotham family to settle in this area, as well as their slaves, along with members of the Ware family.
John? Higginbotham (ca1695-ca1741) Frances Riley Higginbotham (ca1697-ca1750)
Moses Higginbotham Sr. (ca1713-1791) Frances Kyle Higginbotham (ca1734-1825)
John Higginbotham Jr. (1726-1814) Rachel Banks Higginbotham (unknown)
James Higginbotham (1729-1813) Rachel Campbell Higginbotham (1755-1809)
Joseph Higginbotham (1730-1805) Hannah Smith Higginbotham (unknown)
Ann Higginbotham (ca1731-bef1751)
The exact location of the cemetery is N 37o 33.137’ and W 079o 02.569’.
It is located on USGS Topographical Map SE/4 Amherst 15’ Quadrangle.
Left to right: Henry VanHoozier, William Alex Higginbotham, William Dan Christian, William Morris Higginbotham
Henry, Alex (my son) and I are descended from John and Frances Riley Higginbotham. Dan is descended from Archibald Carey Higginbotham, a slave once owned by Thomas Higginbotham, who was freed about 1825.
