This story begins many years ago, in the 1960s, when my uncle, Buford
Via, mentioned that he had seen his Via great grandparents' graves on
their farm in Doylesville, Virginia. When Buford was a young child, he
and his siblings, including my mother, moved to Baltimore, Maryland,
where I grew up. I had never seen the area of western Albemarle County
that was the birthplace of my mother and her Via forebears, nor did I
know the location of the farm of their great grandparents, Thomas Turk
and Susannah Via.
In
the fall of 2000 I found an invitation on the internet, at the VIA-L
message board, to attend a Via Family Reunion in Waynesboro. Although
they were not closely related to our Vias, my cousin Janet Via-Williams
and I decided to attend. It was a delightfully friendly and informative
reunion, Saturday the 7th of October 2000, presided over by Billy Via
of Waynesboro. A few of the folks mentioned that they were raised on
the other side of the mountain - in Sugar Hollow, a place name I had
never encountered. While there I made contact with Helen Stogdale who
had information on my branch of the Via family. She brought her
scrapbook in which I found a snapshot of my great grandparent's
gravesite at Mount Moriah Church, and she generously gave it to me.
Helen put me in touch with a first cousin of my mother, Ruby (Via)
Doughtie of Virginia Beach. Ruby was on the internet, so we began a
lively correspondence, exchanging information about our family. Ruby
had spent much of her childhood living with her grandparents, Jack and
Mollie Via and she had many stories to tell. I had spent many years,
since the early 1950s, gathering genealogical data on these same people
although I had never met any of them, including my grandfather Via.
When
Ruby suggested that we meet in Sugar Hollow, Virginia, where she had
spent part of her childhood, to explore some of the places she
remembered, I was enthusiastic. It was the last week of April 2001 and
I made arrangements to stay at the Sugar Hollow Inn, which itself was a
lovely adventure. Ruby had coordinated our joining up with Phil James,
a local history and photography buff and also a Via descendant. Phil
related that the naming of Sugar Hollow is shrouded in mystery and
there are a few different theories, the most colorful of which is that
it was named for the wagon loads of sugar hauled from Crozet Depot for
the making of whiskey.
We
found some of the homeplaces that Ruby had remembered as a child. We
found the gravesite of my great grandmother's first husband, Crozet Ballard,
at the family cemetery on the Medley Ballard homeplace. Crozet had died
from pneumonia three weeks after their wedding. The marker was an
engraved stone, but that would be the only one of that type that we
would find during our quest. Ruby had remembered from her childhood the
graves of her father's two cousins who had died from diptheria in 1901.
Their parents, Jim and Fanny Via, had built a shelter over them which
has been replaced by a stone wall. The gravesites were across the road
from their house, which no longer exists. Yet the small family cemetery
is still there, next to Via lane on Route 672 in Doylesville.
We
found the homeplace of my great great grandfather, Thomas Turk Via on
Turk's Lane, which branches off of Via Lane. These roads have been
recently named by an owner who built a home on former Via land. We
found the Via cabin
to be in ruins. Ruby wondered aloud about the hollowed out log, which
had been the hiding place of Thom Turk from the Confederate Army. I
remembered my grandmother Via recounting the same tale from her visits
to her husband's grandfather's house. It was not something that
favorably impressed her, as her own grandfather, Curt Branch,
had served Virginia, with honor, from the very beginning of the war to
the surrender at Appomattox. It would have been a bit too hazardous for
us to enter into the structure so we could only wonder about it.
We
eagerly searched for the bury ground. My past experience in neighboring
Buckingham County, made me expect to find only fieldstones, not
professionally engraved headstones. Phil James had brought along a
garden hoe, in case of encounters with copperheads or timber rattlers,
prolific natives of the Virginia mountains. We found no snakes, but
neither did we find any graves. We were disappointed, as we knew that
the Via Bury Ground was there, and that it should yet be discernible
among the overgrowth.
We
drove a short distance back down the dirt road from Thom Turk's cabin
to the home of Ruby's doubly related first cousin, Thelma (Via) Wyant,
who still lives on Via land, on Via Lane. Thelma was a wealth of
information and she had a phenomenal memory of family history. She was
surprised that we did not find the bury ground as she said it was on
the left of the cabin, just a wee bit down the mountain. We told her we
searched that area, but Ruby's husband, Walter, wondered if we had not
been looking more for snakes than for the graves. It was getting to be
dusk and Ruby and her husband were motoring back to Virginia Beach, so
we resolved that we would return later in the year, when the underbrush
would be died down and the dreadful serpents in hibernation.
On
October 19th 2001 we returned to Doylesville. Ruby, Walter and I met at
the home of our newly found cousin and aunt, Mary Morris, on Fox
Mountain Road. We drove the short distance over to Thom Turk's
homeplace, which was the first time that Aunt Mary had seen her great
grandfather's cabin. We searched all over for the bury ground. We
looked on the left of the cabin and far below, along the overgrown road
that travels down the mountain, finding no signs. Since our last visit,
Mary Morris, had become well acquainted with her long lost cousin
Thelma Wyant, who lived nearby. So Ruby and Walter, Aunt Mary and I
stopped once again to visit with Thelma. We needed more detailed
instructions from her as to exactly where we would find the bury
ground. We decided that we needed the elderly Thelma to accompany us to
find the exact location. First we stopped off and viewed the restored
cabin where Thelma had been born. Thelma had sold some of the Via land
when her mother needed nursing care, and the new owners have built a
large home and restored the cabin of her grandfather, Jim Via. Then off
we headed down the dirt road of Via Lane for Thom Turk's cabin. Quite
fortuitously, shortly after we arrived, another person drove by. He
stopped to take a gander at us and Thelma greeted him. That is when we
met "Smitty". My first impression was that we had encountered a genuine
mountain man. He stepped from his big pick-up, pinched a wad of tobacco
from a pouch and rolled himself a cigarette. He was headed to his home
at the top of the mountain, which he had built on land that had
belonged to Thomas Turk Via. Smitty knew the story of our ancestor
hiding in the log. He also regaled us with another anecdote about a big
rock at the top of the mountain that was known as "Turk's Rock" because
Thom Turk had camped there while hiding from the army. Smitty seemed to
have admiration for the exploits of our "conscientious objector"
forebear. Best of all, Smitty knew the location of the bury ground.
Thelma was not able to make the trek on foot, so he put her in the cab
of his pick-up and the rest of us piled in the bed and down the
mountain we went. In just a short distance he stopped, pointed to the
left and said, "it's over there". Aunt Mary and I had already explored
that area, so we were doubtful, but as we came closer, what a
revelation! There among the trees, bushes, vines and rocks were about
20 neatly placed, upright fieldstones of an old Virginia bury ground.
It was quite touching to see the final resting-place of our ancestors
and relatives that have quietly lay there throughout our lifetimes.
Smitty had been shown the location by Thelma's mother, Katie (Maupin)
Via. Katie was born in 1900 and was a Via descendant also. Thelma had
told us that Katie, as a very young child, remembered the burial there
of Thomas Turk Via, as it had been the first funeral she had ever
attended.
On
Monday, February 18th, 2002 I met up with Ruby, Walter, Aunt Mary and
her husband Sonny at the buryground. Our goal was to clear the
gravesite of the forest overgrowth. Helping us with this task, Smitty
had come down the mountain earlier, with a Brush Hog, and had cleared
the larger trees and shrubs for us. That act of kindness saved us
considerable work. We found that there were ten graves in all, marked
with fieldstones at the head and foot. Later, we were told by a Via
descendant that the two largest headstones were those of Turk Via and
his wife Susan Mildred. We discovered that the site had at one time
been enclosed with a wire fence, as we found much of it trodden on the
ground, rusted and tangled. There seemed to be some shallow
indentations in the ground that may have been unmarked graves, perhaps
of small children or babies, but we could not be certain. Walter had
brought four large PVC pipes on which he had stenciled "VIA CEMETERY"
and we placed them at the four corners. We thought better of installing
fencing, as deep in the woods there are many deer and bears that would
trample any, but the most sturdy of fences. We had a short respite
there in the woods with a little picnic and continued our work. We were
very satisfied with our efforts when we viewed the cleared buryground,
as in the image below. Together we walked down the overgrown road
seeking another Via cabin we were advised was on the property. We found
it also to be in a state of ruin, but appeared to have been occupied in
the not too distant past. We then drove up the mountain to Smitty's
place to thank him for his help. Smitty and his wife had built a grand
home there and we were delighted to see it, especially the kitchen with
its wood cook stove. Smitty again regaled us with his many stories,
including those of the bears that prowl at night. I spotted a large
snakeskin shed on a windowsill and commented upon it. Smitty explained
that he had not been able to capture and remove that creature, which
slithers about the house, and one day noticed that the snake had left
its "calling card". So there it remains as a conversation piece. We
wanted Smitty to take us to see Turk's Rock, but as it was getting
late, we decided to leave that adventure for another day.
, on 27 June 2002.