Abandoned homestead of
Jonathan Hayes (1777-1865),
in the Flat Gap section of
Pound.
Jonathan is buried under the
annex to the smokehouse
or the annex is built over
Jonathan!
click on each photo to see the
larger version
I received the following letter
concerning these photos:
Dear Vickie:
I have some
information on the Jonathan Hayes Burial Site which your website has a
series of photos under "Wise County Deaths and Burials." My name
is Allen Hounshell, son of Warnie and Ephtha Hounshell, and the first house
in your series of photos was my childhood home and the house in which I
was born in 1941
Jonathan Hayes' grave is just "up the holler"
from my parent's house which you describe as being "under the annex to
the smokehouse." Indeed, that is what appears to be the case.
Here is the story, as told to me recently
by my mother (Ephtha Hounshell) who, incidentally is still alive at age
93 and living in Wise. The house and annex and smokehouse were all
built many years after Jonathan was buried. I believe the house was
built around 1915, about 50 years after Jonathan was buried. Jonathan's
house was located about 100 yards from his grave and no longer exists.
Jonathan Hayes was born in NC, and was the grandfather of Levina Hayes,
b. 1814, d. 1876, who was the wife of Hosea Bolling, b. 1817, d. 1910.
Hosea Bolling was my mother's maternal great grandfather. Jonathan
Hayes is listed in the 1860 Wise County Federal Census, at age 83 and living
in the household of Hosea and Levina, which was about five years before
he died. According to my mother, Jonathan's wife died near present
day Appalachia and was buried there on account of the difficulty in transporting
her body in those days back to Flat Gap.
Allen
Hounshell
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