Boggs Cemetery

 

The records of Boggs Cemetery in Brownsburg, West Virginia, represent more than a simple list of names; they are a handwritten map of a community’s heart, spanning over a century of life, loss, and service.

The Analysis: A Community Portrait

The data revealed in these registers paints a picture of a tight-knit Appalachian community. Several key themes emerge from the dates and notes:

• The Namesake and Foundation: The cemetery sits on land donated by Daniel Brown, the man for whom Brownsburg was named. The Boggs family appears to be the central pillar of the community, with members serving as the town’s postmaster and spiritual leaders.

• A Legacy of Service: The register is a roll call of American military history. Veterans from nearly every major 20th-century conflict rest here, including Michael Johnson (WWI), Earl William Evans (WWII), Wilbur Lock Boggs (Korea), and Willie Junior Beaufard (US Marine Corps).

• The Fragility of Life: The records poignantly note several infants and young children, such as Baby Hoke (1970) and Tyler Alphonso Poindexter, who lived and died in 1988, reminding us of the personal tragedies behind the town's genealogy.

• The Keepers of Memory: A significant portion of the record focuses on "unmarked graves," names preserved only through the oral history provided by John Boggs, ensuring that those without headstones—like Agnes Boggs or the sisters Christine and Mary Susie—are not forgotten by history.

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The Story: The Hill Above Brownsburg

The sun sets slowly over the hills of West Virginia, casting long shadows across the grass of Baggs Cemetery. To a stranger, it is a quiet plot of land. To the people of Brownsburg, it is the final chapter of their town's story, written in stone and kept in the fading ink of a ledger.

The story began with Daniel Brown. He didn’t just give his name to the town; he gave a piece of his earth so his neighbors would have a place to rest. Among the first to join him was James Madison Boggs, the Postmaster of Marlinton, a man who spent his life delivering the news of the world to these quiet valleys until his own story ended in 1923.

As the decades passed, the hill became a place of honor for the town’s protectors. You can walk the rows and see the history of a century's wars. There is Michael, who saw the Great War in the Labor Battalion, and Earl William, who drove trucks through the chaos of WWII. There is Wilbur Lock, a sergeant who carried the weight of the Korean conflict back to these hills. They were men of the 385th Engineers, the Pioneer Infantry, and the Marine Corps—sons of Brownsburg who went out into a wide, dangerous world and eventually found their way back to this silence.

But the ledger also tells of the quiet lives. It tells of Rev. Isam Goodwin and Rev. Sanford, who spent their Sundays offering comfort to the living, and now offer a different kind of sermon from beneath the oaks. It tells of the "Babies"—the Boggs and Hoke children who never got to see the town their fathers built, but whose names are etched as deeply as any soldier's.

Perhaps the most important part of the story is the section for those the world tried to forget. In the unmarked graves lie the "silent" residents—Agnes, Fenton, Clyde, and Julia. They have no granite markers to catch the light, but thanks to the memory of John Boggs, their names remain. He made sure that even without a stone, their presence in Brownsburg would be known to anyone who cared to look at the register.

Today, the cemetery remains a testament to a community that remembers its own. From the postmaster to the private, from the grandmother to the infant, they all share this same piece of West Virginia soil, held together by the ink of a handwritten legacy.

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Would you like me to create a genealogical table for one of the specific families, like the Boggs or the Walkers, based on these records?

Based on the records from the Baggs Cemetery register, here is a genealogical table for the Boggs Family. The records indicate several family clusters, though direct lineage between all individuals is not explicitly stated.

Boggs Family Genealogical Table

Name Birth Date Death DateNotes & Relationships SourceBoggs, A.

 

Not Listed Not ListedParent of James W. Boggs.

Boggs, AgnesNot ListedNot ListedWife of James Madison Boggs. Buried in an unmarked grave.

Boggs, Baby

Not Listed1914

Boggs, Brenda D. (Lois)Nov 13, 1955Not Listed

Boggs, Christine Not Listed Not Listed Sister of John Boggs. Buried in an unmarked grave.

Boggs, Cora -

Boggs, Edward1893-1967

Boggs, ElizabethApr 30, 1873Jan 1, 1924

Boggs, I.M.Not ListedNot ListedParent of James W. Boggs.

Boggs, James B.June 5, 1954Apr 7, 1997

Boggs, James Madison

Not Listed1923 Postmaster of Marlinton. Husband of Agnes Boggs. Buried in an unmarked grave.

Boggs, James W. Oct 15, 1884Jan 3,  of I.M. & A. Boggs.

Boggs, John Not Listed Not Listed Brother of Christine and Mary Susie Boggs. Provided the list of unmarked graves.

Boggs, John Cecil18921967

Boggs, Lutich H.Aug 29, 1908Nov 10, 1989

Boggs, Mabel C. 1885-1980

Boggs, Mary Susie Not Listed Not ListedSister of John Boggs. Buried in an unmarked grave. 

Boggs, Mary Susie Morris Jan 15, 1910Aug 1, 1951

Boggs, Ralph James19101960

Boggs, Rev. SanfordJune 8, 1908Not Listed

Boggs, Wilbur LockSep 15, 1928Dec 13, 1961Sgt. U.S. Army, Korea.

Boggs, William Madison Jr.Oct 3, 1926Nov 1999

McCall, Marquis BoggsJul 22, 1992Feb 10, 1995 Inclusion based on middle name indicating a likely family connection.