Oldest grave site in the Shenandoah Valley located in Kernstown, VA

Driving north, where U.S. Route 11 passes under State Route 37, continue one mile, then turn left at the traffic light at Route 706 (Opequon Church Lane). Here you will find the Opequon Presbyterian Church (founded 1736) in Kernstown, Virginia. Located on this land in the northeast corner of the Opequon Church yard, Burying Ground #2, is the headstone of John Wilson who died in 1742. It is the oldest existing marked grave site in all the Shenandoah Valley. Mr. Wilson, an Irishman who was known to be the local school master, hand chiseled the crude native limestone tablet which memorializes the passing of his wife and two children.

One could imagine John felt empty and lost as well as grieved so he brought the tablet down from the western hillside and with unskilled hands inscribed the letters himself. The death of his young wife was an emotionally devastating event, the most stressful of all possible bereavements. Losing his wife Mary greatly impacted his home, family, and fellow members of a larger social circle. John Wilson would die later that year and be interred next to his wife.

It is believed that John Wilson misspelled his wife's name (Marcus vice Marquis). Mary was the only daughter of William Marquis and Margaret Colville. According to Rick Wilde at Find A Grave, Mary had a brother named Thomas.

Could John Wilson ever have imagined that 275 years later folks would still be visiting his family grave site, ever curious about the residents who lived, labored, loved and died during the early colonial immigration era in the Shenandoah Valley?
Historical Reference:

(Note: headstone transcriptions exactly as written)
John Wilson

intered Here
The Bodys of

His 2 Childer &
Wife yd Mother
Mary Marcus
Who dyed Agst
The 4th 1742

AL ged 22 years
(on other side)
From
J R L AND
JU L y vith 1737

COy Argma
g. H.

The above inscription is taken from a rough time worn stone in the centre of the graveyard and was the first monument erected in the Valley of Virginia to mark the resting place of an emigrant. The stone crumbled under the unskilled hands of the husband, who brought it from the hill side on the west and inscribed the letters himself as a memorial to his young wife. Tradition says he was the school master.

On the side on which Ireland is chiseled, the pebbles in the stone, or his unsteady hand made large indentures and rendered the inscription almost illegible. Here the stone has stood a monument of love and marked the grave of the early dead while the years have passed away. (Excerpt from William Henry Foote’s, “Sketches of Virginia: historical and biographical," publication date 1856).

About Opequon Presbyterian Church

One of the oldest continuing Presbyterian congregations west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Opequon Church began in 1736 under the leadership of Rev. Samuel Gelston of Donegal Presbytery. Rev. John Hoge, son of William Hoge, who donated the land for a church and cemetery, was pastor here from 1755 to 1772. Two log buildings served the congregation until 1790, when a large stone church was constructed.

The current church building, dedicated in 1897, is a reconstruction of the previous structure, destroyed by fire in 1873. The congregation renovated the church and added an educational building in 1956. A new sanctuary with supporting facilities was completed in March 2005. During 2011, the church celebrated its official 275th Anniversary, focusing on “Generation to Generation: Four Centuries of Faith.”

If anyone cares to share information about John Wilson, when he died in 1742 or about his family members, please contact Mark Gunderman at gunderman2001@aol.com.

Stephens City, VA

Note: The oldest surviving gravestone in Stephens City is for Jacob Traut who died in 1772. It is located in the Old Town Cemetery or the “German Reformed Church Cemetery” at the corner of Mulberry and Green Streets. These two lots were owned by Lewis Stephens. He allowed for the construction of the first German Reformed chapel on the northwest corner of Lot 76 (around 1780) and the burial of members of the community there as early as 1770. Thus, Stephen's family members and the town's earliest settlers and residents were buried there before he formally transferred ownership of those two lots to a group of trustees who were citizens of the town in 1799.

Jacob Traut's gravestone inscription cannot be read very easily anymore. It was transcribed by Mr. Robert G. VanMeter in August of 1936. His transcription reads:
Heir Lieght

Jacob Traut

Begrabem Im Jahr Anna 1772

Den 27t September

Im Jahr Anna 1726 Den

19 Januarius Warer

Gebohren.

On the reverse (east side) of the stone Mr. VanMeter said it reads “Heaven is my home.” Mr. VanMeter clearly took liberties with this inscription as it is not written in English. The last words at the bottom on the east side could be translated as Mr. VanMeter indicated but the words above are not as easily discerned. We know there were earlier burials (including Peter Stephens himself) but their stones were either uninscribed or are now lost.

The notes for the oldest surviving gravestone in Stephens City were contributed by Byron C. Smith, Executive Director & Curator for the Newtown History Center of the Stone House Foundation in Stephens City.