Cemetery is shown during its dedication in 1933.
By Bobby Bice
This month’s photo was taken during the summer of 1933 on the dedication day for the Revolutionary War Veterans Monument, located in the IOOF Cemetery at Enterprise. The International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Lodge No. 209 at Enterprise, along with the Daniel Davisson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, dedicated the monument. Two RW veterans from Enterprise were memorialized: Elisha Griffith and Jacob Bigler.
Griffith was born in Maryland in 1751, enlisted on Christmas Day 1776, and served for a little more than twenty months as a 1st Sergeant. He applied for a pension from Harrison County (W)Va. in 1832. He died in 1840 while living with the Charles McIntire family at Enterprise. Charles McIntire was also a Revolutionary War veteran. It was McIntire who first settled in the area, which came to be known as Enterprise, in 1773.
Jacob Bigler was born in Pennsylvania in 1752. He enlisted in July 1776. After service in the war, veterans were entitled to a land grant of 400 acres. Bigler, his wife and their daughter, left Pennsylvania and moved south into (West) Virginia where they selected land around the West Fork River at Enterprise. They settled there in 1782. Bigler died at Enterprise in 1829. His log house stood for nearly one hundred years after his death. The farm was located near the head of Laurel Run and part of the old Bigler barn was still standing into the late twentieth century.
The grave location for each man was not precisely known when the monument was constructed. Since Griffith had been living with the McIntire family, he was buried on their family’s land in a small graveyard with field stones used for both head and foot markers. Bigler was buried not far from his home, within an apple orchard. Again, field stone or flag rock, was used to mark his spot. It has been recorded that approximately three bushels of earth was taken from the approximate burial spot of each man and then placed around the Revolutionary War Monument to officially and permanently memorialize the men. The materials and labor for constructing the monument were furnished by the Enterprise lodge while the plaques embedded on the stone face were provided by the DAR. And that is this month’s story behind the photo!
