Tombstone Tuesday: William Tolbert

William Steffel Tolbert was my great-grandfather. His was buried on his own land near Pax WV. His wife, Anna is also buried there, but while she obviously had her own information engraved when she picked out the stone, no one bothered to have it finished when she died in 1949. Anna was his second wife, so she wasn't a blood relative, but my mother lived with Anna until she died. My mom was 15 then, and afterwards, she went to live with Anna's brother until she married my dad. My mom was 22 then.


Several years ago, my mom and I went back to where she grew up to try to find William and Anna Tolbert's graves. My mom hadn't been there since 1949 and things had changed a lot. We had no luck finding the spot. Later, I made a posting on the Rootsweb mailing list for Fayette County, WV, and I was rewarded by a woman who went out and found them for me. She later gave me wonderful directions so I was able to find it myself later! The first time my mom and I visited, I actually drove up this road to get to it, but since then, I've been back twice, and both times I walked! It's quite a trek!