James Andrew “Andy” Jarrell

James Andrew “Andy” Jarrell
BIRTH
3 Jan 1852
DEATH
24 Dec 1887 (aged 35)
Raleigh County, West Virginia, USA
BURIAL
Jarrell Cemetery
Raleigh County, West Virginia,

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106431465/james_andrew_jarrell

his is my great grandfather on my father's side. My grandmother was Martha Dora and she was 9 years old when her father died. He died when he was 35 years old. According to legend, James and his son Joseph Nelson Jarrell who was 17 at the time, had accidently found gold bars that had been hidden away in a well some distance from his home. The gold had been hidden during the days of the Civil War. The gold bars supposedly had been on a wagon train traveling through the area for the purpose of helping finance the Union cause in the Civil War. As per legend, the wagon train was ambushed by men dressed as indians. The men stole the gold and hid the gold bars in an abandoned well in the mountains some distance from James and his families home. The gold bars had stayed hidden since the Civil War. According to James and Joseph darkness was falling and James and Joseph had to get out of the woods and return home before darkness set in. They had planned on returning to the woods the next day to get the gold. They had stopped at his brother, Jacob Jarrell's home in Horse Creek to eat and rest. James had eaten some tainted food and developed severe diarrhea. He died on Christmas eve in 1887. After his father died, Joseph could never find his way back to the abandoned well to where the gold was hidden. James is buried at the Jarrell Cemetary at Horse Creek, Raleigh county, WV. His death certificate states he died with dysentery. I remember my grandmother Dora telling this story when I was a young boy. Men have combed the outlying area with metal detectors for years hoping to find the treasure. One such person was a doctor (Dr. Barbour) from the Whitesville, WV area. My grandmother believed this story to be true as it was told by her father and brother.

James's tombstone is lying next to his father and mother, James Anderson Jarrell Sr. and Martha Araminta Jarrell. Unfortunately it is lying flat on the ground and broken as you can see. The dates of the tombstone and death certificate do not match, but this is still James Anderson Jarrell, Jr. James died with eight children and one (Lillie) on the way. Lillie was born in 1988 which was eight months after her father's death.

Some ancestry records show his middle name to be Anderson while some denote Anison. The tombstone reads he was born on December 25, 1851 and he died on December 4, 1887. Also if you will look at his father's tombstone it denotes James Anderson Jarrell "SR". I am assuming then that this James Jarrell would be James Anderson Jarrell Jr. So, for this purpose, I am entering his memorial as James Anderson Jarrell Jr. His wife was Louisa Catherine Melinda Ann Hazeltine Dickens Jarrell. They had 9 children. Among them they had 5 sons: Joseph, Al, Tom, Jake, and Wood. They had four daughters: Pauline, Martha Dora, Sarah, and Lillie. I am sure it was very hard for this family to loose their father with eight children on Christmas Eve and the ninth one on the way. She later married George Burgess.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=106431465