Shockoe Hill Cemetery

07/30/2026

07/30/2026

Scott King of Round Rock, Texas is on a quest to find and photograph the burial sites of his many Virginia ancestors. An infant great-uncle of his, Allan Lee Woody (b. & d. 1865), is buried in an unmarked grave in a Woody Family plot here. We had the pleasure of meeting him this week and helping him fill out his family story.

06/29/2026

We had the pleasure today of welcoming not one, but three relatives of Shockoe Hill Cemetery "residents".

Nathan Shapard and his son Sutton are visiting from Oklahoma. They are direct descendants of William Shapard, a North Carolina native who became a prominent Richmond business owner. He owned 1,300 acres on the James River, known as "Westham Cottage". That land now forms a large part of the University of Richmond. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/57164211/william-shapard

Ed Dunn of Lynchburg is the great-great-grandson of Cephas Root Childs, a Massachusetts native and a gas fitter by trade, and his wife Georgiana Cox. Cephas and Georgiana are buried in separate plots, and Ed visited both, along with the graves of several of their children.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82314838/cephas-root-childs

We're glad to have them join the growing number of known Shockoe Hill descendants!

06/20/2026

Volunteers working with the City of Richmond's Inactive Cemeteries Team did good things today, picking up trash around the perimeter of the Cemetery. It's always good to have friends on site! The next volunteer opportunity is July 18.

SHOCKOE HILL CEMETERIES CLEANUPJoin the City of Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities and the Descendants Council of Greater Richmond for a weekend workday at the Shockoe Hill Cemeteries. An innovation at the time of its founding, Shockoe Hill Cemetery presented an order...

06/13/2026

Sallie Gill of Illinois and her family have placed four grave markers here for their kin since 2014. Sallie had not seen three of them --until today.

Along with her daughter Sarah from Arkansas, she visited and found the markers for her great-great-grandfather Abraham Minetree, his wife Eliza Ann, and their son James. Thanks to the Gill Family for helping us tell the story of Shockoe Hill!

05/30/2026

In 2012, the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery worked with David Falkenstein of Virginia, the great-great grandson of Pvt. Harvey Adams, 38th North Carolina Infantry, to place a government marker at Pvt. Adams' grave.

We're pleased to report that on Friday, David for the first time was able to visit the Cemetery and pay his respects.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73505948/harvey-j-adams

05/24/2026

Peter Francisco -- "Washington's One-Man Army" -- is remembered by many, including his fellow Freemasons. We were pleased to welcome members of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Virginia, who gathered in the rain on Saturday to honor his memory with words of tribute and commemorative wreaths.

05/22/2026

Several generations of the Samuel R. Ellis family are buried at Shockoe Hill. Samuel’s descendant Skip Montgomery and his wife Anne-Marie visited from Glen Allen today to see the Ellis plot. As always, it's a treat to help relatives in their family quests!

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/105815307/samuel-r-ellis

05/19/2026

Our friends the James River Hikers, led by Dennis Bussey, came by last week for another round of marker cleaning. It's always good to have them on hand!