IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF WETZEL COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Marion County Coal Resources, Inc.,
a Delaware corporation,
and
Jeremiah Bowen, Carol S Cecil,
Joshua C. Cecil, Jeanne S. Grimm,
Roger E. Tennant, and Joseph W. White
Petitioners,
v. Civil Action No. 21-P-2
Mary V. Anderson, et al, and
ALL UNKNOWN HEIRS AND NEXT OF KIN
OF THOSE PERSONS BURIED IN THE
OLD HARMONY CEMETERY, and
ALL OTHER UNKNOWN RESPONDENTS
Respondents.
ORDER OF PUBLICATION
TO: The above-named Respondents, theirs heirs,
spouses and/or assigns; and to any owners, claimants,
or lienors of the land herein referred to.
There is now pending in the Circuit Court of Wetzel
County, West Virginia, the above-styled Civil Action in
which Marion County Coal Resources, Inc., a Delaware
corporation authorized to do business in West Virginia,
and Jeremiah Bowen, Carol S. Cecil, Joshua C. Cecil,
Jeanne S. Grimm, Roger E. Tennant, and Joseph W.
White are Petitioners, and the following parties are the
Respondents:
Mary V. Anderson; Mary Elizabeth Anderson; Robert
Anderson; Robert E. Anderson; Elizabeth Antel; Edgar
Antel; Edith Antel; Juanita Antel; Margaret Antel; Marie
Antel; Robert Antel; William Antel; James D. Arbogast;
Jessie Arbogast; Richard L. Arbogast; Robert W.
Arbogast; Virgie Arbogast; Virginia Arbogast; Andrew
Ard; Angeline Ard; Arnil A. Ash; Burley Ash; Carl
Herbert Ash; Geraldine M. Ash; Harlon C. Ash; Harriet
Ash; Ida Ash; Jasper Earl Ash; Jerald F. Ash; John H.
Ash; Lawrence Ash; Muriel Ash; Okey Allen Ash; Paul
Ash; Patricia Ash; Robert B. Ash; Roy L. Ash; Russell
M. Ash; Socrates Ash; Thomas B. Ash; Thomas J. Ash;
Wilbur L. Ash; Betty C. Bailey; Carolyn Chambers
Barnett; Anne Beatty Barney; Anne Berdine; Danny
Berdine; Edith Berdine; James M. Berdine; Bernard
Leroy Beatty; Beulah L. Beatty; Francis R. Beatty;
George Millard Beatty; Michael S. Beatty; Robert Cinton
Beatty; Lillian Bissett; John Bissett; Juanita M. Bissett;
Narcissis Carpenter; Clara Antel Chambers; Jerry E.
Chambers; Mildred Antel Chambers; Ray Carroll
Chambers; Ronald C. Chambers; Carol Cunningham;
Janet Cunningham; June Davis; Herbert DeLeGal;
Susan Wanda Dennis; Clifford Delaney; Georgia
Delaney; Lucile Delaney; Patricia Delaney; Pattie
Delaney; Yvonne L. DeMory; Sandra Jo Duley; Kathy
Renay Fenton; Elvina Fergusson, Harriet E. Fergusson;
Mahala Fergusson; Malinda Fergusson;
Jeannette/Genetta Freeland; Larry Joe Freeland; Janice
Sines Friend; Kathleen Gaines; Alice Bradley
Glasscock; Album Glover; Cathern Glover; Edward
Glover; Engle Glover; Forrest A. Glover; John R. Glover;
Ida Glover; James Glover; John Glover; Lafayette
Glover; Leroy Glover; Levi Glover; Maggie Glover;
Permelia R. Glover; Peter Glover; Thomas Jefferson
Glover; Ullum Glover; Jeanne S. Grimm; Martha Miller
Gump; Patsy June Harlin; Judith Harris; Betty Hayhurst;
Darrel Lee Hayhurst; Jacob Hendershot; James
Hendershot; Jason Hendershot; Jesse Hendershot;
John Hendershot; Clara May Highley; Melissa Ida
Holland; Cora Horner; Dudly Horner; Gordon Horner;
Hupp Horner; Hope Beatrice Horner; Hoy F. Horner;
John Horner; John R. Horner, Jr.; Kathy Lynn Horner;
Linsey Horner; Madge Horner; Mary Horner; Myrtle
Horner; Neelin Horner; Raymond C. Horner; Richard
Horner; Russell Horner; Willette Horner; Elizabeth
Hunt; Frances E. Hunt; Jane Hunt; Lee Hunt; Mary
Hunt; Mary Jane Hunt; Rebecca Hunt; Rema Hunt;
Sarah E. Hunt; William L. Hunt; Melba Angeline
DeLeGal Joswiak; Ethel Wenona Kelley; Anna Kendall;
Louise Kerns; Roy James Kerns; Chester Kuhn;
Clarence Kuhn; Frankie Kuhn; Homer Kuhn; Hoshkel
Kuhn; Elizabeth Lemley; Ellen Lemley; Homer Lemley;
Mamie Lemley; Wayne E. Lemley; Carolyn Litman;
Mary Lee Litman; Pamela Cecile Litman; Thomas
Edward Litman; Maxine Loar; Nina Elizabeth Long; Amy
Sue Martin; Margaret Estella Martin; Lucile Delaney
Moore; Robert Moore; Kathleen Sines O’Neill; Brenda
Sines Nolan; Jonathan Nolan; Landora B. Palmer;
James Palmer; Josephus Palmer; Sarah J. Palmer; Karl
Peters; Philip N. Peters; James J. Pethtel; James Lee
Pethtel; Manereva E. Pethtel; Mary J. Pethtel; Masie
Vno Pethtel; Susanna Pethtel; David Arnold Price;
Hayward Dywane Price, Jr.; Roger Lee Price; Steven
Price; Adeline Rice; Catherine Rice, George W. Rice;
Margaret Ann Rice; Mariah C. Rice; Sarah Ellen Rice;
Joan Sines Rieger; Angeline Ash Roquemore; Betty
June Rose; Helen Mary Rundle; Rose Price Schaaf;
James Oscar Sines; Barbara Lynn Shriver; Jeffrey E.
Shriver; Kimberly Lynn Shriver; Lloyd Edward Shriver;
Sarah Shriver; Hazel Shuman; James Oscar Sines;
James R. Sines; Mary Jane Sines; Dora Six; Eric A. Six;
James S. Six; Audie B. Ash Snyder; Gladis Snyder;
Gordon Snyder; Harry C. Snyder; Hazel Snyder; Lafe
Snyder; Kate Staly; Terrie Denise Stowers; Glayds
Strum; Albert Gene Taylor; Betsy Faye Taylor; Darlene
K. Taylor; Gary R. Taylor; Lula Taylor; Lloyd A. Thomas;
JoAnn Walsh; Roger E. Ward, Jr.; Vera Maxine Ward;
Beulah Weeks; David Lee Weeks; EXPERIENCE
HOGE WELLS; James Wells; Andrew E. Whisler;
George W. Whisler; Martha Jane Crouser Whisler;
William H. Whisler; Neva Abby Williams; Christiana
Yost; Scott Yost, Jr.; or their unknown heirs; and
Myron J. Seese II; Paul C. Huston; Walter R. McKneely;
and John Hinegardner; and
The Unknown Heirs of: Eliza Jane Roupe Antel; George
Brinton McClelland Antel; Harry Antel; Lucy Kughn
Antel; Nora B. Antel; Perry Van Antel; Dorcas Glover
Ash; Isaac Marshall Ash; Jasper N. Ash; John G. Ash;
Louisa J. Pyles Ash; Samuel G. Ash; Albert Leo
Delaney; Forest C. Delaney; Stella A. Delaney;
Abraham Glover; Abram Bennett Glover; Ebenezer
Glover; Elizabeth Glover; Elizabeth Bartrug Glover;
Elvira Glover; F.A. Glover; Francis L. Glover; George
Glover; Isaac Glover; James Leroy Glover; Mary E.
Glover; Nancy Roberts Glover; Nehemiah Glover, Jr.;
Nehemiah M. Glover; Rebecca Freeland Glover;
Samuel Glover, Sr.; Samuel Glover, Jr.; Samuel Glover;
Samuel J. Glover; Stephen Glover, William H. Glover,
Francis F. Gump; Elizabeth Hamilton; Edith A.
Hendershot; James Elsworth Hendershot; Nora Belle
Kennedy Hibbs; Charles Horner; Elizabeth M. Horner;
Felix Horner; Frank M. Horner; Jarret Horner; Jefferson
D. Horner; Louisa “Lewwesa” Mahoney Horner; Malinda
Glover Horner; Mariah C. Horner; Martin Earl Horner;
Pansy Marie Willey Horner; Ulrich Remley Horner;
Adeline P. Palmer Hunt; Blanche Litman Hunt; James
Luther Hunt; Lela G. Hunt; Leonidas Hunt; Richard H.
“Dick” Hunt; William W. Hunt; Rebecca Straight Hurst;
Catherine Phillips Kuhn; Columbus Kuhn; LeRoy Horner
Kuhn; Edward Litman; Friend Litman; James B. Litman;
Mary Louise Litman; Anna Ruth McGee; Lucile Jane
Moore; Ephrain Morton; Lydia Morton; Anna
Montgomery Palmer; William Palmer; Samuel S.
Pethtel; Susan Pethtel; Rebecca Potts; Eugenius Rice;
Isaac Rice; Katharine Toothman Rice; Mariah Rice;
Dora Palmer Russell; James B. Russell; William P.
Russell; Myrtle Snyder; Minnie V. Throckmorton;
Maggie B. Glover Ullum; Experience Hoge Wells; John
Henry Whisler; Lucy A. Whisler;
and
All the Unknown Heirs and Next of Kin of Those
Persons Buried in the Old Harmony Cemetery, and All
Other Unknown Respondents,
The object of the Civil Action is to obtain an order from
the Court, approving the formation of the Old Harmony
Cemetery Association and Appointment of Trustees for
the Cemetery, approval of the conveyance of the
Pittsburgh seam of coal underlying the Old Harmony
Cemetery, together with those rights and privileges
necessary and convenient to conduct longwall mining
thereunder and mine and remove all of said coal, from
the Trustees of the Harmony Baptist Church to the
Trustees of the Old Harmony Cemetery Association and
from the Trustees of the Old Harmony Cemetery
Association to MCCR and Court approval of the
proposed subsidence agreement between MCCR and
the Trustees of the Old Harmony Cemetery Association.
The property comprising the Old Harmony Cemetery is
identified as Surface Tax Map Parcel
02-0012-00440000, situate along Pogue Run Road in
Church District, Wetzel County, West Virginia, and is
more particularly bounded and described in the deed
from Ephrain Morton and Lydia Morton, his wife, to John
Hinegardner, Diasous of the Baptist Church at
Harmony, dated June 30, 1874, and recorded in the said Clerk’s Office in Deed Book 10, at Page 514, as follows:
Beginning at a stone North 3 poles and 11 feet to a
stone, N 69 W 13 poles to a stump, S 20 W 5 poles & 4
feet, to a white oak S 75 E 14 poles to the beginning,
containing about seventy square poles [.]
Petitioners, by its counsel, are contemporaneously
herewith attempting to obtain service upon the locatable
Respondents via certified mail, return receipt requested
and delivery restricted to the addresses, as required
under the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure, and
has used due diligence to ascertain the residence of all
Respondents/Defendants, which included but is not
limited to:
a . Acquiring a professional title examination conducted
by an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of
West Virginia who is experienced with title examinations
of oil and gas properties, which said examination
included a review of all available and relevant public
records located in the offices of the Clerk of the County
Commission of Wetzel County, the Assessor of Wetzel
County, the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Wetzel County,
and the Tax Office of the Sheriff of Wetzel County;
b. Hiring legal counsel with experience identifying and
locating unknown and/or missing mineral owners to
conduct research including genealogy research; and to
research current contact information through internet
research and otherwise for the
Respondents/Defendants; and
c. Making inquiry of other owners of the oil and gas, and
of known relatives of the Petitioners, as to the identity
and whereabouts of the Petitioners.
By Order of the Circuit Court, this matter has been set
down for a hearing on March 16, 2021 at the hour 9:30
a.m. at the Wetzel County Courthouse, 200 Main Street,
New Martinsville, West Virginia 26155, during which the
Court shall consider the allegations set forth in the
Petition filed in the above-styled Civil Action and the
relief requested therein. All persons who may have an
interest in the subject matter of the above-styled Civil
Action are invited to appear on that date and protect
their interests.
A final hearing will be held before the Court on the May
18, 2021 at the hour 1:30 p.m.at the Wetzel County
Courthouse, 200 Main Street, New Martinsville, West
Virginia 26155, during which the Court shall consider
the allegations set forth in the Petition filed in the
above-styled Civil Action and the relief requested
therein. All persons who may have an interest in the
subject matter of the above-styled Civil Action are
invited to appear on that date and protect their interests.
It is further ORDERED that the Respondents appear
and serve upon Whitney R. Kerns, counsel for the
Petitioner, Marion County Coal Resources, Inc., whose
address is 125 Granville Square, Ste. 400, Morgantown,
WV 26501, a response or other defense to the Petition
filed in the above-styled Civil Action on or before the
30-days following the first publication hereof;
otherwise, judgment by default may be rendered against
the Respondent, and the Court may extend the relief
requested in the Petition, at any time thereafter. A copy
of said Petition may be obtained from the undersigned
Clerk at said Clerk’s Office.
ENTERED by the Clerk of this Court on the 1st day of
February 2021.
Lori J McCoy
CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF
WETZEL COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
BY:
Deputy Clerk
PREPARED AND SUBMITTED BY:
W.Taylor Frankovitch
W. Taylor Frankovitch (WVSB #11804)
Whitney R. Kerns (WVSB #11669)
Bowles Rice LLP
Counsel for Petitioners
125 Granville Square, Ste. 400
Morgantown, WV 26501
Bowles Rice LLP
WC 2/10 2/17 2/24 14786