10/09/2026
The grave of PVT Wesley Lee Ivery, S., has been rediscovered, thanks to hardworking volunteers. :-)
PVT Ivery was a native of Rosemary, North Carolina, a small, unincorporated community near Roanoke Rapids in Halifax County. He was the son of Charles Ivery (1879-1954), of Halifax County, North Carolina, and Susan Dugger Jones Ivery (1880-1961), of Northampton County, North Carolina. It is possible that Wesley's surname, "Ivery," is a variation of "Ivey," or "Ivy," a common surname in the African American community of Halifax County.
As a youth, Wesley lived in Rosemary, and Gaston, Northampton County, with his maternal grandparents, and his half-brothers and sisters (children of John Easley Jones, Susan Dugger Ivery's first husband): Sallie, Fannie, Acie, Annie, Ella, Charles, and Robert. The family relocated to Southampton County, Virginia in the late 1920s.
By 1930, Wesley was a resident of the town of Boykins in Southampton County. In 1933, he married Miss Fannie Malone (1914-1992), daughter of Silas Malone (1886-1954), and Mittie Clark (1886-1980). They had two children, Joe Samuel Ivery (1933-2011), a veteran, and Wesley Lee Ivery, Jr. (1934-1955). The couple separated in 1945.
Wesley moved around a bit after the war. In 1950, he lived in Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked as a waiter. A few years later, he returned to Tidewater, Virginia, and settled in Portsmouth on South Street. He sought employment at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and soon met Ms. Frances Robinson Willis. The couple wed in 1959. Wesley was a member of East End Baptist Church (Suffolk), whose usher board met at the Ivery residence. On November 25, 1970, PVT Wesley Le Ivery, Sr., died from lung cancer at the Hampton VA Medical Center (Department of Veterans Affairs). He was fifty-four years old.
PVT Ivery,, Sr., may be the only member of his family buried in Oak Lawn Cemetery. His father, Charles Ivery, was interred in Rosemont Cemetery (Suffolk), while his mother, Susan, was laid to rest in Gaston, North Carolina. Wesley's sister, Ella, and his son, Wesley, Jr., rest in the family plot in Galilee Baptist Church cemetery, located in Branchville, Southampton County, Virginia.
There are a variety of military grave markers in Oak Lawn, including the upright marble style, and flat markers composed of granite (like Wesley's), marble, or bronze. There are over thirty-two veterans whose graves remain unaccounted for in the cemetery .
