USA > Indiana > Madison County > History of Madison County Indiana (Volume 1) > Part 32
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In the southern part of Duck Creek township, on the line between sections 2 and 35, is a cemetery that was evidently established at an early date, as is shown by the fact that when a public highway was established on the section line a detour was made to the southward around the graveyard to avoid disturbing the resting place of some of the old pioneers of the township.
There are a number of burial places in Fall Creek township, where the first settlements in the county were made. As recorded in chapter V, the first deaths in this township were those of a Mr. Martin and his wife, who were buried in one grave, near a large oak tree, in the western part of the present town of Pendleton, though no regular cemetery was ever established at that place. A short distance east of the village of Huntsville, near the center of section 15, is an old bury- ing ground, on what is known as the Aiman farm. Just a mile west of it, on section 16, is the old Falls cemetery, which is now controlled by the Grovelawn Cemetery Company.
Samuel Irish donated a tract of ground here for burial purposes and the Falls Cemetery Association was organized on December 16, 1864, with Dr. M. G. Walker as president; T. G. Mitchell, secretary ; J. O. Hardy, treasurer; W. A. Baker and David Bowsman, directors. The cemetery established by this association is immediately south of the old Falls graveyard on the tract donated by Mr. Irish, on the northeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 16.
The Grovelawn Cemetery Company was incorporated on July 25, 1902, with a capital stock of $22,500. Of this stock $7,500 is known as common stock and the remainder is preferred stock. Ample provisions are made in the articles of incorporation for the redemption and can- cellation of both the common and preferred stock of the company. Soon after being incorporated the company purchased fifty-seven acres of land immediately across the Anderson pike from the old Falls ceme- tery. In an announcement by the company it is stated that "A satis- factory arrangement has been made with owners of lots in the old Falls cemetery, in which there are no longer any lots for sale, whereby these old burying grounds, which are adjacent to the new grounds and only separated from them by a highway, become a part of the grounds of the new association and governed by its rules. These old cemetery grounds compose about eight acres of land, and the grounds purchased by the new association fifty-seven acres, thus making sixty-five acres in all under the ownership and care of Grovelawn Cemetery Company. The needs of the community for burial purposes, it will therefore be seen, have been amply provided for for more than one hundred years."
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R. Ulrich, a landscape architect of national reputation, was engaged to prepare plans for the walks and drives through the grounds and make such suggestion as his knowledge and experience might dictate for otherwise beautifying the grounds.
One thing has been done by the Grovelawn Cemetery Company that deserves especial commendation. Thomas M. Pendleton, the founder of the town that bears his name, was buried upon the farm he owned at the time of his death. The new company removed his remains from the neglected grave and reinterred them in a prominent place in the new cemetery, marked by a "beautiful monument purchased by voluntary contributions from persons who were pleased thus to honor his memory."
The officers of the company in 1913 were: W. F. Morris, president; J. Q. Reid, vice-president; W. H. Aiman, secretary; A. B. Taylor, treasurer. These officers and J. D. Kinnard constitute the executive committee and all are members of the board of trustees. The other trustees are C. L. Henry, W. H. Lewis, D. J. Williams, O. W. Brown- back, G. D. Barrett, Elmer Hester, T. M. Hardy, George P. Frank, George P. Longnecker and O. H. Burdett.
Another old country graveyard in Fall Creek township is situated in the southeast quarter of section 22, near the old Friends church established there many years ago, and still another is on the south bank of Lick creek, near the site of the old village of Menden. Here Ralph Williams, Mrs. Manly Richards and other Fall Creek township pioneers are buried.
Pleasant Valley Methodist church, located in the northeastern part of Green township, was organized in 1841. In 1857 William A. Wil- liamson donated a tract of land near the church for burial purposes and this is known as Pleasant Valley cemetery. The first to be buried here was a little daughter of J. W. Ford, who died on March 30, 1858.
Beech Grove cemetery was established in the latter part of the year 1871, when the German Baptists of Beech Grove church pur- chased two acres of ground from David Richards, in the southeast quarter of section 21, near the church, and set the tract apart as a graveyard in connection with their church. The first to be interred here was Washington Pettigrew, who died in the fall of 1872.
At Mount Carmel Methodist church, near the present town of Ingalls, a cemetery was laid out in 1862 on land donated for the pur- pose by James Jones. In July of that year George Clayton, a private of the Second Indiana Cavalry, died while at home on furlough and his remains were the first to be interred in Mount Carmel cemetery. He was buried with military honors.
On the Doty farm, about two miles west of Ingalls and not far from public school No. 1, in Green township, is a small graveyard where some of the early settlers of that locality are buried.
Four country graveyards are marked on the plat books for Jack- near the southern border of section 13, which is the northeast corner son township. One is on the bank of a little tributary of Pipe creek, section of the township. The second is on the Foland farm, near Pipe creek and public school No. 3, in the northwest quarter of section 27. The third is situated on the south bank of White river, a short dis-
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tance southeast of Perkinsville, and the fourth is about half a mile east of the little hamlet of Halford.
When the Pan Handle Railroad was built through Lafayette town- ship in 1856, John Keller started "Keller's Station" about a mile and a half northwest of the present village of Florida. A little east of the station a graveyard was established on the southwest quarter of section 15, where several of the early settlers are buried. Keller's Station did not long survive and the graveyard is now seldom used, except by some family whose relatives were buried there at some period in the past.
About four miles northeast of Alexandria, on the south bank of Pipe creek and in the southwest quarter of section 10 is a small ceme- tery that dates back to the settlement of that part of Monroe township. There is another little cemetery about a mile southeast of the old vil- lage of Osceola, on a small tributary of Lilly creek. A third is located on section 22, a short distance southeast of Orestes, and near the north- west corner of the township is the old Mount Tabor cemetery, which was established in connection with Mount Tabor Methodist church, about 1850. There is also a small graveyard just east of the road running from Alexandria to Anderson, near the southern border of the town- ship.
There is a small cemetery between Jackson and Monroe streets, just east of Harrison, in the city of Alexandria, though there have been no interments here for several years. In the early '70s Necessity lodge, No. 222, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Alexandria, realizing the need for a cemetery conducted on modern principles, purchased a tract of ground south of what is now Fourth street and east of Park avenue, laid out the walks and drives, and put the property in charge of a board of trustees composed of members of the lodge. Subsequently some additional ground was purchased, extending the cemetery south to Sixth street, and including in all about twenty-five acres. Burials in this cemetery are not confined to members of the order, but are open to the general public. This is the only cemetery in the county owned and managed by a fraternal organization and it is one of the prettiest in Madison county.
On March 13, 1908, the Park View Cemetery Association, of Alex- andria, was incorporated with M. M. Walker, president; Harry M. Adams, vice-president ; Virgil S. Day, secretary, and Vernon H. Day, treasurer. The capital stock of the association was fixed at $5,000 and a tract of ten acres, immediately south of the Odd Fellows' Cemetery, was purchased and laid out- for burial purposes. This is one of the newest cemeteries in the county, and while there have been but few burials so far, there is every prospect that it will become one of the most beautiful, as the association is exercising great care in looking after the grounds and keeping them in the best of condition.
In Pipe Creek township there are two graveyards near Frankton- one south of the town, near the township line, and the other north of Pipe creek, not far from the Pan Handle Railroad. There is also a small cemetery on the Shell farm, in section 11, near the southern boundary of the township, and another in the northeast corner of the same section. Other old-time graveyards in this township are in the
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west side of section 19, near the Big Branch; near the center of section 21, about a mile southwest of Elwood; and in the southeast corner of section 30, about three-fourths of a mile north of Frankton.
The Elwood Cemetery Association was incorporated in April, 1895, by Daniel King, Thomas Dehority, L. M. Good, Lewis Hefner and Dr. Daniel Sigler. On the bank of Duck creek, south of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad and extending from Tenth to Thirteenth streets, was an old graveyard that had been established soon after the town of Quincy was laid out in 1853. No one was responsible for its care except the persons whose relatives and friends were there interred and this voluntary service was not sufficient to prevent the place from becoming unsightly by being overrun with weeds and shrubbery. Moreover, the growth of Elwood from a small town to a city of con- siderable portions, after the discovery of natural gas, made it essential that a cemetery association be incorporated, with power to assume the management of the burial place. The old graveyard was therefore turned over to the association and in a short time presented a different appearance.
The site of this cemetery is naturally pretty, and since the improve- ments made by the association it has become one of the handsomest "cities of the dead" in Madison county. In this cemetery is the vault or mausoleum erected by Dr. Stanley W. Edwins, which is considered to be the finest in the county. It is built of dressed Indiana oolitic lime- stone, is elevated above the adjacent driveway and is approached by a flight of six stone steps. Inside the structure are marble sarcophagi, stone vases and urns for flowers, etc. This tomb was erected by Doctor Edwins in memory of his daughter, Mrs. Flora M. Howe, whose remains are therein deposited. The cost of the vault was about $4,000. There are also a number of fine monuments in the Elwood Cemetery, most of which have been erected since the organization of the association.
In 1891 Bishop M. E. Campion, of the Fort Wayne diocese, con- secrated a tract of five acres of ground one and a half miles southwest of Elwood for a cemetery for St. Joseph's parish of the Catholic church. Since the establishment of this cemetery about four hundred and fifty bodies have been there interred. According to the custom of the Cath- olic church it is under the care of a sexton, who keeps it in order, and it is one of the really pretty burial places of the county.
The plat books of Richland township show three graveyards, all of which were established years ago. The first is in section 5, near the northern boundary; the second is at the cross-roads on the southern line of section 11, and less than a mile west of the Delaware county line; and the third is in the northwest quarter of section 19, a short distance southeast of the old village of Prosperity.
Two miles northeast of Fishersburg, on the road running to Ander- son, is an old graveyard, where a number of the pioneers of Stony Creek township are buried. Near the southern line of section 28, a short distance south of the town of Lapel and on the banks of Stony creek, is another cemetery, which is used by the people of Lapel and Fishersburg.
On the county poor farm in section 10, Union township, is the "Pot-
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ter's Field," where the inmates of the county infirmary who die while in that institution are buried. Other cemeteries in this township are located in the southeast quarter of section 23 and near the center of section 35. There is also a family burying ground on the old Clem farm near the west side of section 34.
Only two cemeteries are shown on the plat of Van Buren township. One of these is located in the northwest quarter of section 17, a short distance west of the Michigan division of the Big Four Railroad and less than half a mile south of Zion church. The other is at the old Christian church about a mile south of Summitville. The ground for the latter was donated for a graveyard by Thomas Cartwright soon after the township was settled.
About half a mile southwest of the old Moss Island Mills, on the north side of the Perkinsville pike, is a small graveyard, which is one of the oldest in Anderson township. In the extreme southeast corner of section 22, near the line of the Union Traction Company and the road leading to Pendleton, is another old-time graveyard, and three miles south of Anderson, on the New Columbus pike, is the Whetstone cemetery. This burial place aquired considerable notoriety in the early part of 1876, through the robbery of one of its graves. Mrs. Abner Brothers, a young and popular woman, who had been married but a short time, died early in the year and was buried here. On the night of January 14, 1876, John Stewart and Tunis Whetstone, returning home from a dance, upon approaching the cemetery noticed a team hitched to the fence, with two men not far from the buggy, and in the moonlight saw the nude corpse of a woman that had just been taken from the grave. They hurried to the residence of Dr. Railsback, a short distance north of the graveyard, and after arousing him started to alarm other persons living in the neighborhood. While they were thus en- gaged the two grave-robbers took the body and drove toward Anderson as fast as the horses could go.
An investigation the next morning disclosed the fact that the body of Mrs. Brothers was missing from the grave. Henry McDaniel, a brother-in-law of Mr. Brothers, and some of his friends hurried to Indianapolis, where they found the body in the dissecting room of one of the medical colleges. Suspicion pointed to a medical student that had been reading under Dr. Zimri Hockett, of Anderson, and it devel- oped in the investigation that the team and buggy used in carrying away the body belonged to Dr. Hockett. Marshal Daugherty went to Indian- apolis to arrest the student, who was then attending the college, but some of his friends warned him in time for him to make his escape. . It was afterward learned that the intention was to take the body of a pauper named Taylor, who had recently been buried in the cemetery by the township trustee, and that the resurrectionists made a mistake in the grave. The student remained away from Madison county until the excitement died away, when he returned to Anderson. While the excite- ment was at its height some people were inclined to think that Dr. Hockett was connected with the robbery, but it was afterward made plain that he was blameless, the body snatchers taking his team and buggy without his knowledge or consent. Vol. 1-17
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At the March session in 1832 the county board "Ordered, that Wil- liam Curtis, agent of Madison county, for Andersontown, the seat of justice of said county, do make and execute to John Berry, in consider- ation of a certain lot of ground, by said Berry transferred, for the purpose of a burying ground, a deed for lots No. 15 and 16, in the south- east square of Andersontown."
Two years later, in January, 1834, the board again took action upon the subject of a burial place, the records of that session showing that it was "Ordered, That Joseph Shannon be, and he is hereby, appointed agent for the seat of justice of Madison county, and that he is hereby instructed to receive a good deed of John Berry for a burying ground, agreeably to said Berry's undertaking, and also to collect the amount of the donation subscribed thereon."
The records do not show that a deed was ever executed by Berry, nor can the "amount of the donation subscribed thereon" be learned. This was the first cemetery at Anderson. It was located at the east end of Bolivar (now Tenth) street. In 1839 Collins Tharp donated a small tract of land situated on the west side of Delaware street, between Elev- enth and Twelfth streets, as a site for a Methodist church and burial place. Most of the bodies buried in the first cemetery were removed to the new one, but a few years after the Civil war the knoll upon which the old cemetery had been situated was removed by the Pan Handle Railroad Company and a number of human bones were found. These were loaded on the cars and hauled away, with the gravel which was being used as ballast along the line of the road.
. In 1863 the Anderson Cemetery Association was formed and a tract of ground north of the river was purchased as a site for a new place of sepulture. By this time the old Tharp graveyard was practically sur- rounded by residences and those buried there were removed to the new cemetery across the river. Some of the coziest residences in Anderson now occupy the ground that was formerly the Tharp graveyard.
St. Mary's cemetery was established by the Catholic church in 1867, when a tract of ground, a litle south of Twentieth street and extending from Brown to Lincoln streets, was purchased as the parish burial ground. A little later it was consecrated according to the ritual of the church and the first one to be buried here was Michael, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Carmody. This cemetery is directly opposite St. Mary's hospital.
Last but not least is the beautiful Maplewood cemetery, which lies just across the highway from the Anderson cemetery established in 1863. Maplewood Cemetery Association was incorporated on February 17. 1902. The original trustees were George Lilly, John H. Terhune, William H. H. Quick, James J. Netterville, Thomas N. Stilwell, Albert A. Small, James A. Van Osdol, John L. Forkner, James Wellington, Willis S. Ellis, John P. Sears, George E. Nichol, Charles L. Henry, Dale J. Crit- tenberger and William H. Stanton. With the exception of Messrs. Terhune, Wellington, Small and Sears, the original members still serve on the board. Terhune and Wellington are deceased. In 1913 the officers of the board were: George Lilly, president; Will Surbaugh, sec- retary ; George N. Nichol, treasurer.
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Soon after the association was incorporated a tract of about 216 acres of ground, situated immediately east of the old Anderson cemetery, was purchased and R. Ulrich, a landscape architect, of Brooklyn, New York, was engaged to lay out and plat a cemetery according to the most approved designs of modern times. Upon the grounds is a natural grove of about thirty-five acres and in the open places some 800 trees have been planted. The work of improvement is still going on, the drive- ways are being macadamized, etc., and to this work lot owners are not asked to contribute, the entire cost being paid by the association.
In 1907, when those having friends buried in the old cemetery across the road saw what the Maplewood Association was doing, a movement was started to have the old graveyard placed under the association's care. A fund of $10,000 was raised by subscription and paid to the asso- ciation in consideration of its assuming the perpetual care and control of the old cemetery, and a contract to this effect was consummated. The association then assumed control of the old cemetery, which is now known as West Maplewood, and began the work of clearing away the weeds and briers with which it was overrun. In the six years that have elapsed since that time the old cemetery has put on a new appearance.
The Maplewood Association was not organized for profit. It was projected and maintained by men whose chief desire was to give to the people of Anderson and vicinity a burial ground of which they need not feel ashamed. It is the plan that, when the debts of the association are paid and the current operating expenses are provided for, the entire income shall be used in further improving and beautifying the grounds. The capital stock of the association is $75,000, of which $25,000 is com- mon and $50,000 preferred stock. Article III of the articles of incor- poration provides that "All funds of the corporation raised by the issu- ance of capital stock shall be used in the purchase and improvement of real estate acquired for cemetery purposes; and all funds arising from the sale of burial lots or burial permits shall be used to retire the capital stock as herein before provided, and in the improvement of the property of the corporation and in the acquisition of additional property and improvement thereof, all of which shall be used for cemetery purposes. It is specifically understood and agreed upon that and provided that all funds received by the corporation from the sale of burial lots and burial permits not required for the care and improvement of the cemetery property, the payment of necessary and proper expenses and the retire- ment of capital stock, as herein provided, shall be kept and used as a sacred fund for all time for the improving, ornamenting and caring for the cemetery property."
Further on in the articles it is stipulated that the "provision regard- ing the funds of this corporation shall never be changed or modified, it being a fundamental principle upon which this corporation is organized that no profits shall inure therefrom to any person or persons, either by virtue of their being stockholders or owners of lots or burial per- mits under this corporation, save and except the dividends herein before specified to be paid on the preferred capital stock."
Organized on this basis, if the plan is adhered to, there is no reason why the Maplewood cemetery at Anderson should not become one of the
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most beautiful in the state. The natural features are well adapted to the purpose and the work so far done justifies the prediction that the Maplewood Cemetery of the future will be still more attractive than it is at present.
Much credit is due to William H. Stanton, the first president of the association, for the beautiful appointments of Maplewood cemetery. He visited a number of cities and studied their cemeteries, and with the knowledge thus gained he was able to pursue his work intelligently until he succeeded in laying the foundation of a plan that has made Maple- wood one of the beauty spots of Madison county.
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CHAPTER XVI SOCIETIES AND FRATERNITIES
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES-FAIR ASSOCIATIONS AND FAIRS-ANDERSON LYCEUM-OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION-THE PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY -HORSE THIEF DETECTIVE ASSOCIATION-THE MASONIC FRATERNITY -INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS-KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS-IM- PROVED ORDER OF RED MEN-GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC-A LIV- ING FLAG-BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS-LOYAL ORDER OF MOOSE-MISCELLANEOUS LODGES AND SOCIETIES-TRADES UNIONS DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
One of the first societies to be organized in Madison county was an agricultural society. In May, 1835, the county commissioners ordered "That notice be given by posting up manuscript advertisements at Pendleton, Andersontown and New Columbus, that a meeting for the purpose of organizing an agricultural society in Madison county will be held at Andersontown on the last Saturday of May, instant, and that the sheriff be required to give said notice.'
No record of what was done at that meeting can be found, but it is quite probable that a society of some sort was organized, as the com- missioners records for March 7, 1837, contain the following entry : "Ordered by the board, that the sum of twenty-five dollars of the county funds of Madison county be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to the agricultural society of said county, which sum shall be audited by the clerk and paid by the county treasurer to the president of said society."
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