Old Franklin Cemetery

The Franklin County genealogy website says Old Franklin Cemetery was established in 1810.

That would precede the founding of Franklin County itself by a year. In effect, the graveyard was in Dearborn County at the time.

Old Franklin EUB-Methodist Church in its current state, was built in 1831 and is one of the oldest functioning churches in Indiana on a continuous basis.

The cemetery itself is in pretty good shape and the county genealogy site says about 500 graves are marked and/or acknowledged. This cemetery was affected by the federal reservoir project only in how it's accessed. The stones and graves were not challenged by the lake.

The 1810 establishment date would seem early if it's compared to the dates of death on the genealogy website, though a number of stones are "illegible" ... so, anything's possible.

It's also worth noting that the site of the church and cemetery match up with the land entry by the fabled Robert Green, who's been given credit for entering a section in 1804. I've mostly determined that Green didn't show up until 10 years later, but the history books are already written.

The church and cemetery are visible from S.R. 101 just south of Causeway Road. To get to it (there's only one way in and one way out) ... turn west on Causeway Road, toward the lake, and it's a few yards up, on the left.

Sims-Brier and Bath Springs cemeteries, the other two that will be discussed briefly, are both nearby.


Some of the oldest graves in Old Franklin:

Walter Tucker 1770-1814
Elizabeth Howell 1800-1830
George Dare 1803-1831
John Hetfield (died) April 1834
Nancy Glidewell 1793-1837
Sarah Fry (died) June 1845
David Templeton 1791-1863
Solomon DuBois 1802-1877

When illness strikes:

Infant boy Brauchla  3 Oct 1896 - 7 Oct 1896 (son of) E.F. & N.A. Brauchla
Infant girl Brauchla 30 Sept 1898 (daughter of) E.F. & N.A. Brauchla

As in most rural cemeteries, family names are common. Old Franklin's listings include lots of:

Fry
Howell
Dubois
Bockover
Copeland
Beesley
Davis
Dare
Watterson

Note that cemetery listings are probably incomplete.
Church services are Sundays at 9 a.m. EDT. Parking appears to be limited.

Useful link:

Franklin County Cemetery Association

Several war veterans are buried here. 

This Civil War stone has been upgraded. Not all of them have been.

Old Franklin was built in 1831.
Its cemetery precedes it, though the church's history is older than 1831.