Mills Cemetery Restoration

This winter a group of Livingston County, Kentucky residents has been clearing the old Mills Cemetery, just outside Salem on Hwy. 723S. Fallen branches, briars and brambles are being cut up and removed from the cemetery. Once again, tombstones are visible and eight previously unrecorded monuments have been located.

Mills Cemetery March 2010

The Mills Cemetery is the final resting place of some of the earliest business leaders and families of Salem, when it was the county seat of justice and afterward, when Smithland had become the county seat. Included among names of those buried are the following:  Watts, Ford, Foster, Phillips, McCrosky, Rutter, Summers, McJenkins, Haynes, Cobb, Gordon, West, Mills, Martin, Sherrell, Parker, Pringle, Padon, Caldwell, Knower, Duvall, Linley, Greer, Jones, Johnson, Dallam, Bass, Whyte, Campbell, Fowler and McCollum.  Each tombstone is being photographed and submitted to Find A Grave   The earliest burial dates on the tombstones date from the 1820s and run through 1933.

After debris is removed, it will be necessary to keep the brush and unwanted plants from returning. Native, small growing grass will be planted. This is an on-going project and will involve the continued cooperation of volunteers for some time.

The following photos were taken 15 March 2014 after the clean up was well underway.

Published 20 March 2014, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

"After" photos by Jerry Bebout.

W.E. McCrosky 1801-1856

William McCrosky was a prominent and influential businessman in early Livingston County, Kentucky. He and John Bayliss were partners in a mercantile business and saddler shop in Salem. He never married, but named a daughter, Mary C. McCrosky, in his will [Livingston County Will Book B:167]. Also mentioned in his will were Sarah M. Corbitt, daughter of John Bayliss; sister Sarah Wilson; brother Joseph McCrosky and William Vaughn, son of Julina Vaughn and a half brother to my ancestor, David Vaughn. What relationship, if any, existed between William McCrosky and William Vaughn is unknown.



 W.E. McCrosky
 born in Scott County, Ky.
 Sept. 22, 1801
      Died
 October 23, 1856

I was thrilled to find the name of William Smith and H. Staub on the H.F. Given Tomb in Smithland Cemetery. That monument was probably constructed in the 1860s so imagine my excitement to find that William Smith also constructed the tombstone of William McCrosky, who died in 1856 and is buried in Mills Pioneer Cemetery. This makes two tombstones constructed by the same local stone carver prior to the Civil War.

Notice it states Wm. Smith - Smithland, Ky. Since William Smith moved to Port Gibson, Mississippi before 1860, the McCrosky tombstone definitely predates the H.F. Given Tomb.

The following artwork on the McCrosky tombstone is unusual. The handshake signifies a welcome into heaven and the star may symbolize the achievement of the highest level (heaven).

The symbol of McCrosky's Masonic membership is barely visible in the following:

The following is a testament to his character:

He was benevolent

Charitable and

an honest man

The McCrosky tombstone is impressive and fitting for one who was a prominent businessman of Salem. He and John Bayliss were in business together when Salem was the Livingston County seat and even after 1842, when most of the businessmen moved to the new county seat in Smithland.

All photographs by Jerry Bebout.
Published 16 January 2014, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Tombstone Tuesday - Nancy G. Watts

Nancy G.
Daughter of
D. & C.E. Watts
born May 22
1836
died June 23

Buried Mills Pioneer Cemetery, Highway 723 South near Salem, Livingston County, Kentucky. Tombstone photographed 20 March 2010.

A license was issued to David Watts to marry Caroline E. Given 3 December 1834 in Livingston County. By 1850, David, a 38-year-old merchant, was living with his wife, 32-year-old Caroline, and their family in Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky. Caroline Watts died in 1861 and was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, Paducah. By 1880, David Watts had remarried and was living in New York City.

Tombstone Tuesday - Mary Whyte Fowler

Mary Whyte
Daughter of
W.P. & E.A. Fowler
born Jan. 12, 1828
died May 20 [illegible]

Annals of the Fowler Family by Mrs. James Joyce Arthur (Glenn Dora Fowler Arthur), 1901, lists Mary's death date as April 20, 1833 and states she was the daughter of Wiley Paul Fowler and Esther Araminta (Given) Fowler. This tombstone is in Mills Pioneer Cemetery, near Salem, Livingston County, Kentucky. Tombstone photographed 20 March 2010. Click on the photograph for an enlarged view.


Published 20 Apr 2010, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Mills Pioneer Cemetery

Yesterday I visited Mills Pioneer Cemetery, one of the older cemeteries in Livingston County, Kentucky. It's located about two miles outside Salem, on Highway 723S. It's on a small hill on the left side of the road. The cemetery is easy to miss as it is badly overgrown with briers and bushes and there are many fallen branches obscuring the tombstones.

Originally, I planned to get close enough to photograph the cemetery marker, but the pull of the cemetery was too strong. Maneuvering over branches and twisting free of briers, I managed to photograph a few of these very old tombstones. It was impossible to get to the back of the cemetery or to determine its size.


In 1999 in the Crittenden Press, there was a list of burials in Mills Pioneer Cemetery (1824-1925). The earliest burial date in the list is for Mary Phillips, who was born 1788 and died 1827. The latest burial date on the list is that of Isaac Linley, who was born in 1855 and died in 1933. In fact, the latest three or four burials on the list are all for members of the Linley family.

Another early tombstone is this one for Mrs. Clara Fowler:

To the Memory
of
Mrs. Clara Fowler
Who departed this life
Aug. 22nd 1829
in the 50th year of her age

According to Annals of The Fowler Family by Mrs. James Joyce Arthur (Glenn Dora Fowler Arthur), 1901, Clara Wright married Godfrey Fowler, both of North Carolina, and they were the parents of Wiley P. Fowler, the well known judge of western Kentucky.



It is sad to see the condition of this cemetery. The clearing of this cemetery would be a worthy project for a civic-minded organization and a great way to honor the early settlers of Salem.

Information on other tombstones in this cemetery will be featured in later postings of this blog.

Copyright on text and photographs
by Brenda Joyce Jerome, CG
Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog
http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com