Boone Township

Location: south side of CR 1850N, west of CR 200W

unknown burials

     The 1848 deed records in Book 12, p. 385, state that Samuel Moore and wife Elizabeth gave to the county: "Graveyard...that any person or persons whatsoever, who may be desirous of burying their dead, shall have full and free privileges, on the said lot or ground.  Said [ground] is also free for a public meeting house or school house, as long as there is room thereon..."  Trustees to the township at that time were Joseph Morgan, Dudley Doyle, and Robert Moore.  Later in 1850, the Moores sold seventy-two acres, which included the cemetery, to Robert Dickey.  It is Robert Dickey and his heirs who owned the land when the 1880 map of Madison County was drawn up.  The Boone Township section of the map shows a cross representing the cemetery in the northeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 10 and that the "R. Dickey Hrs." own the 64 acres surrounding the burial ground.  The cemetery is almost in the exact center of the section.  So while Samuel Moore and his wife may have begun the graveyard for themselves and the neighboring farmers, the cemetery was named for the Dickey family who owned the acreage for at least thirty years in the latter half of the 19th century.

    The property was sold several times between 1890 and 1901.  On the transaction records for the land in this time period, the cemetery is noted in the former year, but not in the latter.  Thus, this pioneer burial ground was forgotten sometime between 1890 and 1901.

    In August 1973, Madison County Cemetery Commission archives record that there existed "a pile of stones in the middle of cemetery plot" and that three of the corner stones of the cemetery still remained standing.

    In June of 1987, Haroldyne Zook of the Madison County Historical Society recorded:

This cemetery was covered with weeds and only four stones were found.  Two were blank.  The Morgan stone had two inscriptions that could be seen as it was embedded in the ground: "Morgan, -nn Chauncey born 13 Dec. 1829 died-Jul 1866; Joseph born 7 Feb. 1805 died 25 June 1888." [This is probably the Joseph Morgan listed above as a trustee of the township.] Mr. Martin [owner in 1987] said there was another inscription on the side that was embedded.  The fourth stone was in two pieces with most of it missing: 1/2 part "Mason"; 1/2 part "John A. died--."

    The larger Dickey clan is recorded as first land owners of twenty-two parcels, most of these in the Boone and Duck Creek townships.  The Robert Dickey family who owned the cemetery in the middle of the 19th century might have members buried at this location.  They would include Robert, his wife Rebecca, their daughter Eliza Jane, and a son James.