Pioneer Cemeteries and Their Stories,

Madison County, Indiana

Waymire Cemetery

Home Up

aka  Cochran

Duck Creek Township

Location: north side of CR 1400N, between CRs 700W and 800W (east of Duck Creek)

    Respect for the past is evident in all generations.  The Waymire Cemetery, holding some of Duck Creek Township's earliest settlers, is situated on the line between sections 2 and 35 in the southern part of the township.  In the mid-1800s, public roads were being planned and constructed.  What is now labeled as county road (CR) 1400N was originally to run on the section line, and this, of course, would have destroyed the burial ground.  When the obstruction was realized, plans were changed, and the road was diverted to go around the edge of the cemetery.  Thus, when traveling on CR 1400N, one cannot miss the Waymire's location.

    According to Marjorie Miller Pierce's research for her 2005 publication of Waymire Cemetery, the plan for the state's roads was changed because the township owned the cemetery.  The township's title to the cemetery was the result of two families who wanted to preserve the cemetery on its original location:  "The Hand family and the Waymire families owned the ground that the cemetery was on.  The Hand family donated one acre and the Waymire family donated 38/100 of an acre.  This was the dividing line between the two pieces of land."  Mrs. Pierce also explains in her book that initially there was on the west side of the burial ground a road, no longer existent, which ran north to CR 1500N.  Also there was a small log church near the cemetery.  Perhaps it was this shelter in which the first township elections were held in August of 1852.  History records that those elections took place in a "log building" near the Waymire Cemetery.  Elliot and David Waymire were elected, respectively, as justice of the peace and treasurer.

    According to early MCHS records, relative Jacob Waymire, 1781-1857, patriarch of the family, is resting at this location.  He married Elizabeth Fuller and after moving to the area, built the first steam sawmill in the township seven years before his death. Jacob's son Henry, 1808-1854, whose original gravestone is pictured right, married Hulda, 1809-1891, daughter of John and Huldah Boswell, according to Pierce's records.  Henry and wife Hulda have a metal, turn of the century marker placed by descendents.  The epitaph on the base reads:

 

 

 

"Two lights are from one household gone,

Two voices we loved are stilled:

Two places vacant at our hearth,

Which never can be filled."  

Henry and Hulda's son John, 1829-1864, and wife Elizabeth Casteel, 1827-1864, are also buried at this graveyard; John and Elizabeth had four children.

 

 

Also resting here is Arthur Ritter, 1815-1881.  His family originally came from Ohio via Wayne County, Indiana, to Duck Creek Township in July of 1848.  Mr. Ritter is credited with being the second settler to the area, making the first land entry from what had been the Miami Indian Reserve and over the next thirty-one years changing that wilderness into a model working farm.

   

The Ritter section, shown above, has old stones which have been reset in cement and around which vegetation killer has been sprayed, giving a very tidy appearance.

Marjorie Miller Pierce's compilation also gives some interesting facts about others buried at this cemetery. The Clymers--Massey, born in Ohio 1804, and wife Mary Ann Krist, also born in Ohio 1807--died sixteen days apart in 1867, January 12th and January 28th, respectively.  They did have seven children: Daniel, Royal, Jefferson, John, Martha, Caroline, and Hulda. 

 

John Jarrett, who died February 5, 1856, was "43y 11m 23d," making his birthday in 1812.  His wife was named Ann and their son was Owen, listed below with the Civil War veterans.

  

    Another early settler born in the 18th century and buried here is Alanson Bagley who, according to Pierce, was born in 1796 in New York.  Alanson's wife Nancy was born in 1810 in Pennsylvania.  The two had seven sons and three daughters.  Two of the sons were killed in the Civil War.  Alanson owned 120 acres in the township.

    Of further note are the four veterans from the Civil War: Elias Bagley, 1836-1871, who enlisted December 18, 1861, in Co. G, 52nd Regt., Ind. Vol., serving three years; George Heater, 1830-1909; Ephraim Hook, 1836-1917, who served in Co. B, 145th Regt., Ind. Vol. Inf. and who died at eighty-one years; and Owen Jarrett, 1840-1876, who served in the infantry of the Union Army from October 1861 to December 1863 and who died at " 36y 5m 16d."

   

    Among the later settlers to area was the Robert W. Davis family.  According to family genealogist Tom Davis of Elkhart, in 1896, Robert's wife Mary Jane had difficulty during child birth, and she and the baby, a son also named Robert, both died.  They are the only members of the larger Davis family to be buried at the Waymire.  While one branch of the family stayed in Madison County, Robert, the father, and other relatives moved on into Illinois.

 

    Recorded in the burial list at the bottom is a stone simply marked "Decker."  Descendants believe that this stone represents one of the earliest settlers to the area encompassing the northwest sections Duck Creek Township, Madison County, and to its west the whole of Wildcat Township, Tipton County--David Decker, 1814-1888.  David migrated from Wayne County, Kentucky, to Madison County and purchased land as early as 1837 in Duck Creek Township.  In the early 1840s, he moved across the county line to Tipton County.  From "Wildcat Township," History of Tipton County, Indiana:

    'Records prove that the first actual white settlers came in near the year 1845, and located near the north fork of Wildcat, in the northern part of the township. These were David Decker, Philemon Plummer, Robert Stephens, Ira Plummer and their respective families. Decker came from Madison county, adjoining, and erected a primitive pole cabin, around which a few rods of ground were cleared for a truck patch. However, the wet state of the county precluded a very bountiful living from the soil, so Decker was forced to depend upon his rifle for his main subsistence. Game was plentiful, and the meat used for the table and the skins used as a medium or exchange or for clothing. Decker lived on his original claim some five years, when he disposed of it and moved farther south, near the present site of Windfall. Here he became the possessor of a valuable tract of real estate... He was a man of prominence in his community and was chosen a justice of the peace at the first election after the township organization...'

Also from the same publication:

    'The first school was taught in a rude cabin which stood near Mud Creek in the northern part of the township, about the year 1848. This building was hastily constructed by the few neighbors living in the vicinity, and served its purpose about three years. The first pedagogue who wielded the rod of authority at this place was David Decker, who is remembered as a very competent instructor for that day.'

    Family records show that David spent some of his later years living in a simple log cabin near the Waymire Cemetery.  Becoming somewhat infirm of health--from at least 1880 until his death in 1888--David resided with his daughter and son-in-law, Julie and Joshua Wood, in the growing village of Elwood just to the south.  Since David is not listed in any of the pioneer or modern cemeteries for Madison or Tipton counties, family members believe that he was interred near his last log cabin home, with the other early settlers of his generation, and under this simple stone marked "Decker" at the Waymire Cemetery.

     Information on our pioneer cemeteries comes from various sources and often not from our county.  Gae Matchette, Secretary for the Tipton County (Indiana) Historical Society, sent us the information below in January of 2015.  According to their records, a William H. Black was interred at the Waymire in 1901.  Since Mr. Black is not listed on the transcription of gravestones done at this cemetery in the mid 1970s, it must be assumed that he never had a marker at his grave or that his tombstone was lost before the transcription was preformed.  We thank Ms. Matchette for the information, and indeed we appreciate assistance and additional data for any of our pioneer cemeteries.

WINDFALL DEATH RECORDS, SET 4

OCTOBER 1899 - NOVEMBER 1907

RECORD: #79
FULL NAME OF DECEASED: WILLIAM H. BLACK
DATE OF DEATH (YEAR, MO, DAY): 1901 9 13
DISEASE CAUSING DEATH: MITRAL INSUFICIENCY
DURATION: 30 YEARS
PHYSICIAN'S FULL NAME: T.W. LONGFELLOW
AGE: (YEARS, MO, DAYS): 68 X X
SEX: MALE
COLOR: WHITE
RESIDENCE: WINDFALL
SINGLE, MARRIED, WIDOW: MARRIED
OCCUPATION: RETIRED
BIRTHPLACE (STATE OR COUNTRY): INDIANA
PLACE OF DEATH (STATE OR COUNTRY): WILDCAT TWP.
FATHER'S FULL NAME: SAMUEL BLACK
FATHER'S BIRTHPLACE (STATE OR COUNTRY): NOT KNOWN
MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME IN FULL: NOT KNOWN
MOTHER'S BIRTHPLACE (STATE OR COUNTRY): NOT KNOWN
DATE OF BURIAL (YEAR, MO, DAY): 1901 9 14
PLACE OF BURIAL: WAYMIRE CEMETERY
UNDERTAKER'S NAME: PLUMMER & FISHER

 

Names
ID Names Birth Date Death Date Cemetery
2091 BAGLEY, ALANSON 75Y. DEC. 1871 WAYMIRE
2100 BAGLEY, ELIAS J. 35Y. JUN. 7, 1872 WAYMIRE
9642 CARTER, SARAH     WAYMIRE
11288 CLYMER, ANNA   OCT. 12, 1870 WAYMIRE
11314 CLYMER, MARY ANN MAY 25, 1807 JAN. 28, 1887 WAYMIRE
11317 CLYMER, MASSEY L. APR. 3, 1804 JAN. 12, 1887 WAYMIRE
11578 COLBERT, TRYPHOSA MAY 3, ____ JUL. 14, 1906 WAYMIRE
15055 DAVIS, MARY JANE 1852 1896 WAYMIRE
15453 DECKER, _______     WAYMIRE
17805 EDGELL, ELIZABETH E. 28Y. 11M. 21D. NOV. 14, 1880 WAYMIRE
17808 EDGELL, FANNIE E. 21Y. 6M. 23D. APR. 17, 1890 WAYMIRE
17822 EDGELL, JOHN     WAYMIRE
17825 EDGELL, MARY A. 25Y. APR. 12, 1886 WAYMIRE
17833 EDGELL, SARAH ANN   NOV. 24, 1875 WAYMIRE
26947 HAUCKER, ARCHIE WILLIAM 2M. 14D. OCT. 24, 1880 WAYMIRE
27360 HEATER, GEORGE W. MAR. 4, 1830 JUN. 14, 1909 WAYMIRE
29522 HOOK, EPHRIAM SEP. 1, 1836 FEB. 2, 1917 WAYMIRE
30947 HUNT, DANIEL LEWIS NOV. 23, 1840 DEC. 25, 1912 WAYMIRE
30983 HUNT, MARY D. DEC. 18, 1839 AUG. 10, 1918 WAYMIRE
31003 HUNT, THOMAS MAY 11, 1888 OCT. 1, 1897 WAYMIRE
31297 HUSTON, JAMES O. 4M. 16D. FEB. 12, 1886 WAYMIRE
32246 JARRETT, OWEN FEB. 7, 1840 JUL. 23, 1876 WAYMIRE
35649 KNOTTS, ALBERT 5Y. NOV. 6, 1876 WAYMIRE
35676 KNOTTS, DANIEL J. 8Y. 3M. 13D. AUG. 26, 1875 WAYMIRE
37706 LEONARD, WAT.- ELWOOD     WAYMIRE
38436 LOCK, MELISSA 4Y. 8M. 6D. APR. 6, 1881 WAYMIRE
38437 LOCK, R. W. & R. S.     WAYMIRE
46637 OAL, LIRZAH 1726   WAYMIRE
46641 OATES, JOHNNY H. 1Y. 3M. 6D. OCT. 6, 1876 WAYMIRE
47558 PALMER, BENJAMIN F. 22Y. 5M. 13D. OCT. 15, 1869 WAYMIRE
50953 REDING / REDDINGTON, NANCY 7Y. JAN. 22, ____ WAYMIRE
52422 RITTER, ALICE   1878 WAYMIRE
52425 RITTER, AUTHUR G. AUG. 20, 1815 FEB. 19, 1881 WAYMIRE
52428 RITTER, CORA E.   JAN. 1877 WAYMIRE
52445 RITTER, MORIER 26Y. FEB. 26, 1874 WAYMIRE
52454 RITTER, SEYNTHIA 32Y. AUG. 4, 1856 WAYMIRE
52455 RITTER, URNIE   1878 WAYMIRE
57432 SLOAN, MAHALA 56Y. 7M. 29D. AUG. 31, 1887 WAYMIRE
57438 SLOAN, THOS. H. 75Y. JUL. 20, 1899 WAYMIRE
58358 SNODGRASS, ELIZ. 46Y. 26D. AUG. 16, 1874 WAYMIRE
58368 SNODGRASS, NANCY E. 11Y. 7M. 13D. APR. 13, 1872 WAYMIRE
65987 WAYMIRE, ELIZABETH 34Y. 21D. 1824 WAYMIRE
66011 WAYMIRE, HENRY 46Y. 8M. 7D. JUN. 21, 1854 WAYMIRE
66016 WAYMIRE, HULDAH 83Y. 7M. 27D. NOV. 22, 1891 WAYMIRE
66020 WAYMIRE, JACOB MAR. 17, 1781 OCT. 17, 1857 WAYMIRE
66028 WAYMIRE, JOHN RUDLOPH 13Y. 11M. 23D. FEB. 5, 1856 WAYMIRE
68364 WILLIAMSON, MARGARETTE SEP. 10, 1849 JAN. 12, 1904 WAYMIRE
68372 WILLIAMSON, NANCY J. DEC. 28, 1886 JAN. 28, 1887 WAYMIRE
68385 WILLIAMSON, ROSE JUN. 11, 1888 JUN. 18, 1888 WAYMIRE
68390 WILLIAMSON, SARAH M. APR. 27, 1884 AUG. 12, 1904 WAYMIRE