Pioneer Cemeteries and Their Stories,

Madison County, Indiana

Cox-Jackson Cemetery

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Fall Creek Township

Location: north side of CR 650S, between CRs 50W and 25E

    The Cox-Jackson Cemetery must have served a quiet, out-of-the-way contingent of pioneer farming families.  The number of recorded burials in this cemetery is relatively small, only eleven, and six of those people are significant because they were born in the late 1700s.  Unfortunately, these early Hoosiers have been omitted from the literary records.  None of the histories of Madison County tell the stories of any of these people; yet, these folks would certainly, at least, qualify as early settlers since the burial dates are from the 1830s and '40s.  Only "Barney" Clark, 1783/8-1851, son of Goshen Clark and Sally Pritchard, is in Harden's The Pioneer, and Barney is only mentioned. 

   From the 21st century, however, family researchers* have provided additional information. According to a letter written in 1928 by relative Jasper Keesling, the Clarks of Madison County descend from Goshen Clark who, along with a brother, came to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, from England in the 1700s.  Goshen was a sailor and worked on boats traveling between Elizabeth City, Charleston, Savannah, the West Indies, and South America.  Goshen would sometimes take his son Barnibus/Barney to sea with him.   Barney married Nancy Scott in Pasquotank County, North Carolina.  Barney and Nancy's children were John, Sylvester, Selbia, Sophia, Sarah, Philip, Martha, Calley, and Samuel. The letter continues:

"Barney was a large man and was found dead in  his bed by his wife on the morning of Sep. 1, 1856.  He was aged 68 years, 2 months and 1 day.  His wife Nancy died on March 15th, 1858, aged 74 years, 1 month, 27 days.  Barney is buried on the Cox Farm, just west of the Pee Wee Cemetery west of Ovid.  He owned land just west of where he is buried."

    Goshen, the immigrant and sailor, in addition to Barney, had Cornelius, Lauraney, and Kazia; "all the children of Goshen Clark came to Ovid, Adams Township, Madison County, Indiana." Lauraney Scott married Mathias Madren.  She and their daughter Sarah are buried at the nearby PeeWee Cemetery; they both have well preserved markers.  Cornelius Clark married Thamar/Tamar Davis; she is buried here and is listed below under her married name.  Cornelius and Tamar had a son named "Goshen" after Cornelius's father. The grandson Goshen "was so tall he attracted much attention," finishes the letter. 

    Of the other Clarks on this burial list, Lurana is probably a descendant of Barney and Nancy Clark since "Lurana" is a family name found in several generations of females in the Clark family.  The very first burial listed, "infant son," is probably a child of Sylvester and Polly/Mary Clark.  Sylvester and Polly's other children were Barney, George, Benjamin, Oliver, and Charles.

    The James H. Cullipher, 1832-1833, is the son of Isaac Cullipher and his wife Charlotte Powers, born 1803 and 1804, respectively, in Pasquotank County, North Carolina.  The Culliphers had at least eight, possibly as many as ten children.  Isaac and Charlotte are also buried at the PeeWee Cemetery. 

    The Clarks and the Culliphers were part of what Madison County historians refer to as the "Carolina Colony."  These were people predominantly from Pasquotank County, North Carolina, who helped settle Adams Township.  They traveled on the National Road, what is now US 40, by foot, horse, and/or wagon from 1829 through the early 1830s.  Customarily, for safety and security, they migrated in groups and settled near each other.  (For more on the Carolina Colony, go to the Bunker Cemetery.)

    Historical and genealogical interest in this small cemetery began in 1933 when concerned citizen Glen Walker made record of the Cox-Jackson gravestones and their inscriptions.  In 1967, when Mr. Walker was eighty-one, he turned over his records to W. Lloyd Scott.  Scott was a member of the newly formed Cemetery Conditions Committee of the Madison County Historical Society.  At that time, Scott was able to visit this pioneer cemetery, and he made the notation that as of that year there were only two stones left, those of James Cullipher and of the infant son of Sylvester and Polly Clark.  He also commented that years before, the cemetery had almost been destroyed.  Had it not been for the efforts of these early preservationists, the Cox-Jackson Cemetery might have been completely forgotten and lost to modern genealogists and historians.

*The MCCC wishes to thank Shelly Lembke of Mather, California, for generously sharing her data on the Clark and Cullipher families.

Names
ID Names Birth Date Death Date Cemetery
10551 CLARK, (INFANT SON) 1Y. APR. 18, 1831 COX or JACKSON
10578 CLARK, BARNABUS 1783 SEP. 1, 1851 COX or JACKSON
10709 CLARK, LURANA     COX or JACKSON
10738 CLARK, NANCY (SCOTT) 1794 MAR. 15, 1858 COX or JACKSON
10778 CLARK, TAMER     COX or JACKSON
13980 CULLIPHER, JAMES H. JUN. 12, 1832 1833 COX or JACKSON
42813 MICHAEL, HARRY 1794 1861 COX or JACKSON
42834 MICHAEL, NANCY 1796 1875 COX or JACKSON
42836 MICHAEL, PETER 1818 1857 COX or JACKSON
55348 SEXTON, MARY 1787 1851 COX or JACKSON
55352 SEXTON, WILLIAM 1788 1845 COX or JACKSON

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