Grovelawn Cemetery

Pioneer Cemeteries and Their Stories,

Madison County, Indiana

aka Falls/Old Falls/Pendleton

Location: east side of Pendleton Avenue, south of CR 600S

The old section of Grovelawn Cemetery is probably the largest burial ground of early settlers in Madison County. To historians and genealogists, this section is better known as Old Falls Cemetery or Pendleton Cemetery. Located on the east side of bustling Pendleton Avenue, it is carefully maintained by the Grovelawn Cemetery Association which has newer, more modern sections on the west side of the avenue. Since Pendleton and the surrounding lands were the first in Madison County to be inhabited, Old Falls Cemetery is the resting place for many of the county's first families. (For more on Pendleton, go to Fall Creek Township page.)

Descendents have placed this stone to mark the grave of pioneer settler and businessman Thomas Silver. Thomas arrived in Pendleton as early as 1828/9 and "began the mercantile business," in other words, a general store supplying everyday necessities. Also at that time, Mr. Silver erected a frame mill on Fall Creek. (For more, go to the Fall Creek Township page.) This early entrepreneur was so successful that he was able to build at the corner of Main and State streets one of the first brick buildings in the county and once shipped a cargo of pork to Cuba (!). Thomas and his brother William (a Pendleton postmaster) are given the honor in Harden's history of being among the prominent attendees of the very first "old settlers' meeting" held between Pendleton and Huntsville circa 1856. Thomas Silver, early Pendleton "mover and shaker," was born in 1793 and died in 1873.

One of the oldest legible gravestones at Falls/Pendleton Cemetery is the one on the left in the picture below, that of Ann Jane Irish who died December 23, 1834, at twenty-some years of age. The one on the right, awaiting resetting, is for S.D. Irish. This latter one quite possibly could be for Samuel D. Irish who donated the land for the original portion of the cemetery and who historian Harden says is buried at Pendleton. There is no Samuel D. Irish on the list below, and Mr. Irish did lose a wife in 1834. Sam was born in New York in 1806 and learned the business of woolen manufacturing--carding, spinning, dyeing, cloth dressing. He and his father James came around 1830 to Fall Creek where they erected a large flouring mill in addition to a cloth factory. Brothers William and James were also in the milling business along the creek. "Mr. Irish was of a very enterprising turn and did a great deal toward developing Madison County... Generous hearted, open handed...during the war [Civil], many a barrel of flour has found its way to the needy without their knowing whose hand had bestowed it"; so testifies Harden. Five of Samuel's sons volunteered for the Civil War, and according to Harden: "Death came [to Samuel] before the war closed, and thus ended the life of one of the most prominent and best known men of Madison County." Samuel D. Irish was married three times, and these stones are among those in the large Irish family section.

A close-up of Ann Jane Irish's stone reveals remarkably legible script: "In Memory of ANN JANE, Wife of SAMUEL D. IRISH. Daughter of Samuel and Lydia Phillits, born in Granville, O. died Dec. 23, 1834. And here found a resting place in the [arms] of her Lord." Brown stones of the 1830s and 40s, like this one, were granite, and granite retains carving extremely well. White stones became popular in the 1850s. Often of a softer, more porous type of marble, which made the ornate Victorian carvings easier to do, the lettering on these white stones, more often than not, has faded with time. Granite, of course, is what is used today.

This attractive early Victorian marker is for Jesse Boston, 1788-1838, and wife Ann, 1785-1840. Jesse and brother Elijah Boston brought their families from Maryland via public conveyance to Cincinnati. From there, they traveled to Pendleton by wagons, arriving in the early 1830s. Jesse was one of the first prominent businessmen in Pendleton. He purchased Mr. Mingle's tavern to operate and built a large two and a half story, hewn log house to live in. Jesse's hotel/tavern was called the Madison House near Main and State streets, and it "numbered among its guests some of the principal...men of the county." Jesse was a shoemaker by trade, and his apprentice settled with the Boston family. Jesse and his apprentice kept a shoe shop in a little cabin and also had a thriving business there. Jesse's brother Elijah is recorded as owning land in section 9 of Fall Creek Township. It is assumed that Elijah is buried in or near the Boston family's plot.

Some of the early settlers to Madison County were veterans from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Over the decades, the United States government offered free land, when accessed, to its veterans instead of a monetary payment. For this reason, much of what had been the New Purchase was pioneered and settled by family men who had first helped found a nation. Of the twelve documented Revolutionary War veterans buried in the county, three of them rest in Grovelawn Cemetery, two in unmarked graves and one in a grave moved from the original private family graveyard. All three established families. The one veteran from the War of 1812 at Grovelawn has a known original burial site.

Philip Hobaugh was born in 1763 and enlisted in the Pennsylvania Militia for service in the Revolution. He fought at Guilford and Eutaw Springs and was mustered out at Fort Pitt in November 1783. He is listed in the DAR records. By 1804, he and his wife Christine Huveum and children Molly, Michael, Elizabeth, Susannah, and Peter were living in Ohio. The Hobaughs were among the early settlers to Fall Creek Township. Son Peter served on a jury in 1825, and the family is listed on the 1830 census. Philip Hobaugh died in August 1836.

William Wall was born in 1758 in Virginia and served in Taylor's Virginia Regiment. William's military service is documented in the DAR Index of Patriots. William's wife was Nancy Elkins and their two known children were John and Martha Ellen. John Wall would later own real estate in the Pendleton area, and a stone pillar marks the family plot at Old Falls Cemetery. Both Philip Hobaugh and William Wall are thought to be buried in or near their respective family's plot in the oldest section of Grovelawn pictured above.

Nathaniel Richmond is the patriarch of a family with several descendents of that name. Nathaniel has a DAR commemorative plaque and stone, placed by descendents, under the flag in the military section in the west half of Grovelawn. Nathaniel was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts, in July of 1763. He was a member of that state's 2nd Regiment and saw action at the battles of Valentine Hill and White Plains. His discharge was signed by George Washington, and he is listed in the DAR Index of Patriots. Nathaniel married Susannah Lombard in 1783. When Indiana first opened for settlement, he and his family moved in. He is first recorded in Dearborn County in 1818 and then in Fayette County in 1821. Sometime in the early 1820s, Nathaniel found his way to Pendleton and decided to stay there with his family. Several of his children are listed in the records of Fall Creek Township. Nathaniel died in September of 1829; his widow was still a resident a decade later.

From the War of 1812, veteran Stephenson Hair is listed by the American Legion as being buried in grave 5, row B, lot 41, block 2. His gravestone includes "KEIP Oh Mil." The Hair family is included in Samuel Harden's The Pioneer as early settlers to Fall Creek Township.

The DAR commemorative plaque and stone for Nathaniel Richmond is located under the American flag in the military section of Grovelawn. The cross in the corner of his stone indicates that he was a minister. Several of Nathaniel's descendents are also recorded as religious leaders.

Click here for a list in .pdf format of burials with headstones.