Perkinsville Cemetery

Pioneer Cemeteries and Their Stories,

Madison County, Indiana

Location: north side of 8th Street/8th Street Road/West 8th Street, between CR 900W and SR 13

An early settler to the Perkinsville area was James Johnson whose tall white obelisk is on the left. He died in 1865 at seventy-two years old, making his birthday around 1793. Extending to the right of the obelisk are the columns, broken by design, of Johnson family members. These grave markers are at a high point on the hilltop. To their left is White River; to their right down the hill is the old settlers' trace, now called West 8th Street, stretching through the November Hoosier farmland.

The Perkinsville Cemetery is between two important elements of early civilization in Madison County: the White River and South Bank Road. South Bank Road was also called River Road, Strawtown Trace, and later Strawtown Pike and is now named West 8th Street. Those pioneers and settlers coming from anywhere east of the New Purchase had a choice of entering the open territory either by floating on rafts down White River or by walking with their ox-drawn wagons lumbering on the trails and traces bordering the river's banks. South Bank Road, a foot path by modern standards, became the popular route of travel west, and it is hard to estimate how many hundreds of settlers moving into the New Purchase used this route in the early 1800s.

Because the land along South Bank Road was the most accessible, it was populated early and therefore contains a number of pioneer cemeteries. The Perkinsville Cemetery is one of these. This burial ground is southeast of and across the river from the hamlet of Perkinsville, which is on the north bank. The burial ground is approached from West 8th Street; the beautiful hills on the north side of the road form the south bank of the river. The old stones are at the west end, closer to Perkinsville; the new stones are at the east end. The Perkinsville Cemetery is one of the largest and best preserved pioneer cemeteries in the county. Some of the first settlers to the township and, indeed, to Madison County rest in its rows.

Daniel Wise, 1792-1848, who came in 1822 from Ross County, Ohio, entered 400 acres south of the river in sections 3 and 34. This was the first land entry made in Jackson Township. In 1825, the first primitive school was built on his property. In 1826, a small log school, an improvement, was also constructed on land donated by the Wise family; the Wise children attended. As early as 1828/9, Daniel built a beautiful Federal style brick home along the Strawtown Trace, later known as West 8th Street. (For a picture, go to the Madison County history page.) Daniel Wise and his family settled the land he purchased, and his descendents stayed in the area. He put down his own roots as evidenced by the generations of Wise family members who are ensconced in rows at the Perkinsville. Daniel and his wife Mary, 1799-1869, are buried next to each other, and their gravestones, pictured above, are in excellent condition.

Soloman Wise, 1800-1859, whose stone is pictured on the left, would have probably been from Daniel's generation. However, John Wise, whose stone is pictured on the right, would have been from an earlier generation, perhaps Daniel's father or uncle. John Wise died in January 1831 at eighty-three years of age. That puts his birthday around 1748. So far, John Wise is the person with the earliest birth date buried in Madison County with a legible gravestone.

Another large family who remained is that of George,1812-1876, James, 1815-1894, and patriarch Alexander, 1763-1848, McClintick/McClintock. Alexander and his extended family arrived before the close of 1821 and helped civilize the wilderness bordering White River. This family also has generations

represented in the Perkinsville Cemetery. Barbara Wise McClintock,1788-1846, whose stone is on the left, was Alexander's second wife. Alexander's first wife was Mary Kerr McClintick, who died shortly after arriving in Jackson Township. Mary has a legible gravestone which reads, "wife of Alexander, died Aug. 12, 1821, 43Y. 7M. 11D. " The 1821 date of death makes Mary's stone the oldest in the county. (For a picture of the oldest stone, go to the Madison County history page.) The picture on the right shows the gravestones of Henry McClintock, 1844-1865, who was killed in the Civil War. He has two markers, one from the government and one from the family.

Lemuel Auter , 1795-1833, is listed by the American Legion as a veteran of the War of 1812, buried in grave 4, row 4, lot 2. Lemuel and his brother John, 1771-1830, came to Jackson Township before 1824 with their families. Lemuel's daughter Sarah was the first birth in the township; she died in 1859 and is also buried here. Lemuel Auter's wife Susannah is buried next to him. Their early 20th century marker, pictured at left, was placed here with its new base by their descendents.

An unknown soldier of the War of 1812 is also listed in the American Legion's Cemetery Record of Deceased Veterans. This un-named veteran is buried in grave 1, row 2, lot 16 at Perkinsville Cemetery.

Margaret Likyns' simple stone has to be one of the oldest still existing. Clearly legible, the stone records that she died, "Oct. 1830, Aged 39 Yrs." The Likyns/Lykins family is listed by historian Samuel Harden as pioneers to Jackson Township

In contrast at right is Dr. T. F. Cook's elaborate Victorian gravestone, a genealogist's dream. The medallion under the mourning angel reads: "Dr. T.F. Cook was born in Wilkes Co., N. Carolina Sept. 1, 1819 and died in Madison Co., Ind. May 6, 1874."

Buried at the Perkinsville is one of Madison County's first prominent citizens--Thomas L. Beckwith. Thomas was born in New York May 24, 1815, and was brought by his parents Zenas and Mary to the Hoosier frontier in 1820. At the age of fifteen he started working for Becknell Cole, an early merchant in Madison and Hamilton counties. In 1836, Mr. Beckwith came to the Perkinsville area, and he and Cole laid out the plat for the village. (For more on Perkinsville history, go to the Jackson Township page.) Beckwith remained and began a successful business, selling general merchandise. The business lasted for forty years. Thomas was also Perkinsville's first postmaster, a position he held for almost as long. He also farmed the land and raised stock. Between 1840 and 1850, the days before railroads, Beckwith would purchase large herds of cattle and hogs and drive them to the nearest market--Cincinnati. He was president of the Anderson/Perkinsville Turnpike Company until its completion, township trustee for two terms, county commissioner for one, county treasurer, and a candidate for the state assembly. In his later years, he was instrumental in organizing the "old settlers' meetings," as historian Samuel Harden refers to them, in Perkinsville. There were, in fact, no such meetings held in the local area after Beckwith's death in 1878. Thomas Beckwith's home and store are pictured in the 1880 History of Madison County, Indiana, page 110.

Of Thomas Beckwith, Samuel Harden writes, "...few men knew more than he of early life in the woods. Being well informed on all subjects, it is no wonder that he was held in high esteem." The monument to Thomas Beckwith, 1815-1878--businessman, commissioner, farmer, trustee, postmaster--is pictured on the left.

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