Green Township

Location: west side of CR 600W, between SR 38 and I-69

    Of the ten graves on record at this cemetery, at least seven are those of children.  This supports the statistic that the death rate for the young in the 19th century was one out of four and often one out of three.  The graves from the 1840s and '50s--one probably from 1837-- indicate that this small burial ground was used by some of the earliest settlers to Green Township.

    In the spring of 1969, the Cemetery Conditions Committee, which included Mrs. Harris Coy and Everett Huntzinger, of the Madison County Historical Society recorded the gravestones that were still at this location; otherwise, this cemetery might have been entirely forgotten.  From notes made at that time, this cemetery might have had occasional burials as late as 1919.     

Taken from the Cemetery Conditions Committee archives, the above pictures show the Smithers Cemetery in shambles in 1969.

Below is the mulberry tree orchard as seen facing south from the driveway in 2008.

    As of July 2, 2008, the Smithers was still part of private property.  On that date, members of the MCCC and other interested parties asked and received permission from the owner to visit the old burial ground.  The Smithers is located west of the farm buildings and is at the back of a mulberry tree orchard on a hill to the south.  Two markers and an additional socket were located within the undergrowth.  While Mary E.'s gravestone was still intact, Barbara Welty's could not be found; however, another child's small stone was discovered.  There was also a number of sunken depressions throughout the orchard indicating old, unmarked graves.  MCCC chairperson Ranny Simmons later discussed with the owner of the property the advantages of deeding to the township trustee such a cemetery.

At left, Mary E. Smithers's stone is still in good condition in spite of the fact that it has lain in the ground for over forty years.  Mary died September 30, 1863, when she was one year, three months, and eleven days old.