Vinson Cemetery

Pioneer Cemeteries and Their Stories,

Madison County, Indiana

aka New Vinson/Shinkle/Summitville

Location: west side of CR 100E, between CRs 1450N and 1500N

The Old Vinson Cemetery has seen a lot of changes in its one hundred and fifty plus years. It still is located on a hill south of Summitville, but the cemetery in the 19th century used to be approached from the west; now it is approached from the east. The 1876 plat map for Van Buren Township shows this cemetery located on the east side of the old Fort Wayne Trace. This settlers' "highway" would have been the service road, the cemetery gate and/or drive would have been on the cemetery's west boundary, and people would have entered from this direction. In fact, the old gravestones all face the west. The Fort Wayne Trace has long since disappeared, swallowed up by the surrounding farmers' fields; however, a slight depression, showing where it used to run, can be distinguished in the grove of trees on the other side of the west boundary fence in the southwest corner of the old section of the cemetery.

Since the New Vinson Cemetery has taken charge of its predecessor, land has been acquired and added to the east of the old burial ground. The approach has been changed, and the gates and drives are now off of CR 100E. The old markers seem to have their backs turned on the modern age. They are looking onto a wide expanse of farmland instead of the old trace's travelers and wooden vehicles. All the activity is now occurring from the opposite direction, behind their stone faces. The Old Vinson sign at the back of the north section of the new part alerts visitors that across the little meadow and up the hill the old markers are waiting--a little disgruntled in appearance, perhaps, but friendly enough.

Taken from the old section, looking east, this picture shows the Old Vinson's gravestones facing west while the gravestones in the new section, which can be seen in the far distant background, face east. The original access was from the now-abandoned Fort Wayne Trace along the west boundary of the Old Vinson section.

Some of the patriarchs of pioneering families buried at Old Vinson are Harrison Allen, 1814-1881; James Blades, 1796-1872; Thomas Cartwright, 1786-1865;Jehu Dobson, 1793-1866; John Thurston, 1800-1880; Vincent Vickery, 1794-1853; and the cemetery's namesake Elijah Vinson, 1788-1849.

One of the oldest, most honored stones facing west in the old section is that of Willis Swindell. Willis served in North Carolina's militia in the latter years of the Revolutionary War. His service is recorded in the Supplement to the DAR Index of Patriots. He was born in Hyde County, North Carolina, in 1763, and after the Revolution, he and his family first moved to Wayne County, Indiana, and later to Van Buren Township in Madison County. Willis lived to be eighty-eight years old. He died in 1851 and was survived by his son Ashley. Willis Swindell's stone is in excellent condition. His gravestone was photographed and used by the Anderson Herald-Bulletin for a June 2002 article on Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Madison County . Willis's stone also has the distinction of the being the only stone for a Revolutionary War veteran in Madison county that is intact, at its original location, and still legible.

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