REED CEMETERY
Martinsville, Morgan, IN
On July 5, 1999 Russ, Russell, and I set out on an adventure to find Reed Cemetery. I had read at the library that the cemetery had still existed in 1972 when two ladies had read the stones. I called Mrs. McDaniel to get permission to walk up her hill. She said that would be fine. The temperature must have been 100 with 100% humidity. When we got there a relative of Mrs. McDaniel accompanied us up the hill to show us where the tombstones could be found. The path was very overgrown and hardly visible. We looked and looked and could see no stones. Then Russell spotted a white stone under a fallen tree trunk. Sure enough there it was. A very large tree had fallen over the whole cemetery. We moved branches and weeds and found several broken stones. Quickly we chalked the stones to see what names were revealed. Some of the stones were so worn that the names were gone forever. What an amazing feeling to be standing on the same land that your ancestors had stood over 150 years before. This was the highlight of my genealogical research. Below are pictures of our discovery. I have also included the names of the nine people who are supposed to be buried there from a 1972 cemetery survery of the area.
This is the path leading to the cemetery. In the right hand upper corner in where the tree trunk lays.
Mary Jane
dau of Sanford and Leprudence Goins
aged 19y 10m 17d
A Reed
died 15 Sep 1869
(this would be Abner son of John Reed)
Here you can see the McDaniel house on the right and the path up the hill was just right of her house. At one time the Reeds owned property on this hill.
We believe this to be a piece of Sarah Gowens's tombstone. Her tombstone would have read
Sarah
Wife of C. Gowens
died 28 July 1866
aged 66 years
Claborn Reed
died 9 Jan 1876 in his 45 year
Delilah Reed
Wife of Naaman Reed
Died July 1870 Aged 60y 4m 5d
Granville Reed
Born 1826
Died March 1879
Drucilla Reed
dau of N. & D. Reed
died 25 Nov 1865
This stone looked like a stone which they may have found and chiseled the name onto it. The picture doesnt show it well but it does say James. This would be the stone of James Reed who died Dec. 26, 1844.
Here we found many pieces all too worn to read and some so broken that not enough was found to make out the names.
This one reads
Sarah A.
dau of N. & D. Reed
born 13 May 1850
died 9 May 1869
aged 18y 11m 26d
This one again looked like a stone they chiseled themselves. From the pieces we found we believe this one to be:
Sarah A. wife
A. Reed died
22 Aug 1866
A little history about Reed Cemetery. About 1840 the Reeds built a log building and it was called Reed Chapel. This is where their Sunday services were held. In his will dated March 17, 1845 John Reed gave this land to the Methodist Episcopal Church. There have been no records found about the church. No building stands there today. One article states that the chapel may have been a stop on the underground railroad in Indiana. It is just a shame that it has not been better maintained over the years
