CEM: Winchester Cemetery, Clark Co., KY -------------------------------------------- Contributed for use in USGENWEB Archives by: Jeni Chism Date: December 13, 1998 -------------------------------------------- **************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net. ***************************************************************************** Winchester Cemetery Is Linked With Year Of Plague By: Lucile G. Hamilton Taken from the Winchester Sun The old cemetery on East Broadway came into use during the year 1833. First mention of it in public records is found in the Minutes Book in the city clerk’s office. A notation made September 4, 1833 states that John Bruner was allowed $30.00 for a half-acre of ground, the sum to be paid when the deed was made. On October 19th the same year, William Ritchie was allowed $15.00 for the purchase of one-forth acre of ground “to be used as a public burial ground for the victims of the cholera.” On November 1, 1883 a deed of conveyance was made by John and Rebecca Bruner and William and Clarissa Ritchie to the trustees of the town of Winchester, via; John Ward, James B. Trumbull, John McDavid , I.W. Kenneth, and Joseph Ficklin. For the sum of $45.00 three fourths of an acre of ground was transferred to the town trustees. The terrifying cholera epidemic struck the town of Winchester during the first week of June 1833. The first victim was Mrs. Bolling, wife of Daniel Bolling, a saloon keeper. Following her death, the local population of 1200 persons became panic stricken and about half that number fled town, many heading for the Knobs (now in Powell County) in the hope that on higher ground the atmosphere would be less contaminated. The second to succumb was William L. Miller, a young attorney who had just opened a law office in Winchester. Deaths ??????????????????(the article was torn) and about seventy ??????? died during the epidemic. Squire John Ward and his wife were among the victims. They died on the same day and were buried at the same time. Ward, a town trustee, was proprietor of a hotel which stood on the side of the present day post office ( In 1998, the site of the old post office where drivers licenses are issued.) The late Judge James Flannagan in recalling the events of the period wrote: “My mother, Mrs. Ruth Warrick Flannagan, made shrouds for the dead. William Megowan and Patrick Sympson dug the graves and Peter Flanagan and Joseph Ritchie prepared the victims for burial and attended to their last resting place in the old burying ground now traversed by the east extension of Broadway.” Following the epidemic, the cemetery continued in use. Many years ago, one observer wrote of having seen in this cemetery approximately two hundred limestone markers, without lettering of any kind. He also recalled having seen a small marker with the name Parthenia and the date 1811; another stone was inscribed with the name Beverly Blunt. Recently two stones were unearthed, one bearing the inscription “Sacred tot he memory of V. Linginfelter who died January 27, 1884 Aged 85 years.” The other reads: “Emily, Wife of Benjamin E. Ford Died July 26 1841 Aged 23 years.” Valentine Linginfelter was a saddle and harness maker in the early days of Winchester; Beverly Blunt was a grocer merchant. Today there may be seen two box tombs with solid stone covers, weighing possibly a ton, both without inscriptions. The Broadway Cemetery continues in use during the 1850’s. The city clerk’s minute book shows that on October 4, 1852 Joel Storm was ordered to have the public graveyard cleaned up and on August 14, 1854 Storm was instructed to “put a fence are the old cemetery.” After the organization of the Winchester Cemetery in 1854, most of the bodies were removed from the old burial ground to the new cemetery on Lexington Avenue. Known to have been buried in the old cemetery were John and Frances Pitman Ball, natives of Caroline County, Virginia, who settled in Winchester in 1823. John Ball ran a tavern on Market Street until his death in 1857. Nearly seventy years ago when city officials decided to abolish the old graveyard, Mrs. Daniel W. Bradford, grand-daughter of John and Frances Pitman Ball, protested so vehemently the destruction of her grandparents graves that the plan was abandoned. In June 1963 the City Commission of Winchester proposed to declare the Broadway Cemetery abandoned and to sell the property at public auction. A local funeral director made an estimate of the cost of disinterment and removal of the remains in the cemetery and for reinterment elsewhere. The estimate was far in excess of the anticipated cost and the project was hurriedly dropped. Today the old cemetery remains as a landmark of the past. It is a visible link with the memorable year 1833, the year when meteors fell like snowflakes and the fearsome specter of the cholera plague stalked the town leaving sorrow and death in it’s wake.