Cemeteries: Henderson Family Burial Ground:  Cecil County, MD

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Cyndie Enfinger, 
< cyndiee@tampabay.rr.com >

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The Cecil Whig
Saturday, April 30, 1881

Old Graves.
  We chanced, the other day, to be in the vicinity of the “Henderson family 
burial ground,” among the oldest, perhaps, of its class in this neighborhood, 
and curiosity led us to take a walk thorough it.  It is located on a piece of 
high ground near the shore of Elk river, half a mile east of White Hall, and a 
few hundred years west of the Elkton and Frenchtown road, overlooking for a long 
distance the waters of the Elk.  It seems to have been at one time a very pretty 
place, having been planted in forest trees well and tastefully arranged; but 
time and neglect have sadly marred its appearance.  The trees and undergrowth 
have run riot and become one tangled mass.  The fencing has fallen to decay, and 
the cattle make use of it as a place of retreat from the noonday sun.  Many of 
the tombstones are so broken and defaced as to render the reading of the 
inscriptions upon them impossible.  Among those that could be deciphered, and 
apparently the newest of them, we noticed those of Hannah Henderson, 1777; 
Francis Wallace, 1785; and Amelia Henderson, 1815.  There are a number of a much 
earlier date, but they could not be read.  Several have been broken, apparently, 
by kicks from the horses frequenting the place, the pieces lying just as they 
had been knocked off.  Notwithstanding the neglect from which the old place 
suffers, it has about it much to attract the passer.  In the early history of 
our State, family burial grounds were common to all families of any note, public 
grounds being few and poorly kept.  A number of them still remain in this 
neighborhood, some of them still being used and kept in order.  Many others have 
long since passed away, and the ground once occupied by them is under 
cultivation, leaving nothing to mark the spot covered by them.  In an old ground 
just on the borders of town may be seen tombstones with dates as far back as 
1535, and some undoubtedly much older, but the latter are so defaced by various 
causes that the dates cannot be made out.