Harrison County OHArchives - Boone-Sears Farm Cemetery ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene Small Gilligan on October 9, 2009 This is my blog that describes the site(s): http://twoquakercemeteries.blogspot.com/ This is the URL for the main site. http://sites.google.com/site/twoquakercemeteries/ ************************************************ Actual Burials At the Sears Farm Site Through the research on the Boone-Sears Cemetery, the township historian, and the people who have been associated with the site, I have compiled a list of individuals who are known (*) to be buried there or thought (?) to be buried there. Historians have said there were 50 to 75 graves but to this date we have not been able to find a complete list of that many burials. It is also possible the “space” allotted for the cemetery was the equivalent of 50 to 75 graves, but hadn’t yet been fully used. Since the second cemetery was available to the Friends beginning in 1817 at the new site, it is possible that the cemetery at the first site was used by members of the community, since at that particular time, there were very few cemeteries exisiting in Freeport township. We should also take into consideration that this quarter-section of property almost always had been private property, and perhaps no real records would have been kept, or if kept, then stayed with one of the owners of the property, or filed in the county archives. Our only hope, then, to make additions to the list, is to hear from families who have Bible pages, diaries, or other documentation that tells us of the others who are buried on this first site. My burial list for the Boone-Sears Cemetery is similar to A. Morton’s list: (*) Rebecca Whealdon, infant daughter of Isaac Whealdon and Elizabeth Manlove, b. Oct 27, 1804, d. Nov 3, 1804. Margaret Gunning, in her “History of Freeport, Ohio From 1810 to 1900” says her source for this information was Paul W. Morton. [Paul Morton was a descendant of the old Sears family and the husband of Alice Hayhurst Morton, Freeport township historian. ] (*) Sarah Townsend Speck, d. Dec 13, 1815 (my fourth great grandmother, not Quaker) The Freeport Township historian told me that Sarah was buried here because there was not another cemetery. (*) Godfrey Augustus Speck, d. Dec 24, 1828 (my fourth great grandfather, not Quaker). (*) Rachel Brown burial (no date) as described by Isaac Speck, author of the SPECK family history. It is thought, though not proved, this could have been a second wife for Godfrey, and whose last name could have been Pickering (former marriage?). (*) Isaac Whealdon, owner of property when he died in 1840. Eight years later, his children sold the property and his wife, Elizabeth Manlove Whealdon, moved with some of her family to Ipava, Illinois. In Mrs. Morton’s Freeport Cemeteries publication, she has listed Isaac’s name in the Index for page 3, for the Boone-Sears Cemetery. Rebecca, Tabitha and Tabitha’s infant son (below) were Isaac’s daughters and grandson. (*) Infant Kinsey, son of Tabitha and Reese Kinsey, b. May 06, 1845, d. May 06, 1845 (*) Tabitha Whealdon Kinsey, b. Mar 07, 1820, d. May 06, 1845. Husband was Reese Kinsey, son of Richard Kinsey. (*) Hamilton Boone, (ref 1: WPA register, Row 1, Grave 16, Civil War Veteran (the grave placement reads differently between WPA and the Grave Registration Card)) (ref 2: Graves Registration Card, date of death 1870 or 1872, via suicide. Row 2, Grave 1. Date of birth, January 2, 1832, Harrison County, Ohio. Please note the inconsistency in the two sources for the grave placement. A more detailed documentation of the burials could have solved this problem. If there was such a list, it may have been in the records collections of either the Whealdon or the Sears family, or even later owners. Name of cemetery: Pvt. E. Johnson farm at Freeport, Ohio. Next of Kin, Grant Confer [sic, Compher], Freeport, Ohio. Service record: Civil War. Enlisted Aug 21, 1861; discharged (no record) Serial No: (blank). Branch of Service, Army; rank: Pvt. Company: Co. F-30th Reg. OVI. We aren’t sure why the farm would have been called the Pvt. E. Johnson farm, unless he owned it for a period of time, or lived on the property for some time. Alice Hayhurst Morton, in her “Freeport Township Cemeteries” lists Everett Johnson in her index for the page 3 information of burials/owners of what we describe as the Sears farm. When we go to her page 3, we see a list of former owners of the Sears farm land as well as a very short list of those who are known to be buried there but Mr. Johnson’s name doesn’t appear on that page. We haven’t found a record for Everett Johnson as a former owner of the property, but it is possible she had meant to include that information. Pvt. E. Johnson was a World War I veteran and is buried in Section 9 of the Greenmont Union Cemetery. (*) Elizabeth Ann Sears, daughter of David and Margaret(Morton), died in childhood, 1869 or after. The year 1869 is based on the year David bought the property. (*) Mary Jane Sears, daughter of David and Margaret (Morton), died in childhood, 1869 or after. (*) Hanna B. Sears, daughter of David and Margaret (Morton), died when small, 1869 or after. (*) Jonathan Sears, son of David and Margaret (Morton), died in infancy, 1869 or after. (?) Clyde Craig; not documented, but see Freeport Press on page 3 "What the Land Records Tell Us."