Home > County > Allen County, Indiana Cemeteries by Township
Allen County, Indiana Cemeteries
By Township
Native American burial grounds are the oldest burying grounds in Allen County, although few records have been found or are widely known. Research is often held by various research facilities some may even be in Canadian archives as French Canadian explorers visited and settled in the area before the early 18th century. Some information is on our Indian Burials page.
The Allen County Obituary Index, 1837-2024 at the The Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana lists around 800,000 obituaries as of April 2024. The Allen County Indiana Cemetery Project by the local Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter NSDAR states: There are over 165,000 photos on this web site which they started taking in 2008 requiring several years to complete. They have transcriptions for over 219,000 people in over 147 known cemeteries. Their site on Rootsweb was archived in early 2024 so it is unknown if there will be any burial updates. Our pages provide information on the cemetery locations and cemetery history with links to other websites with tombstone photographs and burial information. New information is added to these pages as found when time permits.
Allen County has over 147 cemeteries in its twenty townships. Only Jackson Township has no known cemeteries.
Our Google map shows cemetery locations in each township page.
Active cemeteries still accepting burials usually have an office or sign near an entrance with a contact phone number. Most cemeteries originally had a sexton who kept the records for burials, maintained the cemetery, and lived close by. A local funeral home may know if original burial records exist for inactive cemeteries. Church graveyard records may be with the church if still active or its successor. Rural cemetery burial records are sometimes kept by a longtime local business nearby such as lawn tractor business or barber shop. Large cemeteries may have a dedicated paupers burial area such as at Lindenwood or the Catholic Cemetery often with no visible markers. The office would know if such areas exist. It is likely many were buried in nearby burial grounds without permanent markers.
The Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter NSDAR Allen County Indiana Cemetery Project made cemetery readings in 1932 that may contain information available no where else. In 1982 the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana updated the cemetery readings that revealed many tombstones from 1932 were missing. The results were published in Cemetery Township books available on their www.acgsi.org website and at The Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The NSDAR starting taking photographs in 2008 of every existing tombstone at over 147 cemeteries in twenty townships over several years and published them on their website stating: "there are over 165,000 photos on this web site. And transcriptions for over 219,000 people." "Member volunteers visited each cemetery and photographed each tombstone. The tombstones were then transcribed exactly as they were written. There is no other information on any person other than what is listed." They have a Master Name Index.
All known Indiana cemeteries have been surveyed by SHAARD Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD) and whatever information was found sometimes including history, maps, and photos is on their website.
Zoom and Click pins to see Cemetery names on the SHAARD Indiana Cemeteries map.
Churubusco is a small town just across the county line in Whitley County. Many of the burials in Eel River Township cemetery burials are people from Whitley County funeral homes.
Stop by Sheets and Child's Funeral Home and view the antique hearse originally owned by the Roberson family. What a...
Stop by Sheets and Child's Funeral Home and view the antique hearse originally owned by the Roberson family. What a unique use of space and a great addition to downtown. A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.
Not a local cemetery as no similar photos have been found yet! Photos like this inspired creation of Plants in Cemeteries, Plant and Wildlife pages.
This photo shows the Woodland Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio, where well-dressed men and women have gathered for a picnic...
This photo shows the Woodland Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio, where well-dressed men and women have gathered for a picnic lunch at their respective family plots.
In the Victorian era, picnicking in cemeteries was commonplace. Neighborhood parks were not prevalent at this time and it was thought to be a way to stay connected to deceased loved ones.
Cemetery records are an essential source of information for genealogists and family historians looking to honor and remember their loved ones. To assist you in finding these records, we've compiled a list of helpful tips. We'd love to hear about your best tips and discoveries related to cemetery records in the comments below. Let's ensure that our ancestors' memories live on! #cemeteryrecords#genealogyresearch#monumentsandmemorials#thegenealogycenter
Our Cemetery Name Index page lists every known cemetery name linked to DAR tombstone photos, Find A Grave pages, and when available newspaper articles and other information found online.
Their Master Name Index with a Search box on each of their pages lists over 165,000 tombstone photos and transcriptions for over 219,000 people started in 2008, and finished in 2013 for their Allen County Indiana Cemetery Project.
The Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter NSDAR recorded most cemetery tombstones in 1932. For some older inactive and missing cemeteries those are the only known records.
In the 1980's the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana ( ACGSI) updated and transcribed the visible tombstone names into township publications. Several family cemeteries and many tombstones visible in 1932 were no longer found in the 1980s. The DAR used this updated 1980's ACGSI list along with their 1932 tombstone readings to locate all current tombstones for photographing.
Many Allen County cemeteries started in the 19th century as small family plots on rural isolated farms, or as rural church burial grounds. Families often moved away, or after a couple generations the descendants learned little to nothing of their family history beyond their parents or grandparents. Some churches disbanded, moved or merged with other church congregations. Many of the earliest small cemeteries were moved to nearby cemeteries, or larger city cemeteries like Lindenwood and the Catholic Cemetery.
Here’s a gravestone fragment for a two year old boy from a “lost” cemetery in Miami County, now known as the Waupecong Cemetery. Several gravestone fragments had been found in recent decades, and area residents decided to put up a monument at the former cemetery’s location as a Bicentennial project. Sometime in the 1940s a farmer had bulldozed the gravestones into a local swamp and plowed up the cemetery for farmland. You'll learn more about this this project on the show today.
Burial fashion: A lot of centuries-old garments survive in the ground for a long time (because even natural fabrics decompose at their own pace—wool survives longer than linen, and so on) and are recovered by archaeologists. Thanks to such finds, we can learn more about the accurate fashion trends and traditions of a certain period. A lot of such recovered outfits are stored and studied in museums all over the world.
