Funeral homes in Churubusco in neighboring Whitley County often have burials in Eel River Township cemeteries.
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.
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Click on aqua Eel River Township pins to see cemetery names
Eel River Cemetery
Northeast corner of Carroll and Madden Roads, near U.S. 33, across from Riverview Cemetery.
The First Death. — Late in the fall of 1832, a stranger, traveling on foot, sought the house of Adam Hull, and asked for lodging and food. He was taken in, and, during the night, he arose from his bed and walked toward the door, where he was seized with convulsions and died the next morning.
A few weeks subsequently, a family of emigrants by the name of Fosdick, stopped for the night with Mr. Hull, and it was ascertained that several of their childreu were suffering with scarlet fever. During the night, one child died, and, two days later, was followed by another. These children and the stranger previously alluded to, were buried on the south side of Eel River, in ground which was afterward consecrated for cemetery purposes.
In 1836 he came to Eel River township and entered land, and in 1837, he and W. M. Lansdale attempted to drive their wagons through, but on reaching the Black Swamp could only make four miles a day, and at St. Mary's village abandoned their wagons and came through on horseback. They arranged for the building of their cabin, to which they brought the family in the fall of 1837. Mrs. McKee died January 17, 1839, and was the first person buried in the cemetery, conveyed by her husband. Mr. McKee did an important work in the early settlement in the organization of Wesley Chapel church, and was an official member and an ordained minister of the gospel.
Cemetery Walks III & IV : Eel River Cemetery & Riverview Cemetery Churubusco, Indiana July 5, 2024 Darus Eifler on YouTube
EEL RIVER CEMETERY A walk through Eel River Cemetery & Riverview Cemetery. They are both located near Churubusco, Indiana and across the street from each other. The video is a bit longer than anticipated because I came across a lot of veteran markers and didn't have the heart to cut a single one out. While I spent a couple hours walking around both cemeteries I'm sure I didn't see every marker. The earliest marker I came across was in Eel River Cemetery. The marker was Margaret Engle b. October 24, 1787 d. January 28, 1883. Riverview Cemetery had a nice veteran memorial and also a section of Muslim faith sites.
Jeremiah Gump and Gump Reunion newspaper articles mention the Gump family arrived in Allen County 1834 on the People page.
Gump Road is around three or four miles long going east to west, around four miles southeast of the cemetery in Huntertown to Auburn Road. Huntertown Elementary School is on the corner of Lima and Gump Roads.
George Wappes has a Woodsman of America tree shaped tombstone. His October 31, 1902 newspaper obituary called this the Warcup Cemetery.
Wappes Road is a six mile long north south road from Ari south to almost Carroll Road around 6 miles west of the cemetery in the Huntertown area.
11022 Carrol Road,
northwest corner of Carroll and Madden Roads, near U.S. 33 across Madden Road from Eel River Cemetery
Corporate Office – 1140 Lake Ave, Fort Wayne, IN 46805
Riverview Cemetery used to have ornate wrought iron fencing shown here at the corner of Carroll Road with Madden Road by the Eel River Church building. The fencing was damaged, removed, and replaced with landscape stones, shrubs, and fencing shown in the Street View photo on Google maps.
The Quest for a ... Tank? How an M-41 Walker Bulldog made it's way to Riverview Cemetery by Lynette Fager published February 1, 2014 on Business People magazine.
This Tribute to... The Armed Forces Of The United States Who Served Their County In Viet Nam Erected By... The People Of Fort Wayne June 14, 1968 Breakfast Sertoma Club.
The Facebook post references the Hannah Strong WANE-TV article Veteran raises concern over incorrect memorial sign shown above stating: On CBS WANE News 15 this morning, a Vietnam Veteran was wondering where the old tank memorial had been moved? We know, because Hofer and Davis, Inc. staked its location at Riverview Cemetary a few years ago. Shared January 5, 2023 to True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook on Facebook.
Vietnam Memorial M-41 Tank with six military service branch flags on August 24, 2014. Coast Guard, Air Force, POW/MIA with USA, Navy, Marine Corp, Army
If anyone saw the dedication of the Walker Bulldog M-41 Tank yesterday (Veterans Day) at the Riverview Cemetery at 11425 Carroll Road, it looked a little different than this. This is a picture we took after Dave McComb, of D.O. McComb and Sons Funeral Homes had us stake the location of the Tank and flagpoles on Wednesday October 23, 2013. The Tank was moved and escorted by the "Freedom Riders" motorcycle club on November 1, 2013. Will try to get a picture of the new veterans section next time we are at the site.
In November of 2016 we were honored to stake the tank, flagpoles and lighting for D.O. McComb's at Riverview Cemetery. We wish to thank all the veterans today for their service. The folks at Hofer and Davis, a Division of ForeSight Consulting, LLC.
Methodist Cemetery. Earliest date 1835. No longer in use. Records no longer exist. The photo is a metal plaque with all the names and dates on it. IN DNR Latitude 41.2058 Longitude 85.2686.
Today, members of the Eel River Township Board, Mary Kate Dohl & Roger Jones, and Township Trustee, Karen Petersen, met with the leaders from the Friends of Concord and Jeffries Cemetery team to survey the Watterson Cemetery. The cemetery is located at the northwest corner of Taylor and Aetna Roads in Churubusco. The group discussed ways to improve the site and honor this important history in Eel River Township.
We are beginning to gather information on the history of Watterson and we are looking for people who may have a connection to anyone buried here.
In the coming weeks and months, we will be looking for people to support us and join our effort by contributing their time, effort, and resources to this endeavor.
We will be sharing the names engraved on the plaque of those buried at the site from 1835-1895 very soon. Dennis Gloyd, who joined us today, commissioned and placed the plaque at the site in 1995.
If you have any information to share or if you would like to help, please message us here or email eelrivertrustee@gmail.com
We are seeking information that anyone may have about the people buried in our Watterson Cemetery in Eel River Township....
We are seeking information that anyone may have about the people buried in our Watterson Cemetery in Eel River Township. As we begin to map out our site improvement project, it would be wonderful to meet people connected to this special and historic place.
Family or surnames of those buried here include: Bennett, Chase, Gump, Johnston, Jonston, Valentine and Waterson
Today, the Friends of Concord and Jeffries Cemetery met with Eel River Township leaders and several community volunteers at Watterson Cemetery to assess how best to proceed with our cemetery improvement project.
We were able to clean and inventory 20 headstones, create a grid of 100 sq foot sections in the clearing, and do some metal detecting.
Weather permitting, the team will return Monday, July 29th at 9am to complete some more work. Additional volunteers are welcome, please feel free to join us!
Thank you Pam, Janel, Dennis, Jeff, Vince, Alan, Owen and Roger for all of your help and encouragement today!
We had another successful workday on Monday with the help of our Eel River township leaders Mary Kate Dohl, Roger Jones, Karen Petersen and the crew from the Friends of Concord and Jeffries Cemetery. We believe we located pieces of 3 of headstones that we had not been able to previously find. 2 headstones have been identified for repair and have been taken off site for that work to begin. Thank you Dennis Glynn!
We intend to gather again later in August for another work day and hope that the mosquitos DON'T get the invite this time!
If you are interested in helping, this is a fun crew and the work is very satisfying. We usually put in a couple of hours in the early morning. You may even feel a little bit like Nancy Drew as we investigate and solve of mysteries that surround this historic place and those that are buried here.
We took a big step in our Watterson Cemetery restoration project today. We officially submitted to the Veteran's...
We took a big step in our Watterson Cemetery restoration project today. We officially submitted to the Veteran's Administration a claim form 40-1330 on behalf of Eel River Township resident and Civil War Veteran, Peter Jefferson Waterson. Peter enlisted in 1862 and served the Union Army in Company E of the 88th Infantry of Indiana. His original headstone was damaged and we are hopeful that the VA will approve the claim and provide a granite replacement.
Your Eel River Township board member, Mary Kate Dohl, led a discussion yesterday to review the initial findings of her...
Your Eel River Township board member, Mary Kate Dohl, led a discussion yesterday to review the initial findings of her genealogy research on behalf of those buried in Watterson, our township cemetery. We compared her findings to Denny's research and sources from 1995.
Mary Kate's research revealed inconsistencies in the number of people believed to be buried there along as well as census data indicating some of the dates of death may be incorrect. It is not unexpected when dealing with hand written records and transcriptions that are over 150 years old.
Mary Kate has spent many hours of her personal time on this research project so far and we all left the meeting with a plan and to-dos. We are thankful for her passion and commitment to solving these mysteries and helping with this restoration project.
Special thanks to Benita Steyer with the Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, NSDAR who helped locate and share a photograph of the 1932 survey completed by the Daughters of the American Revolution for us.
Lucy Ann Gump's stone came home to Watterson Cemetery last week! Chris told me that she discovered the stone back in the...
Lucy Ann Gump's stone came home to Watterson Cemetery last week! Chris told me that she discovered the stone back in the early 1990s when she purchased property up near Wolf Lake. She has kept the stone safe all these years and returned it wonderful condition.
This serendipitous connection and result is completely attributable to word of mouth. Making connections and talking about this important work and the mysteries therein, makes all the difference. You never know where a conversation may lead.
Dennie has already made a new base and once we determine the most appropriate placement, Lucy Ann Gump's headstone will be officially reinstalled where she was laid to rest back in 1849.
