The Cedar Lake Cemetery is located on the south side of County Road 20, just east of Cedar Creek, about midway between County Road 23 and County Road 27, in Smithfield Township, DeKalb County, Indiana. This manuscript, compiled in 2000 contains over 400 entries of gravestones found standing in the cemetery at the time. There are two complete listings. The first is by order of the stones, the second is in alphabetical order.
Introduction
In the summer of 1999, I copied all the inscriptions from the Headstones in the Cedar Lake Cemetery that were available and legible. This cemetery is in a deteriorating condition. Many of the older Headstones are broken, flat on the ground and illegible. The cemetery no longer has any resources for maintenance and thus has become a ward of the township trustee as required by law. This includes for the most part, picking up limbs and mowing the grass.
It seems there are very few records for this cemetery. I went to the courthouse and searched for records. The earliest information | could find was on February 1, 1855. John Pincheon and Susan Pincheon sold a tract of land in the northeast quarter of Section 31 in Smithfield Township to George Powell. After the land deed description it said, except 2 acre burying ground.
On January 18, 1866 — George Powell (estate) to Wellington W. Farrington (guardian for Benjamin Powell, a minor). This deed said, except 2 acre burying ground. On September 13, 1867 — Benjamin Powell and wife to James Powell, except ‘2 acre burying ground.
On February 12, 1868 — James Powell to John Bohler. Although the description includes the area of the burying ground, it does not mention it. This tract contained 20 acres.
On January 13, 1876 — John and Susannah D. Bohler to Joel E. Thomson. This deed says, survey to begin at northeast corner of “Old Burying Ground,” and gives location of “Old Burying Ground” and its dimensions. This deed does not except the “Old Burying Ground” but does say, excepting all legal highways. It was not necessary to except the “Old Burying Ground” because the 1-acre tract description did not include the “Old Burying Ground.” This tract adjoined and laid east and south of the “Old Burying Ground” and contained one acre. Joel E. Thomson probably bought this one-acre tract with the intention of extending the “Old Burying Ground.” After Joel E. Thomson bought this one-acre tract as well as a farm adjacent to it, he kept it for the remainder of his life, as did all the other Thomson owners.
After January 13, 1876 for the next more than a century each transfer involved the settlement of an estate except on October 19, 1959 Mary E. Thomson sold the farm to her son, Glen S. Thomson, but kept a life lease on the residence. Glen died in 1977 and having no children the Thomson property was transferred out of the family.
All while the Thomsons owned and transferred this land, there is no mention of the “Old Burying Ground.” I could not ascertain an owner for the “Old Burying Ground.” The auditor’s transfer office plat shows a “Cedar Lake Cemetery” but it has no identification number, which means they have nowhere to look for information. Some suggested this record may have been destroyed in the temporary courthouse fire. I doubt it ever had any more records. I have reason to believe that it was started on land owned by John Pincheon and when he sold adjoining land, he kept this 1/2 acre, and this excepted 1/2 acre followed along for several subsequent transfers. As time went on who was left who could transfer it? Being a cemetery, it was overlooked. Please remember, this is not a fact, but only my theory. The Thompsons must have acquired the “Old Burying Ground” some way because in the settlement of an estate the heirs signed off to Roger C. Thomson 11 burial plots and gave their size (10 ft. X 20 ft.) and numbers.
These lots were sold to individuals by Roger C. Thomson for $6.00 each later. Seven of these plots were located in the “Old Burying Ground” and four were in the Thomson addition. I found 11 deeds in the county records for lots sold to individuals, some say Thomson 1st, 2″, or 4″ Addition in the Cedar Lake Cemetery. The first mention I found of the Cedar Lake Cemetery was in a deed signed by Joel E. Thomson in 1882. I believe it was Joel E. Thomson who gave to the cemetery the name of Cedar Lake.
At the County surveyor’s office, | obtained a plat map of the Cedar Lake Cemetery. It makes no reference to the “Old Burying Ground.” This plat map shows the “Old Burying Ground” and the Thomson Cemetery all platted as one unit. The east boundary of the “Old Burying Ground” is in the area where the main entrance drive is now located. The south boundary is near where the driveway runs east and west. The lots are 10 ft. long east and west and 20 ft. wide north and south and very adequate for four burials. There are 112 — 10 ft. X 20 ft. lots in the “Old Burying Ground,” 112 — 10 ft. X 20 ft. lots east of the main drive, 58 — 10 ft. X 20 ft. and 14 — 10 ft. X 10 ft. lots and several partial lots south of the “Old Burying Ground.”
The description of this “Old Burying Ground” was given in chains and links and fractions thereof and when converted to feet came out as odd fractions. Some of the earliest burials I found Headstones for were: Mary Wickham 1842 aged 50 yr. 5 mo. 7 da., John Pincheon, son of J. and Susannah Pincheon 1844 aged 10 yr. 19 da., Hannah Pincheon, daughter of J. and Susannah Pincheon 1844 aged 9 mo. 20 da. Through the 1850s and thereafter, there were regularly quite a few burials in this cemetery. In more recent year’s burials have diminished until at the present time, they are quite rare. Many of the headstones are illegible but I did the best I could to get the information. Some of the headstones were partially illegible and when reviewing these inscriptions, this needs to be taken into consideration. This should have been done many years ago. Some names are sometimes spelled differently. Also, I believe occasionally when a name was quite long, the inscriber abbreviated the name by omitting a letter to have room for the name on the headstone. There are probably quite a few burials in this cemetery that do not have headstones, and some stones are broken and misplaced. When I finished this project, I had a little over 400 entries.
Paul Reinoehl