The first settlements in this county evidently were mostly in the vicinity of Wadesboro, which was then the county's center, before this same area was divided into Calloway and Marshall County, thus shifting the center.

It seems that several of the oldest cemeteries in Calloway County no longer exist, for one reason or another. Recently, while going through the papers of Manning Stewart, I came across research that he had done; he had been searching for the old Jones Cemetery, part of his family. Following the location which had been worked out, I went out to see if this cemetery still exists. If it does, chances are very good that it now lies beneath the being-constructed Interstate 27, near the old Wadesboro road.

Other cemeteries, which I have found records on, - two in particular - have been noted, with the postscript added "tombstones now in nearby pond." Another old cemetery, also near Wadesboro had the inscription added, "stones believed to have been thrown down old cistern." And such is the fate of the markers of many of Murray's oldest settlers.

The following Is a paper written by Manning Stewart, summing up what he was able to discover about the Jones cemetery: "This old Jones family burying ground is situated near Dexter, Calloway County, Kentucky, approximately one quarter mile northwest of the intersection of Highway 641 and the Dexter-Wadesboro road, and a little less than that distance north of the Dexter-Wadesoro road following the division line between Andrews and Smotherman, former owners of the land bounding this cemetery.

"Among the first burials in this cemetery was that of David Jones, one of the first two settlers in what is now Calloway and Marshall counties, who died on or near the site of the first settlement about 1821, the year prior to the official establishment of Calloway as a county.

"The quarter section of land on which the old settlement and graveyard are situated was granted to Tabitha Burns Jones, widow of David, by the state of Kentucky on Nov. 13, 1823, and when she sold the land, she reserved a burying ground thereon with access thereto.

"In 1902, the records indicate the last half of the cemetery adjoined the property of Andrews while the west half adjoined the property of Smotherman. So far as presently known there has been no burial there since about 1840.

"Burials there of which there is some record besides David Jones and his wife Tabitha Burns Jones are: Charles Jones and his last wife, William Jones and David Jones Jr., sons of David and Tabitha; and William Stewart. Other probable burials there are: James Stewart and his wife Nancy (?) Hubbard, Mial B. Jones, Zebulon Hubbard and his wife who was a sister of James Stewart, and others

"On the Andrews home place about 100 feet north of the Dexter-Wadesboro road there is an old but later burying ground, long ago discontinued, which should not be confused with the old Jones graveyard nearly one quarter mile northward. Gravestones standing in the cemetery nearest the Andrews home place were observed from the east-west public road in the 1890's by Zebulon A. Stewart and others. David Stewart saw one or more old gravestones on the Dycus place, north of Dexter, about the turn of the century, though it is now believed that these old stones once stood in the old burying ground adjacent to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Dexter."

There is very little chance that any of these stones are now in existence now, but if there is anyone who knows of these cemeteries as they are now, or any stones which may have been the ones referred to by Mr. Stewart, please contact me. It is helpful to know even this much about where the old settlers are buried, and this knowledge will be lost to future generations unless it is recorded now.

Return to the Index of Judy Maupin's Genealogical ancedotes, stories and family notes.