JEFFERSONVILLE OLD CITY CEMETERY
and MULBERRY STREET CEMETERY
Jeffersonville Township, Clark County, Indiana

The following is excerpted from page 447 of History of the Ohio Falls Counties, published in 1882:

"The first general burying-ground known [in Jeffersonville] was located on the river front, between Spring and Pearl Streets. It was between Front Street and the [Ohio] river, for, strange as it may seem to the people of to-day, there were reserved between Front Street and the river a row of lots fronting nearly the entire original plat of the town. Next adjoining the river, and on the bank, was Water Street, which is still accessible would be not far from the present ferry wharf-boat at low water. The river encroached so rapidly on the bank at this point that it was thought best to grade down the bluff and pave a levee. The contract for this grading was let to Mr. J. H. McCampbell, who prosecuted the work to completion. Many bodies were found buried during the grading, the hard walnut cases having withstood the action of the soil through some forty years. The remains were carefully gathered together and moved to the old cemetery, between Market and Maple Streets, west of Mulberry, w[h]ere they were again buried, the city procuring an appropriate monument, which was placed on the spot.

"The old cemetery between Chestnut and Market Streets has been used so many years that no one can now tell when the first burial took place in it. This ground has not been used since 1862, an ordinance passed in May of that year forbidding its further use.

"Long before this time Walnut Ridge Cemetery was located in the northern part of the city, where the dead were buried. In 1864, a tract of five acres was bough adjoining the eastern limits of the city, which was set apart by action of the council in August, the management being vested in a board consisting of five directors. In addition to this, the members of the Catholic churches purchased grounds nearby where the dead of that faith are buried." This would be St. Anthony's Cemetery on Eighth Street, adjacent to Eastern Cemetery, formerly known as Chestnut Grove Cemetery.


In July 2004, Clark County Historian Jeanne Burke <jeanne_b@hotmail.com> provided the following information gleaned by her from various sources concerning probable burials at this "Old City Cemetery" location on Mulberry Street:

The city’s first “official” cemetery, laid out in 1802, contains several hundred burials.  No records were kept of the burials and no abstract of stones was ever done and there have been no stones for at least one hundred years.

One can reasonably conclude that those buried here were the early residents of Fort Finney/Steuben and of Jeffersonville who died between 1787 and 1838, the year Walnut Ridge Cemetery was established north of the city.  In 1849, Chestnut Grove Cemetery [later known as "Eastern Cemetery"] was opened east of Jeffersonville on Graham Street .  The Old City Cemetery continued to be used until 1862.  Floods and vandals have removed the few stones and a playground and ballpark cover the site, which is on Mulberry Street at the foot of Chestnut Street .  The listing of burials below comes from written sources such as family letters, newspapers, early probate records, and other publications.  It is incomplete, but will be updated as new data in found.

ALDRIDGE, Christopher

Died 1816.

BLOOM, Peter

Bloom was a cornet in the first troop of horse organized in Clark Co. at Jeffersonville, on Aug.16, 1806. He lived below the cement mill at the falls. He was killed by the explosion of the cannon he was firing on the 4th of July, 18__ at Jeffersonville.

BOWMAN, Mary

Her sister was Elizabeth Thompson and niece and nephew Susan and Samuel Thompson. Will probated 3/26/1816.

BRADFORD, William

Died 1804. Wife was Susannah Bradford. Will probated 8/4/1804.

BURRITT, Solomon

A soldier of the Revolution who served under Lafayette. The two men met again in 1825, when Lafayette, on his American tour, came to Jeffersonville. In an emotional reunion, they embraced and cried after so many years. Burritt lived in a brick cottage on Market St. and the intersection of Clark St.

COON, Franklin

1831-1864. Died of his wounds in Civil War. Union soldier.

DAVIS, Thomas Terry

Died November 1807 in Jeffersonville. Admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 1789. Member of Congress from Kentucky. U. S. Judge of Indiana Territory in 1806. Judge in the trial of Davis Floyd in the Aaron Burr conspiracy. Per "The Kentucky Gazette", Lexington, Vol. 21, #1155, Tues., 15 Dec.1807. And from the Congressional Record.

FULLER, Major Charles

4th U. S. Infantry, War of 1812 and at Battle of Tippecanoe. Per "The Indianian", January 1900. His family is also buried here. He was the owner of the Buzzard’s Roost Tavern on Front Street.

FULLER, Phebe

Wife of Major Charles Fuller.

FULTON, Henry

Wife, Isabella ("of Pittsburgh"); Daughter, Jane A. Craig ("of Pittsburgh"). Sons Robert Galt and Jefferson Wilson Fulton ("of Jeffersonville"). Will probated 6/24/1824.

FULTON, Robert G.

Son of Henry and Isabella. Died 1824.

GILMORE, William

Died 1825.

HURST, Major Henry

Aide de Camp of William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Lawyer. Tried his last case in Jeffersonville in 1838. Per "The Indianian", January 1900. Said to be buried "in Jeffersonville". Died after 1850.

JONES, George

Died about 1807. Wife, Jane Jones. Step-daughter, Polly Archer. Sister, Polly Jones. Will probated 1/9/1808.

KIMBALL, Family

Mr. and Mrs. Kimball and their two daughters died in 1818. Kimball was a brick maker.

LEMON, James

Wife, Mary Lemon. Died 1826.

McCANN, Thomas

Died 1816. Son of Moses McCann, early settler.

NELSON, Reuben W.

Died July 12, 1828 at New Harmony, Indiana. Lived in Jeffersonville. Former Editor of "The Louisville Public Advertiser", Vol.10, #1023, Sat. July 26, 1828.

PILE, Richard

Born 1760 in Richmond, VA. Sgt. In Capt. Joseph Mitchell’s 12th VA Reg’t under Colonel James Wood. At Valley Forge in 1778. Married in VA to Rebecca Clifton. In Jeffersonville by 1800. Early trustee of Jeffersonville. Died 1816.

RANSOM, James

Husband of Sarah Bates Ransom and father of Capt. James Ransom. Died 1824 to 1829 per "The Evening News", Fri., Sept. 7, 1883.

RAYMOND, Orlando

Died 1827.

RENARD, Francis P.

Died March 3, 1815. Daughter, Susannah, married & lived Harrison Co., IN.

RIDGE, Samuel

Lived on West Market St. at Mulberry. Died 1826.

SHRYER, Sarah Glover McGrew

Wife of John Daniel Shryer, Mayor of Jeffersonville 1852. Daughter of Uriah Glover, who built the mill at Spring Mill State Park. Born 1807. Died 1847.

SOLDIERS, Confederate

Two unnamed Confederate Soldiers. May have died in hospital at Camp Joe Holt.

STALEY, John

Died 1832.

TAYLOR, Child

Father was Major Edmund Taylor. Died 1809; buried at Jeffersonville. Major Taylor was the first Receiver of the Land Office at Jeffersonville. Per Jonathan Clark’s Diary, Special Collections, The Filson Historical Society, Louisville.

WILSON, Alexander

Died Tuesday, Sept.24, 1816. Merchant at Jeffersonville. Per "The Western Courier", Louisville, KY. Vol. 5 #52, Thurs. Sept. 26, 1816.

WILSON, Thomas D.

Died 1832.


I have no further information on this cemetery. This index was obtained from the Jeffersonville Township Public Library, 211 East Court Avenue, Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130, telephone: (812) 285-5635.

E-mail: Dee Pavey

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© Nov 2004