Mt. Zion Cemeteries

The first or "Old" Mt. Zion Cemetery is on church property lying behind or west of the church. Some graves are marked with stones bearing the names and usually dates of birth and death; most other graves, no doubt the earliest burials perhaps once marked head and foot with small slabs of fieldstones, are no longer marked or identified in any way. The west end of the lot, perhaps including the northwest corner, is said to be a slave cemetery.

Except for the one or two identifiable family plots with very limited space for future graves, knowledgeable individuals, and residents of the community and longtime members members of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, state that all the burial spaces have long since been filled.

It is not likely there were any burials here until after 1829 when John and Elizabeth Franks deeded the property to the Trustee of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. One small stone flush with the ground reads as follows: Henry Webster/Killed Ft. Meigs/War of 1812/Margaret Franks 1785-18--. Another stone, identical in shape and size to the Henry Webster stone, carries the name of Daniel Cowgill. A veteran of the American Revolution, he died in Grant County June 14, 1843.

The existing minutes of monthly congregational meetings from 1897 forward reflect the time and attention devoted to employing a housekeeper on an annual basis to maintain the meetinghouse and if possible, the same person to keep the cemetery ground. In addition to trimming the grass in the summer, the groundskeeper was required to dig graves and dispose of any surplus dirt. Some years all the able-bodied male members picked a day in early summer to gather to mow the grass, trim the shrubs and trees and pick up and dispose of dirt, trash and rubbish.

By the 1920s, there was very little space left in the "Old" Cemetery for future burials. Other space would have to be found. Without any more burials the need to clear the grounds was not as great, resulting in the uninhibited growth of shrubs and trees over the years. Spasmodically, attempts to clear the grounds were only partially successful.

By the 1980s descendants of the Franks family and Trustees of the Church were dividing responsibility between them for maintenance of sections of the "Old" Cemetery. This was formalized in 1988 by deed from the Church's Trustees. The Franks Family Cemetery Trust was deeded a tract in the "Old" Cemetery believed to contain the remains of many members of the Franks family. The tract is in the shape of a rectangle, about 130 feet long north and south and 73 feet wide east and west. This tract is the responsibility of the Franks Family Trust to maintain. The Church maintains all the rest of the "Old" Cemetery and other areas behind the Church.

The "New" Cemetery lies in front of the church, it south side on church lane and its eastern end bordered by the Sherman-Mt. Zion Road. The burials in this cemetery were surveyed by Virgil Chandler Sr. in 1985 and 1989 as listed in Volume I, Grant County, Kentucky Cemeteries, published by the Grant County Historical Society. This cemetery is identified in this publication as the "Mt. Zion Public Cemetery." This record does not include any listings from the "Old" Cemetery.

In the 1920s when the Church became concerned about the lack of space in the "Old" Cemetery for future burials, a search was begun for available land bordering on the church property. A committee of trustees and deacons were elected in April 1925 to purchase land for cemetery purposes from F. M. Smith.

In July 1925 the Committee reported that the land referred to as the "New" Cemetery was purchased. W. T. Points was appointed to canvass the church to raise money to pay for the land and the painting of the building. In September, it was reported that all debts were paid, with $25.75 in the bank.

The "New" Cemetery already contained some graves. The earliest stone found carries a death date of July 15, 1851 for an infant daughter of Jesse Conyers. Early stones are found for members of the Smith, Beach, Tomlin, McCoy, Alexander and other families.

Initially, gravesites were marked off and sold for $5 each. In 1927, the charge was increased to $7.50. During the 1930s, fraught with surviving the Depression and then recovering from it, much of the maintenance work in the two cemeteries was done by members.

In the 1940s, the funds accumulated from the sale of gravesites, which amounted to $374, were separated from the church treasury and held in a "bond for the future care of the cemetery if the church should not be able to care for the cemetery".

In 1974 an agreement was made for a separate cemetery perpetual maintenance fund. This was enhanced by gifts, contributions and an annual bequest from the Lloyd W. Franks estate.

In 1988 the new cemetery board purchased additional land to provide gravesites for the future.

The History of Mt. Zion Baptist Church
Mt. Zion, Kentucky, 1827-2002
John B. Conrad, Editor
Used with permission of Mr. Conrad