It is rumored that this cemetery was so full of unmarked graves that they couldn't find any new places to dig. The lack of new burials and the passage of time led the city council to determine that the cemetery had been abandoned. In the early 1950's this cemetery was turned into a park, and all of the tombstones were removed. At first the tombstones were moved to a location where people could supposedly find them, then they were removed to the dump. Now there is a golf course where the dump used to be, and new housing built up around the area. Homeowners tend to find tombstones when they dig in their yards.
One noted burial in the cemetery is that of Revolutionary War soldier and patriot James Hill:
James Hill was born near Danville, Virginia, in December of 1745. At the age of 7 he was captured by Indians and remained a prisoner until he escaped at age 20, making his way to Lexington, Kentucky. He married a woman named Clark, fought in the Revolution in 1776 and died at the age of one hundred and nine years at the home of a great grandson, Reverend William H. Williams, in Lebanon, Indiana, in the year 1854
Quotes from the Lebanon Reporter November 21, 194--
"Hill the Soldier, the Patriot and Officer marking with significant tread to contend for his country's justification. He came to the end of existence just seven years before the Civil War his Historical decade almost meeting the chapters of another rebellion. As the old soldier went down the last bend of his sunset trail he proudly stated
"I LOVE MY COUNTRY"
Other known burials from files at the Lebanon library:
Note:
Photograph and Listings by Kim Hancock
"The following is from a list of the stones that were removed from the cemetery. I can not be responsible for errors or for possible stones that were missed as they were removed before I was born, and to add my comment, I am totally disgusted with the acts that took place to destroy a pioneer cemetery, where people buried their loved ones and believed that it would be "Holy Ground" and respected as such.
Kim Hancock
Please check out the
Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration Project INPCRP for information about other early Indiana Cemeteries."This project was founded on the belief that we owe our pioneer ancestors a better monument than a forgotten grave amid bramble and thicket."
It seems to me that a "forgotten grave amid bramble and thicket" is one step above the tidy 'park' at Cedar Hill - but both are inexcusable, and on my "they did WHAT" list right next to the fine folks in Ohio turning their ONLY Civil War Battle Site into a gravel pit.
To quote shamelessly from J Rawling's fourth Harry Potter book, we must practice "constant vigilance" and be willing to speak up against this type of travesty, or all our grandchildren will inherit is our paper listings of what used to be.
If you know of other burials in this cemetery that are not listed, please let me know and I will add them to the list.
04/03/2002