Thanks to Mooresville sexton Ed Bucker, the Indiana Room at Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library has a burial map for the Old Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Cemetery on West Washington Street. A spreadsheet accompanying the map lists burial plots of many of the town's earliest pioneers and settlers. (Click the photos below to enlarge.)
Old Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Cemetery,
also known as Old Mooresville Cemetery,
on West Washington Street
Old M.E. Cemetery was established in 1829
Painting of the first Mooresville M.E. Church (built in 1839)
(on West Washington Street, in front of the cemetery)
Photograph of the first Mooresville M.E. Church
(from Hadley, Almira Harvey. A Brief History of Mooresville and Vicinity [1918])
(Click here to see a digital copy of the entire book)
The photos below show where to find the cemetery burial map. To the left of the map (in a yellow binder) is the spreadsheet listing the names of those buried there, as noted on the map.
Although these materials do not circulate, they may be examined in the library's Indiana Room.
There are several online resources available to search burial records of the Old M.E. Cemetery. These include:
The MCH&GA website also lists other Morgan County cemetery burial records, among other historical and genealogical information.
Besides the Bucker burial map mentioned above, the MPL Indiana Room has several print materials that list burials in Old M.E. Cemetery. These include:
- Cemetery records compiled by the Mooresville, Indiana White Lick Chapter of the D.A.R. (Mrs. Olin D. Keith and Mr. and Mrs. Carl C. Cowen, compilers) (click here for a library catalog entry--library call number I REF 929.5 DAR). Other Morgan County cemetery records may be found in these reference books and related materials, all under the library call number I REF 929.5;
- Local History vertical files (under specific cemetery names). These files are kept in locked drawers in the MPL Indiana Room. Please ask library staff for assistance.
- "Samuel and Eliza Moore donated the land on West Washington Street for use as a
cemetery, now known as 'Old Cemetery,' and to serve as the site of the first M.E.
Church (built in 1839).
Martha J. Worthington, Eliza Moore’s first cousin, became the first person buried in Old
Cemetery in Mooresville. She died at age 21 on May 15, 1829."
The source for the above-quoted paragraph was page 76 of A Brief History of Mooresville, Indiana, 1824-1974, by Clara S. Richardson (1974). Read a digitized copy of the entire book here. The relevant page is reprinted below (click image to enlarge).
Page 76 of Clara Richardson's book
Besides these materials, there are some other online discussions about the Old M.E. Cemetery, both from this blog (click here and here and here) and the library's digitized handouts (click here).
Visit the MPL Indiana Room for more local history resources, or click here to find a quick summary of online links available. The MPL website also has a variety of web pages devoted to local history.
