Mt. Olive Cemetery History

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submitted by Jim Harbison

Combined Efforts used to improve Cemetery: The information printed below is from a newspaper article entitled, "COMBINED EFFORTS USED TO IMPROVE CEMETERY". The article provides a great deal of insight into the history of the cemetery. Mrs. Hallie A. Foster gathered information from the cemetery, searched other records to provide a more complete record of the persons buried here, and then made that information available to those interested. Part of the article is quoted verbatim to substantiate the record of the cemetery. The newspaper that published the article is unknown, but the Boonville Standard would be a likely source. Hallie's husband, Carl H. Foster, was buried here in 1988.

The following is a portion of the article, "COMBINED EFFORTS USED TO IMPROVE CEMETERY", copied as it appeared in the newspaper:

"Many changes have come to this community since Mr. I. E. McSwane, Sr., who was the donor of the land for this cemetery, left his home in Tennessee and came Warrick County to seek his fortune, arriving here in 1827. Records show he did just this, he acquired over 800 acres of land, many friends and always had the desire of betterment of the community. Although he had been raised on a farm in Tennessee and only secured the very limited education available then, when he came at the age of twenty, he taught school during the winter of 1828 and 1829 and bought his first land at the age of 23. He married in 1829 and after the birth of three children his wife died in April 1838 and he had her placed to rest near their home. It would be interesting to know if the first log building serving as a school and church ad been erected prior to that or not, as Mrs. McSwane is buried almost due north, near the north boundary of the cemetery, of the building which was along the then East to West public road which ran along the south boundary of the cemetery line. I know the building was still used as a school in 1856 as my grandmother attended school there after marrying my grandfather. It would also be interesting to know if he had in mind a family cemetery or a community cemetery at that time. Although it was known as McSwane Cemetery for many years, the 1880 Atlas of Warrick County shows it as Mt. Olive, and when he made the deed in October 1886, he called it Mt. Olive. So we are still unsure how it received the name, or if school continued in that building until sometime at a later date but prior to 1874 the second log building, but larger, was built in Daniel Thompson's woods, less than a quarter due west of the first building on the then East to West public road and which remained in use until mid-winter of 1883, when the term was finished in a new two room frame building that had been erected less than a quarter north of the west line of the cemetery ground, where the then north and south road intersected the then east and west road. The second room of this school was discontinued in the 1915-1918 era but first room remained the neighborhood school until about 1935 when the children went to Lynnville.

Had Mt. Olive had a mailing address, it would have had many post office addresses. First known would have Newark (small town north of Millersburg along canal), until 1838, then Canal until 1878 (now Millersburg), Ditney until 10/8/1895, back to Canal until Marie (1st crossroad south of cemetery, small store on NE corner) 3/10/1898 until 10/8/1898 back to Canal until Stanley, a community with stores, taverns and blacksmith shop, was named for the great explorer, Stanley, and acquired a post office in October, 1890 and remained a post office until 6/29/1917, then mail from Elberfeld, R.F.D. No. 27 until middle 20's, then Boonville R.F.D. 4 and 7 until latter 30's then to Lynnville, which is present address."?
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"For the benefit of the younger generation of readers, who perhaps know nothing or little of the history of this cemetery here a a few of the facts we know. The first marked grave in this cemetery is that of the first wife of the donor of the land for the cemetery, that being Mrs. Mary (Taylor) McSwane, April 8, 1838. It was known as the McSwane Cemetery for several years, but the stones carrying dates of the 1850's are for many of the early settlers of this area and neighbors of Mr. McSwane. How they were assigned lots is unknown but we do know no one was ever charge for a burial plot, then or now.

Of the known graves in the cemetery at least two-thirds are descendants of the I. E. McSwane family of 12 children, the Lorenzo Holder family and four of their children, E. P. Madden and families of ten of his 15 children, many Christmas families, Foster families, Daniel W. Thompson family, Frederick Justice family, Harrison Harden family, Louis Korte family, and many others who either lived in this neighborhood at one time or relatives in some way of the above mentioned families.

So with all the above mentioned names of neighbors having been buried here, it is difficult to determine what Mr. McSwane's plans were when he set aside this plat for a cemetery, or long prior to his wife's death he did so, or why he chose the location of her grave as he did, or how the name was changed to Mt. Olive . We do know that the name of the little log structure building on the south border of this plat, about center of the portion used for burial was a combination school and church , as early as 1873 and that it was shown on first map of the county we have had access to, made up in 1880, as Mt. Olive and the deed made to the cemetery by Mr. McSwane on October 5, 1886, used the name as that of Mt. Olive Cemetery. Officials of the cemetery would appreciate hearing from anyone who has any more information on the subject of the naming of this cemetery.

As you can see much work was done to clear the south part of the plat of all of the several years growth of briar, weeds and brush. Many of the local men donated two Saturdays time and large equipment for grading and clearing was donated but we had to pay the two operators 32 hours work. Also you can see a new entrance has been made from the south edge of the plat. Plans are to seed this ground down and keep mowed to improve the looks of what we think is one of the best kept country cemeteries. In order to keep it this way we appeal to each and everyone of you who has a cousin, niece, nephew, sister, brother , mother, father, grandparent, and in many instances, great and even great-great-grandparents buried here, to send us your donation for the paying of hiring of power mower and operator five to six times yearly and the upkeep of the buildings.

In looking over our recently made accounts receivable book, it would seem the engraving on many of the old stones, "Gone But Not Forgotten", was a waste of time and money. Some writer once wrote, "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors". We wish all of you much prosperity and hope when your loved ones birthday or Christmas when you would give them gifts come you will tuck some money in an envelope and send to us for the care of their graves. We also wish to take this opportunity to thank the many of you who have donated so generously over a period of years.

A star (*) appearing after the date of death indicates that the information was obtained through the death records of the Social Security Administration.

A year enclosed (1860) indicates that information was obtained from that U.S. census records.

Jim Harbison
Elberfeld IN 47613 

"No history extant is free from errors. They are generally the result either of indifference on the part of those acquainted with the facts or the lack of information of the historian...."

Will Fortune, "Warrick and Its People",