Beacon Dec 2023

Page 4A THE BEACON December 2023
Generations Committed to History and Community
Continued from page 1A
an interesting history and to
appreciate it we must journey
far back in time.
General Arthur St. Clair
was appointed Governor of
the Northwest Territory in
1787. A few years later he
moved his family to Cincinnati.
His granddaughter, Mary
Lawrence, married a soldier
named Captain Samuel
Colville Vance who was a
Revolutionary War hero. Captain
Vance received his first
commission in the Army from
General George Washington.
He served under General
Washington as an aide to General
Anthony Wayne. Captain
Vance later commanded Fort
Washington which was where
present-day Cincinnati, Ohio
is by the Ohio River. (Think
of the section of the freeway
named Fort Washington
Way!)
When Captain Vance
returned to civilian life, he
founded Lawrenceburg named
after his wife, Mary Lawrence,
in 1802.
When Captain Vance plotted
the city, he had land set
aside for a cemetery. This
cemetery was at the west end
of High Street.
This original cemetery
was used for burials until the
1840s. Newtown Cemetery
was founded by Isaac Dunn in
Captain Samuel Vance’s
headstone.
1819 and it was along Tanners
Creek near Shipping Street.
Many people were buried in
Newtown Cemetery but after
the 1937 flood when the flood
wall was built in Lawrenceburg,
all of the graves and
headstones were moved to the
Greendale Cemetery around
1940. Over three hundred
graves were transferred.
Becky Lyon’s grandfather
helped move some of the
graves!
Most of the graves and
monuments transferred from
Newtown Cemetery are to the
right of the Nowlin Avenue
entrance.
Some of the names of those
early pioneers who rest there
you may recognize like Jesse
The Eternal Flame Eagle
Scout Project completed by
Alex Humphrey in 2007.
Photos by
Maureen Stenger
Hunt, who built the first threestory
building in Indiana, the
Jesse Hunt Hotel. At the time
his building was quite the
talk as people wondered why
anyone would want to sleep
up so high! Andrew Jackson
visited the hotel meeting with
his political allies there and
Benjamin Harrison was also a
frequent guest.
The Greendale Cemetery
Association was formed in
1865. It is a private cemetery
meaning it was organized by
the association and families
that founded it. Property
just to the north and west of
Lawrenceburg was purchased
from Joseph Hayes for the
cemetery. Part of the property
had originally been part of
a grant to Colonel Zebulon
Pike, who was a soldier in the
Revolutionary War. Colonel
Pike’s son, Zebulon Pike
Jr., followed in his father’s
military footsteps and worked
on logistics and payroll at
various frontier posts. Zebulon
Pike Jr. would go on to
Norway Spruce Trees line the entrance to the Greendale
Cemetery
The cannon and Soldiers Circle.
lead two expeditions out west
and Pikes Peak the mountain
in Colorado is named in his
honor.
The layout of the cemetery
was designed by Benjamin
Grove, an engineer from Louisville,
and Mr. Ihle a landscape
gardener. The cemetery
was dedicated on September
1, 1867, with Reverend B.
W. Chidlaw delivering the
dedication speech. The arch
and letters that adorn the entrance
off of Nowlin Avenue
were made by a metal worker
named John Endress. In
1940 the entrance was taken
down and replaced by Clarence
Endress, the grandson
of John Endress, who re-used
the letters from the original
entrance.
The pillars at the front
entrance on Ridge Avenue are
constructed of limestone and
brick.
Continued on page 5A
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