"OLD" BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY
The cemetery is located approximately 10-12 miles from Lawrenceburg. When traveling north on Buffalo Road from Lawrenceburg, turn left onto Park Grove Road in the Flatwoods Community. Go almost to the end of the road where a sharp curve turns to the right. Just past this curve, the cemetery is located on the right side of Park Grove Road, but can not be seen from the road. There is a house on the right side of the road and the cemetery is on the property of the owners of this home. To reach the cemetery, park and walk through the front yard, over the fence, going almost due east past the pond, and to a grove of trees and underbrush. There was a wire fence around the graveyard, but do not know if it is still standing.
Old Bethel Cemetery is a very old cemetery, the church having began at least by 1846, and was much larger at one time. Most of the graves in this old cemetery were either marked with fieldstones or unmarked. Their location can only be determined by a sunken in spot, of which there are many, or a rock placed at the head of the grave. Of the graves that were marked with tombstones, some of these stones are weathered so bad they are not readable now. The following is a list of graves actually marked and those supposed to be buried here according to information from relatives whose ancestors are buried here, or the info is taken from obituaries, estate settlements and deeds. Some of these names are verified in a letter from Hattie E. Alley to Thad Ashmore in 1908. Many of the names are simply lost to us forever. The earliest burial that can be confirmed was in 1849, with 1935 being the latest that anyone knows of. The cemetery may have been used longer as a community burial ground.
* indicates stone still standing and readable in 1992.
+ indicates this is an unmarked grave and information given by a family member, obituary, estate settlement or deed.
+ ALLEY, Virginia T. d. ca 1871/1872, wife of J. Alex Alley, dau. of Elizabeth Burch Revell
+ ANTHONY, J. G. 1812 - 1892
* ANTHONY, Eliza d. 1885
+ ASHMORE, baby of Carroll d. between 1880-1887
+ ASHMORE, Elizabeth Burch Revell d. 19 Nov. 1869, wife of Joshua Bloomer Ashmore
+ ASHMORE, John twin baby of Levinah Hughes Ashmore d. Jan. 1850
+ ASHMORE, Joshua Bloomer d. 10 Oct. 1862 (son of Joshua Bloomer Ashmore, Sr. who died in Pope Co., AR in 1846)
+ ASHMORE, Levinah Hughes d. Dec. 1849, wife of Joshua Bloomer Ashmore
+ ASHMORE, Mary twin baby of Levinah Hughes Ashmore d. Jan. 1850
+ BELL, Agnes Jane Burch d. 10 June 1858
+ BELL, Katie Jane baby of Agnes Jane Burch Bell d. June 1858
+ BURCH, Agnes d. between 1870-1880
+ BURCH, Catherine (Catie) d. 1881 (according to administrator bond)
+ BURCH, Stephen Carroll b. 1826 in Bledsoe Co., TN - d. 6 May 1884 (according to administrator bond)
+ BURCH, Margaret Mary Mitchell, wife of Stephen b. 4 Apr. 1844 - d. 9 Jan. 1869
+ FITZGERALD, Jack d. about 1935
His parents also buried here in unmarked graves
* FITZGERALD, Roena Myrtle 25 Aug. 1884 - 13 Nov. 1885
* FOSTER, Ella b. & d. 1873 dau. of D. M. & H. M. Foster
* FOSTER, Hortie 18 Feb. 1866 - 28 Mar. 1867 dau. of D. M. & H. M. Foster
* FOSTER, Mary 26 Aug. 1820 - 9 Oct. 1864 wife o W. C. Foster
* FOSTER, W.C. 21 Feb. 1823 - 1 Sept. 1882
GUTHRIE, John Franklin Monroe 13 Mar. 1858 - 2 Dec. 1863
H.F. & E.F. on adjacent stones to above, no dates
* HOLTSFORD, John W. 18 Nov. 1872 - 11 Aug. 1881
son of M. H. & S. M. J. Holtsford
* HOLTSFORD, Mortimer (Mortimore) H. 15 Apr. 1836 - 28 Dec. 1904
* HOLTSFORD, Rosa M. 20 Aug. 1870 - 7 Mar. 1871
dau. of M. H. & S. M. J. Holtsford
* HOLTSFORD, Sarah Mertilla Jane 21 Mar. 1835 - 3 Mar. 1893
wife of M. H. Holtsford 58 yrs., 11 mos., 18 days
(All Holtsford graves were enclosed in a fenced in area with two unmarked graves in the enclosure in 1967. This fence is now gone.)
+ MARCUM, James R. d. before 1860
+ MARCUM, Sarah Burch death date unknown
* MOORE, John 19 Nov. 1798 - 4 July 1866
* MOORE, Mary D. 8 July 1820 - 14 Sept. 1888
wife of John Moore 58 yrs., 2 mos., 16 days
* NIXON, Ernest L. 20 Dec. 1869 - 19 May 1918
+ STEWART/STUART, Annie Burch d. about 1856
+ STEWART/STUART, Nancy Burgess d. after 1840
(Old Bethel Church Cemetery is used to distinguish it from the Bethel Church that was started in the southern end of the county in the early 1900s.)
Contributed by Kathy Niedergeses and last updated 12 Dec. 2009