Many Improvements Made at Bethel Cemetery. History of the Beautiful Spot. Names of Lot Owners. Bethel Cemetery, one and one-half miles southwest of our city, is being made more beautiful. A few years ago the Village Board considered the question of whether land closer to Milledgeville should be purchased for the purpose of a cemetery or not. Ten acres near here could have been bought at the eastern border of town for one hundred dollars per acre. Now the present owner would not take a cent less than five hundred dollars per acre. The board of trustees of the Bethel cemetery, taking these facts into consideration, concluded that the best thing that could be done would be to make the beautiful spot more beautiful and improve it so that time with all its destructibility would have little effect on it. A short time ago the board of trustees concluded to assess each lot owner a dollar with which to make these improvements. Nearly every owner sent the money, all willingly, and many signifying their desire to pay more at any time it was needed. A strip of land twelve feet wide and as long as the cemetery is wide, was bought from Nathaniel Buntley. This strip is being fixed for a driveway on the south. A driveway has also been made on the north, one in the centre running east and west and one the entire length of the cemetery on the east. The road was cut down about five inches and macadam filled in. Part of the driveway has not yet been macadamized but it will be finished. The advantage gained by having the roads as they now are, is the convenience in going and coming to and from the cemetery. Heretofore, when driving a vehicle in the grounds in order to turn around to get out, it was necessary to drive over the graves at the east end. There will be three gates to the cemetery. The vehicles will enter at a large double gas pipe gate at the middle of the west side and proceed to the east side and turn either to the right or to the left and make its exit at a gate at either the north or the south of the west side. The west fence will be painted. The cemetery is kept clean and the grass has been mowed. The trees have been nicely trimmed. Lot owners have, taken more pride in beautifying the graves of their departed loved ones. Scarcely a day passes but what several persons have been there to tend to flowers. Within the past year, a number of very valuable and beautiful monuments have been erected. One of the best is the one on William Barthel's lot. It cost $600 and was placed in its present poeistion last spring. At least four hundred known dead are resting in this silent place. There are many who have been laid away and not a thing marks the grave. No one knows just the number of unmarked graves. There are 272 lots in the cemetery. As near as we could ascertain, the first person who was buried in the cemetery was the son of John DeGroff. He was buried in 1850. The land which constituted the original cemetery was purchased from William Baker, Since that time, two additions have been made to it. Consequently there are three different sized lots in the cemetery. In 1882, County Surveyor, L. S. Thorp surveyed the cemetery The following is the report of his survey: Plan of the cemetery in the Northwest corner of Section thirty-five, Township 23 N., R. 6 E. of 4 P.M. The old or original ground was not laid off in lots. The first addition was partly laid out in lots as shown by those not numbered or intended to be 12 by 16 feet, with alleys 4 feet wide, north and south only, but the east line lots one made by this survey 9 feet by 10 inches wide. The second addition includes on-half acre on the south 1.43 chains wide by 3.50 chains long; also finding the old lot and the first addition had been fenced and occupied fourteen instead of thirteen rods as the deed states and another rod in width is purchased on the east side of the old lot and first addition, making .12 of an acre nearly. The lots, numbered from 1 to 118, are all 16 feet 9 inches long and 10 feet 2 inches wide and all alleys 4 feet wide running north and south only. The whold cemetery is now 6.18 chains north and south by .50 chains east and west and contains 2.16 acres. May 22, 1882 L. S. Thorp, Surveyor.

About a year ago now the trustees sent to Springfield and secured a charter. The charter is now recorded. Last spring John Kline, George Crombie, C. H. Olmsted, T. O. Wolfe and D. C. Overholser met at the cemetery by very hard labor and much inquiring, ascertained who owned lots. Mr. Kline spent many tedious hours making a map of the cemetery, of drafting cloth. The scale is 1/2 inch to the foot. It is a neat job. All names of the owners who could be ascertained were printed on the map. At the conclusion, a list of lot owners appears. should anyone be omitted, please notify John Kline. David Bushman, D. C. Overholser, T. O. Wolfe, C. H. Olmstead and Daniel Fryer are the trustees. Mr. Overholser is president and Mr. Wolfe is secretary and treasurer. To C. H. Olmsted and T. O. Wolfe the most of the credit for the splendid improvements should be given. The improvements will end, only when the money has been exhausted. W. H. Calkins has been doing the work to the satisfaction of all. The following is the list of lot owners: John Russell, Gen. J. Smith, Wm. Griswold, H. T. Healey, Wm. Barthel, W. A. Gray, Wm. Hanna, H. Barthel, F. Healey, Robt. mcPherson, H. O. Barber, H. Donahoo, Geo. Hubbard, Ben Shirk, W. H. Colcord, E. Overholser, N. Buntley, Derrick Fryer, P. Pulver, J. Fleming, James Dean Sr., C. E. Olmstead, L. Fletcher, Henry Durstine, H. L. Finzel, T. O. Wolfe, A. J. WOod, S. J. Fletcher, Steve Hendrick, N. Bushman, C. E. Eastabrook, Stephen Dodd, J. Overholser, Co. Overholser, J. Wetel, W. W. Stevens, J. Sweezy, D. C. Overholser, D. Smith, B. Hendrick, L. Hendrick. C. Johnson, Henry Smith, D. L. Maxwell, H. M. Freas, T. A. Wetherwax, James Gunder, Chas. Fenton, Geo. Faulkner, E. Bixby, T. Johnson, E. Crouch, S. Vandusen, N. Hart, Geo. Hanna, M. A. WOod, J. Deets, H. Robinson, McNair, G. Lawrence, Mrs. W. A. Cooper, J. Winters, E. Rocinson, C. H. Olmsted, R. Fleming, R. Cheeseman, G. Mull, E. Millard, J. M. Smith, H. M. Fleming, T. Maloney, E. M. Olmstead, H. D. Millard, W. Hollowell, Daniel Fryer, J. P. Bull, E. C. WInters, Ira Scoville, A. H. Atherton, Jacob Hart, J. Knapp, W. Shuey, D Allen, J. Kelley, J. Bentley, J. Kimbly, J. Gyger, G. Wallace, C. A> Northway, C. Bushman, J. A. Lee, M.V. Shear, A. Calkins, W. H. Calkins, M. Mulller, O. Seamore, Jas. Olin, H. S. Bushman, Isaac Nutts, J. E. Lenhart, J. Frederick, G F. Bellows, C. H. Bushman, A. Barnes, Geo. Roderick, Geo. Bushnell, S. B. Crouch, Dan Shears, Arza Chase, Wm. Chase, John Richardson, Ed DeGroff, Mary Baker, Daniel Fryer, HJohn Fryer, E. H. Griswold, Mary and Chas. Clakins, John Calkins, Catherine DeGroff, John H. Smith, Thos. Foster, Jas. and Polly McCray, I. Bushman, Jas. Scoville, Nelson Durrin, Fred Ferguson, E. Brock, A. S. Lee, H. Brewer, S. Robinson, John Quivey, Samuel Chaffeee, Oscar Wood, Hiram Robinson, F. Patch, Jno. Meakins, Nathan Logue, James Brewer, Barnobus Hart, W H. Ousterhoudt, Wellington Conaway, Samuel Stewart, ,H. Bushman, Wm. Quivey, Jasper Winters, Elisha Cross, E. Bull, nancy Vandusen, Sarah Van Valkenburg, John Hanna, John Richardson, Cyrus Teachout, H. Tracy, C. O. Dodd, Philip Burkholder, Chas. Gaylord, C. Chase.