Lawrenceburg Cemetery
Anderson County, KY
Source: "A History of Anderson County" by Lewis W. McKee
Originally published: Frankfort, Ky., 1937

Submitted by K. Torp

LAWRENCEBERG CEMETERY

On February 29, 1856, John W. Mizner, administrator of the estate of Spencer Tinsley, conveyed two acres of ground on the northeast corner of the present cemetery to the trustees of the town of Lawrenceburg, Ky., for a cemetery. The deed reads: In consideration of $275 paid me as administrator or Spencer Tinsley, I hereby sell and convey as his administrator to the Board of Trustees of the town of Lawrenceburg, Anderson County, Ky., a certain lot of ground bounded as follows: beginning at a stake 25 feet from the center of the turnpike, thence a parallel line with said road S 24 E 25 poles to a stake 25 feet from the center of said pike, thence 8 36 W 10 poles to a stake In Tinsley's field, thence N 24 W 25 poles to a stake in Wither-spoon's line, thence N 36 E 10 poles to the beginning, it being the lot of land known as the Lawrenceburg Cemetery. Given under my hand this February 29, 1856.
(Signed) John W. Mizner.
James A. McBrayer, Clerk A. C. C.

A part of this plot of ground had been used as the Tinsley family grave yard, as two tombstones show that

Spencer Tinsley, born 1798, died 1854;
Kathrine Tinsley, his wife, born 1798, died 1855.

A great number of old land owners had private burial grounds on their home plots, and a few of the early settlers were buried here as the following dates found on the old stones show:

Rev. Howard Williams, born 1795, died 1859.
Miss Ann Chambers, 1798-1872.
Eliza McBride, 1796-1863.
Turner Hanks, 1795-1858; his wife Nancy, 1801-1864.
Dennis Driskell, 1785-1861.
Thompson Frazier, 1807-1868.
Urias Randall, 1806-1856.
Lucrecia Armstrong. 1809-1855.
Harrison Hackley. 1815-1858.
Joshua Saffell. 1820-1861.

After this plot was incorporated for the Lawrenceburg Cemetery in 1856, Mrs. Clark, mother of the Hon. Champ Clark, was the first person buried here, and her grave is marked by the pine tree, which tradition says her husband planted. Today it is one of the handsomest evergreens in the cemetery.

After a quarter of a century the old cemetery was enlarged. On June 15, 1880, J. H. D. McKee sold to the Lawrenceburg Cemetery Co. six acres, two rods and thirty-five poles of land lying south and west adjoining the two acres of the Tinsley land for the consideration of $403.12 ½

J. H. D. McKee and W. F. Bond laid off the lots and planted many of the evergreens that makes this a beautiful City of the Dead. The cemetery was again enlarged in 1933, when a tract of land adjoining was sold by the heirs of the late L. W. McKee to the cemetery company and incorporated in this burial ground.