Ball Hill Cemetery
Carroll County, Indiana
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BALL HILL CEMETERY,
CARROLL COUNTY, INDIANA
Just how the Ball Hill cemetery in Carroll County came by its name may always remain a mystery. A deed establishing the Ball Hill graveyard was recorded at Delphi, Indiana, 13 April 1838, fifteen years before a Methodist Church was erected on land nearby. William and Polly Wyatt deeded two acres to the trustees of the cemetery "for the use, purpose and sole benefit of a graveyard on the ball hill." Listed as trustees of the newly created cemetery were William Runyon, Thomas Wyatt, and Samuel Clark. In September 1853 Charles and Surripta Thomas deeded nearby land to the Methodist Episcopal church. A frame building was erected within the next few months. The church became known as Ball Hill Chapel. In 1870, it was destroyed by fire, but a new frame church was erected the following year. This building, with some modernization over the years, served the community until the mid-1960s when the Methodist conference closed the church. Five land additions have been made to the graveyard since its establishment. The first addition came in April 1855 when Philip and Betsy Shaffer deeded to the trustees about one acre of land west of the original tract. This tract was immediately east of the newly established church, so the acquisition made the church grounds contiguous with the cemetery. In September 1910, Charles and Lorettie Magart and William and Effie Harmon conveyed and warranted to the Ball Hill Cemetery trustees an additional 1 and 1/8 acres. This land was west of the church property. In December 1921 the Cemetery association acquired 2.61 acres east of the church parking area from Caroline Ayres. A fourth addition was made in March 1950 when the cemetery association acquired an acre south of County Road 550 South from Allen and Geneva Lindley. The final addition came in 1973 when the North Indiana Conference of the Methodist Church deeded the Ball Hill Church grounds to the cemetery association. |
by Ed and Peg Kirkpatrick
Originally published in The Hoosier
Genealogist
Vol. 35 No. 2 June 1995