THE MOUNT SOLOMON GERMAN REFORM CEMETERY
Harrison Township, Harrison County, Indiana
Submitted by Kevin Conrad
The Mt. Solomon German Reform Evangelical Lutheran Church was
founded in 1810, in Harrison County, which at that time was still the Indiana Territory.
It considered the earliest known Lutheran Church in Indiana. The
church and cemetery is located approximately 6.5 miles west from the
town of Corydon on Walnut Valley Road.
During
the early years, the church did not have a permanent place of worship,
but rather services were held in the outdoors, in nearby barns and in
the homes of church members. On 18 August
1835, William Balthas
(a.k.a. Boltice) and his
wife Sarah deeded one and one-half acres of land to the Trustees of the
Mt. Solomon German Reform Lutheran Church. The deeded property was located within the boundaries of
Scott Township, in the NW ¼ of the SW ¼ of Section 32,
Township 3 South, Range 3 East (Latitude:
38°12’37”N, Longitude: 86°13’01”W {WGS84/NAD83}, USGS
Corydon West Quad). Note: Scott Township
was created in 1853 in the western portion of Harrison County. On 1 January
1939, Scott Township
was dissolved and a large portion of the township became part of the
Harrison Crawford state forest which was established in 1932. At the
same, the existing boundaries Harrison Township
were expanded and consumed the land of the former township.
In
order to get to Mt. Solomon cemetery from SR-135 at Corydon, take SR-62 west about one
block and turn left onto the Old Forrest Road. Stay on Old Forrest Road for approximately 6 miles. You will eventually pass Luther’s
Chapel Cemetery on the right, followed by a sharp S-curve. Make a right turn
onto Walnut Valley Road, which is posted as a dead-end. Follow the paved road about another ½ mile until the road appears to
narrow and change from black top to gravel (about the same time your
considering turning around). On the left hand side there is a small
patch of blacktop that appears to be the beginning of a driveway
followed by a wide dirt road into the woods. The small Mt. Solomon
cemetery is nestled about 200 feet off Walnut Valley Road to the west.
Sometime
in the late 1930s, the church was razed. Today, the only remnants of the church is its cemetery and a few
scattered limestone blocks once part of the building’s foundation.
The
Mt. Solomon cemetery contains forty (40) known graves. There are
eighteen (18) graves marked by fieldstones, fifteen (15) inscribed
headstones, one (1) grave marked by footstone inscribed with initials
“M.M.” There four (4) known unmarked graves (including the grave of
Benjamin Hannel who died in 1935),
although there could be as many as sixteen (16) or more additional
unmarked graves in this cemetery.
The
earliest known burial occurred in 1852, when Philip Flock (1814-1852),
husband of Hanna Kintner was interred.
However, earlier burials were known to have been made in this cemetery
prior to 1852. The last known burial occurred in 1951, upon the death
of Elizabeth Hannel (1893-1951), wife of
Michael H. Hannel. The cemetery contains
the remains of at least two known military soldiers: Michael Hannel (1840-1911), a Civil War veteran who
enlisted in the 113th Indiana Infantry Regiment and fought
at the Battle of Corydon during Morgan’s raid; and Benjamin R. Hannel (1896-1918), a World War I veteran
assigned to Company K., of the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th
Division.
On January 3,
2005, Kevin Conrad and his wife,
Angela, photographed and recorded the names and other pertinent
information from each gravestone within the cemetery. Over the course
of the year, the history of this church and cemetery, including each
known individual interred in these hollow grounds, were thoroughly
researched and documented in a book titled, “Mount Solomon German
Reform & Evangelical Lutheran Church and Cemetery; The Root of
Luther’s Chapel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Vol. II.”
The book contains not the only contains photographs of each
headstone and related information, but also the intriguing history of
this church and the genealogy of each person interred in this cemetery.
A copy of this book is maintained at the Frederick Porter Griffin Center for
Local History and Genealogy, 117 West Beaver Street, Corydon, Indiana, 47112, Phone: (812) 738-4110.
I
should also mention an earlier survey was conducted at this cemetery in
1940 by Frederick Porter Griffin and Samuel Pfrimmer
Hays. At that time, they identified fifteen (15) known individuals
buried and about twenty (20) unmarked graves at the cemetery. A copy of
their record is maintained at same location cited earlier.
Known
Surnames interred at this cemetery
BRILES;
CONRAD; FLOCK; GREGORY; HANNEL; HANNELL; HAUSWALD; and HOGAN.
Known
Maiden names interred at this cemetery
CONRAD; KELLER;
KINTNER; and TIPTON
Headstone
Inscriptions
Note: There is no known information that
describes the original layout of the cemetery or rows. Likewise, there
is no information indicating which is the first grave or the last
grave. For this reason, we determined , as
a starting point, row 1 was the first visible grave in the north-east
corner of the cemetery. Each row was recorded beginning on the north
end to the south end and working the cemetery from east to west; hence,
Row 1 is on the east side of the cemetery and Row 8 is on the west side
of the cemetery.
ROW 1
Grave (fieldstone).
Unmarked Grave. (grave sunken)
Unmarked Grave. (grave sunken)
ROW 2
Rosanna, wife of Dan B. CONRAD,
born Apr. 16, 1829,
died June 6, 1859.
Grave (stone); initials “M.M.”
ROW 3
Stella GREGORY, born May 27, 1866,
died Sept. 27, 1928.
Michael H. HANNEL, born June 30, 1882,
died Nov. 27, 1949.
Elizabeth HANNEL, born Mar 11, 1893,
died Feb. 26, 1951.
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Philip FLOCK, born Feb. 4, 1814,
died Oct. 17, 1852.
Hannah, wife of Philip FLOCK,
born Feb. 13, 1814,
died June 19, 1890.
ROW 4
Grave (fieldstone).
Michael HANNEL, born Aug. 18, 1840,
died Dec. 11, 1911. (a
Civil War veteran)
Amanda C. HANNEL, his wife, born Dec. 15, 1849,
died Oct. 6, 1928.
[Note: Michael is a veteran of the Civil
War.]
Grave (fieldstone).
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Grave (fieldstone).
Grave (fieldstone).
Grave (fieldstone).
Christina, wife of Henry BRILES,
died June 10, 1859,
aged 61 yrs.
ROW 5
Jacob HANNEL, died Feb. 8, 1903,
aged 68 yrs.
Jacob HANNELL, born Mar. 22, 1810,
died Nov. 28, 1883.
Sarah, wife of J. HANNELL, born Aug. 10, 1810,
died (not given).
[Note: This grave site is enclosed with a
wrought iron fence.]
Grave (fieldstone).
Grave (fieldstone).
Grave (fieldstone).
Barbary, wife of M. HAUSWALD, died May 9, 1868,
aged 62y, 7m, 21d.
Grave (fieldstone).
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Grave (fieldstone); grave has sunken.
ROW 6
Dora M., daut. of J. F. & M. J. HOGAN, born
Sept. 18, 1891,
died Jan. 25, 1893.
Grave (fieldstone).
ROW 7
Grave (fieldstone).
Grave (fieldstone).
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Grave (fieldstone).
Grave (fieldstone).
Grave (fieldstone).
Grave (fieldstone).
ROW 8
Grave (fieldstone).
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Unmarked grave (sunken).
Benjamin R. HANNEL, born 1896,
died 1918. Pvt. U.S.
Army, WW-I, Killed in Action.
Vacant plot or unmarked grave.
Mary A. daut.
of B. & L. J. HANNEL,
born Aug. 10, 1886,
died July 16, 1910.
Infant daut.
of B. & L. J. HANNEL,
born / died Jan. 19, 1890.
Note: “Ben Hannel”
is known to have been buried at this cemetery. Ben (a.k.a. Benjamin),
died at age 72 years on March 8, 1935. At the time of the 2005 survey, there was no headstone
bearing his name, although the information was recorded during the
survey of 1940 by Frederick Porter Griffin and Samuel Pfrimmer Hays, which is dated May 5, 1940.
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