Linton Cemetery, October 11, 2013

My 4th great-grandfather, Captain John Hancock Linton, came to Washington County, Kentucky, from Loudoun County, Virginia, in early November of 1818.  Some of his children arrived in Kentucky a few years before this date, but by 1818 the captain and his wife Ann Mason Linton, his ten children and their families, were all in Kentucky.

John Linton died December 4, 1836.  A few years previous to that, according to family tradition, he laid off an area of his property to be used for family burial.  His wife, Ann, died November 14, 1832, and it is very probable this was the occasion when this occurred.  There are seven gravestones in the cemetery:  Captain John Linton; William Moran, died January 3, 1838, son-in-law; William Linton, died about 1859, son; Eliza Moran Linton, William’s wife; Rev. Benjamin Franklin Linton, died February 22, 1861, son; John L. Edwards, died December 23, 1883, and Mildred Linton Edwards, died February 25, 1878, grandchildren.  As large as the cemetery is, it seems logical there are more people buried there, and that is the tradition.

Linton Cemetery, May 6, 2012

This photo gives a better indication of the size of the cemetery.  This is the side of the cemetery.

Linton Cemetery, May 25, 2014

This is another angle, giving a good idea of the width of the cemetery.  The front line is in front of the cross toward the left of the photo.  You can just see the posts for the gate.  So it seems impossible that only seven people would be buried here.  And now I have proof.  Sometimes it’s just a matter of looking long enough, but other times it’s just a matter of good luck!

I have written about the new cousin I met last year in Logan County – Garwood Linton.  Garwood is a descendent of Captain John Linton through his son, Benjamin Franklin Linton – the same who is buried in this cemetery with his father!  A few weeks ago Garwood wrote that one of his family members brought him four boxes of old photos, documents and genealogy research.  He asked if I would mind going through this treasure, cataloging the contents and making some sense of it for him.  Let’s just say I was thrilled!  I feel very honored that he trusted me enough to leave the boxes with me for a while.  In the short time I’ve had to look through the contents, I found a letter from my great-aunt, Lillian Montgomery Goodrich, written to Mary Adelaide Linton Cartier, the daughter of Hugh Walter Linton with whom my great-grandmother, Frances Barber Linton Montgomery, corresponded with for years.  The letter was written in 1944.  In it, among other information, is the following:

One of my mother’s sisters, Martha Susan Linton, died at age three, and four infants, children of Edward Linton and Catherine Taylor Linton, are buried in the family burial burying ground on Captain John’s land on the Willisburg Road, about two miles from Springfield, Kentucky.  This land was known later on as the Walter William’s land, and at this writing in 1944 as the Taylor Spalding land.

There are very likely other family members buried here.  I feel certain Ann Mason Linton, wife of Captain John, is buried here, although there is no stone marking her grave.  Perhaps there was originally a stone that has since been destroyed.  The iron fence was erected around the cemetery in the early days of the 20th century, when some of the older generation were still alive, and knew the measurements of the cemetery.  At the conference Ritchey and I attended at St. Catharine College in June, we talked with someone about using modern techniques to find the number of people actually buried in a cemetery.  Perhaps one day!

Linton Cemetery, October 20, 2008

We will continue to visit the Linton Cemetery, as Ritchey and I have done throughout the years.  There are good years and bad years – as you can see from the height of the weeds in the above photo!  But Captain John Hancock Linton and his family will not be forgotten – at least as long as I am here to keep his memory alive and share his information with all of you!