Burress Cemetery
Hamilton Township, Section 30, Township 21, Range 10
Newly Discovered
This is the fourth of a multi-part series looking at reinterments and cemeteries whose existence has been lost altogether.
Sometimes as a researcher, our plan of attack to investigate a certain topic gets derailed by an entirely unrelated tidbit too enticing to
avoid. These are referred to as "squirrels". You don't say it in the manner of "Oh there is a squirrel in that tree". It is more of a high-
pitched and enthusiastic exclamation like one has seen a mouse. The following squirrel was the discovery of what seems to be an unknown,
undiscovered, unrecalled cemetery in Delaware County. On the heels of more than fifty years of local genealogists and historians working
hard to find and document such cemeteries, this one has somehow gone unfound. Until now.
I can't even tell you what I was looking for, but what I found was a cemetery located in the area behind the People of Praise Church on the
northwest corner of Moore Road (CR 325 N) and Everett Road (CR 200 W). It is in an unknown location within the 1/4 mile square bounded by
Everett on the east and Moore on the south. There are no good distinguishing features for the other two sides, but the north boundary would
be a bit past Airway Drive and the west line would be just slightly past Fox Run. Here is a link to
Google Maps showing the area today.
Francis W Horner and his wife, Joan/Joanna (Burress) Horner, got the land through the heirs of Solomon Burress, an Ohio man. Solomon got the
land from Samuel Moore on 23 September 1836. It does not appear that old Solomon ever left Scioto County, Ohio. He died there just over a
year later on 3 October 1837. Property transfers included a few noting that they were 1/5 undivided shares, one even saying outright that the
wife of the grantor couple was an "heir at law of Solomon Burress deceased". Transactions took place from 1855 through September 23 1858,
the same day Horner sold it.
Griffing, Gordon & Company map of Delaware County, 1887
There is no mention of the cemetery found in any of the property transfers until the deed transferring the land from Francis and Joan to
Stephen Hamilton Sr, Stephen Hamilton Jr, Archibald Hamilton, and Henry Hamilton. The cemetery property is an exclusion from the land being
transferred at the time. It is described in Section 30, Township 21, Range 10 (Hamilton Township), as being "a spot of ground 16 by 24 feet
on the said NE qr of the SE qr now used and occupied as a grave yard."
Francis W Horner to Stephan Hamilton Sr et al, Deed Book 20, Page 574
A deed signed 9 August 1861 by Stephen Hamilton Sr, Ann E Hamilton, Stephen Hamilton Jr, Rachel Hamilton, Henry Hamilton, Mary J Hamilton,
and Archibald Hamilton transferring the property to William Ginn describes the same exclusion for the cemetery. Ginn's will left the property
to his wife Mary Ginn. The description found in the will makes no mention whatsoever of the cemetery's existence.
Who is buried in that little lot of land will probably remain unknown forever. It seems likely that those buried there are members of the
Burress family, possibly even some with the Horner surname, but the specifics are long lost.
There may well be other undiscovered cemeteries in Delaware County. I look forward to more information on this one or any others coming to
light someday through current and future researchers in the area.
© On The Banks of White River, Jennifer Lewis, 21 April 2025
