St. Joseph Township Cemeteries

Saint Joseph Township was organized in 1828

The city of Fort Wayne covers most of this mostly suburban township.

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Bowers Cemetery

9101 Stellhorn Road, on northeast corner of Stellhorn and Wheelock Roads inside Fort Wayne city limits

Street View photo from Google maps

DAR Bowers Cemetery sign
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

Earliest burial December 9, 1830. Still in use. IN DNR Latitude 41.1214 Longitude 85.0219.

2023 tornado news stories state over 3,000 people are resting here.

Go to: DAR tombstone photos or Find-A-Grave

 

 

On March 31, 2023 there were 6 confirmed northeast Indiana tornadoes including Tornado - 3 N NEW HAVEN, IN which struck the Bowers Cemetery in St. Joseph Township shown in the video below:

April 1, 2023 post by Meteorologist Liz Braden on Facebook:

DAMAGE: A large part of the roof at Central Ministries has been blown off, pieces of the debris are scattered around the building.

Old trees are uprooted all around Bower’s Cemetery.

The cemetery was mentioned in a later Facebook discussion April 1, 2023 and may have been near the beginning of an EF-2, one of two tornadoes along IN-37 from Fort Wayne towards Harlan, Indiana.

The National Weather Service officially confirms two tornadoes in northeast Allen County Friday night. An EF-2 developed in northeast Fort Wayne and moved into Harlan with estimated peak winds of 120 mph. This first tornado stayed on the ground for 7.8 miles and was expected to have a maximum width of 400 yards. from FIRST ALERT: Two tornadoes confirmed in Friday night’s storms on 21AliveNews.com.

April 1, 2023 post by the US National Weather Service Northern Indiana on Facebook:

Our survey teams have confirmed 3 tornadoes from Friday night! - An EF-1 tornado was confirmed in Royal Center, IN - An EF-2 and an EF-0 were confirmed northeast of Fort Wayne, IN Additional surveys are ongoing and we will have another update tomorrow or Monday. Find out more here: https://nwschat.weather.gov/p.php...

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 03/31/2023 TORNADO EVENT|... .OVERVIEW... A SQUALL LINE WITH MULTIPLE STRONG CIRCULATIONS PRODUCED SEVERAL TORNADOES FROM WESTERN THROUGH EASTERN INDIANA LATE FRIDAY EVENING. .NORTHEAST ALLEN COUNTY TORNADO 1... the EF2 tornado ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 120 MPH PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 7.8617 MILES PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 400.0 YARDS

Tornado - 3 N NEW HAVEN, IN which struck the Bowers Cemetery is discussed with a map in the link in this post.

April 2, 2023 post by the US National Weather Service Northern Indiana on Facebook:

From the March 31st event, we have a total of 6 confirmed tornadoes - 2 in White County, IN , 1 in Cass County, IN, 2 in Allen County, IN, and 1 in Paulding County, OH. You can read more about each tornado and see photos of the damage at Summary of Severe Weather Friday March 31st, 2023.

8:30 PM ET Update: For those wondering, we had survey teams go out today in Grant/Wells counties in Indiana. We have an additional team lined up to go out tomorrow to Jay County, IN and Allen County, OH. We will share additional updates and add more info to our event webpage sometime tomorrow.

The photo below is from the NWS IWX Survey of the EF-2 tornado in northeast Allen County, IN near Harlan, IN.

We are thinking of those impacted by Friday night's severe weather and tornado outbreak. Not just in our forecast area, but to anyone impacted in the Midwest and Mid-Mississippi Valley. ❤️ 

Work continued Tuesday on cleaning up a cemetery that has been the final resting place for more than 3,000 people since the early 1800s after it was decimated by weekend storms in northeast Allen County. Tombstones and centuries-old trees litter Bowers Cemetery after two tornadoes tore through the area. The National Weather Service determined them to be an EF2, with 111 mph to 135 mph winds, and an EF0, with 65 mph to 85 mph winds. The extensive damage to the cemetery, at Wheelock and Stellhorn roads, surprised Ed Snyder, president of the Bowers Cemetery Board. Snyder said he didn’t even know the area had suffered bad weather until he woke up Saturday. “The devastation is so big, there’s no way we have the money for that,” Snyder said, adding that the cemetery’s 4-year-old board doesn’t have much more than $2,000 in its bank account to pay for regular maintenance. Copied from the article: 'More hands make less work': Community members band together to clean cemetery 'decimated' by tornado Corryn Brock in The Journal Gazette newspaper.

 

More photos:

Bowers Cemetery damages Corryn Brock in The Journal Gazette newspaper Apr 3, 2023  

April 4, 2023 post by 89.1 WBOI on Facebook:

A total of eight tornadoes have been confirmed within the National Weather Service’s Northern Indiana forecasting area.

 

Photo shows Bowers Cemetery.

 

May 8, 2023 post: "Following the tornadoes that swept through the area last month, the Small Business Administration is offering disaster loans to residents of Allen and area surrounding counties.

Despite the name, these loans aren’t only available to small businesses, but also for homeowners, renters and non-profit organizations."

Federal disaster assistance available after April tornadoes by Ella Abbott May 8, 2023

April 4, 2023 post by Mitch Harper on Facebook:

Although some of the photos show damaged grave markers at Bowers #Cemetery, please know that the striking thing is how few stones were damaged given the destruction of trees by the #tornado.

The volunteers have done tremendous work in cutting trees and removing debris. Our thanks to each and every person assisting.

The stone marking the site of my Great Uncle Perry Spencer's parents and sister was spared.

 

First stone photo shows engraving:
Site of Bowers Chapel 1863-1892. In memory of James and Berniece Lewis and all who volunteer to maintain the cemetery

Volunteers work into fourth day of cemetery cleanup, more help needed; by FOX 55 Fort Wayne on YouTube
Apr 4, 2023, Board President Ed Snyder says Bowers Cemetery used to be a beautiful, centuries-old graveyard, until Friday’s tornado left it in disarray. Cover image in 2023 shows Bowers Cemetery phone contact number is 260-486-3271.
Volunteers work into fourth day of cemetery cleanup, more help needed Drew Frey Apr 4, 2023 on Fox 55 Fort Wayne.

April 4, 2023 post by WFFT FOX 55 on Facebook:

"If someone would die that already has a plot there, I don’t know what I’d tell their relatives, because there’s no way we can get in there," Ed Snyder said. Now, he's hoping to organize a major volunteer effort to restore Bowers to its former glory. 

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Canterbury Green Golf Course 9th Hole Johnny Appleseed Memorial

Johnny Appleseed Memorial Stone 9th Hole

There is a large memorial stone on the 9th hole of the golf course off Stonehedge Blvd. claiming Johnny Appleseed died and was buried there. Johnny Appleseed is most likely buried in Archer Cemetery across the parking lot from the Memorial Coliseum. This is discussed on our Johnny Appleseed page.

Crosier Cemetery

Formerly located on the west side of Wallen Road, east of the Old Auburn Road, where the Crosier House stood. Graves were moved when St. Joseph Hospital sold the land for housing developments. They are now in Section E, at the south-east corner of the Catholic Cemetery on Lake Avenue in Adams Township.

DAR Crosier Cemetery photo
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

Catholic priests and brothers. Earliest date 1942. The Indiana DNR SHARD shows the former location of this cemetery on a PDF file. IN DNR Latitude 41.1606 Longitude 85.1158.

Go to: DAR tombstone photos

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Fort Wayne State Hospital & Training Center
aka Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth Cemetery

West side of St. Joe Road, between Broyles Drive and St. Joe Road at the north entrance of IPFW - Indiana Universty-Purdue University Fort Wayne campus. Referred to as God's Acre around the 15:50 and 48 minute mark of The Forgotten PBS documentary.

Google map barely shows the Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth monument in the trees in a photo on Street View from St. Joe Road. The move of the Contenders Statue from the school and dedication at the cemetery is discussed first around the 1:17:10 mark in the original location in the center hallway of the community mall showing the plaque around the 1:17:25 mark, then the dedication at the 1:50:40 mark and again at the 1:55 minute mark for the December 2021 rededication shown in The Forgotten PBS documentary.

DAR FW State Hospital Training Center Cemetery photo
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

One large memorial stone dated from July 1901 to May 1967. Early research shows that the cemetery has more than 200 graves, Pelfrey says. “There could be many more.” Quote by Todd Maxwell Pelfrey, executive director of the History Center was copied from Days of a forgotten school Stories sought about memories of state center by Terri Richardson published March 08, 2020 in The Journal Gazette newspaper .

If interested, read more about the Fort Wayne Developmental Center and Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth.

See also Allen County Children's Home, Allen County Orphan Home, Allen County Poor Farm, Fort Wayne Children's Home, Fort Wayne Developmental Center, and St. Vincent Villa Catholic Orphanage.

Jerry Henry, son of social worker Jerome Henry, who lived in an old farm house on the school property in the 1950s-60s recalls growing up near the school and the cemetery that existed at that time. Research shows more than 200 graves existed, possibly more. The History Center was hoping to team with PFW archaeology students in the summer of 2020 before the COVID-19 Pandemic started to identify the boundaries of the cemetery. The AWS Foundation and the History Center as part of a project to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act are researching and documenting the history of the school and center to show how far society has progressed when it comes to people with disabilities. They are hoping to collect stories to used in a documentary by WFWA-TV PBS Fort Wayne. In addition, the History Center will have a temporary exhibit the fall of 2020 that focuses on the center, how the region has understood the people at the school and artifacts from the school. Read more in Days of a forgotten school Stories sought about memories of state center by Terri Richardson publilshed March 08, 2020 in The Journal Gazette newspaper . Old State School Cemetery Located On IPFW Grounds Feeble-Minded at IPFW An Historic Look at the Grounds was published January 11, 2012 in Vol. 42 Issue 15 of the IPFW student newspaper The Communicator on Purdue University Fort Wayne Helmke Library.mDON: mastodon Digital Object Network .

Fort Wayne State Hospital Cemetery Also known as Indiana Feeble Minded School Cemetery on Find A Grave.

Go to: ACPL Mortality Lists Index with history, 447 names and causes of death, DAR cemetery photos or Find-A-Grave

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Klinger Riverbend Cemetery

7207 Saint Joe Road near the Saint Joseph River near the 13th hole of the Riverbend Golf Course

Google map has photo in Street View

The First Death.— In 1830, William Matthews died and was buried in the cemetery near the Maumee settlement. There was then no cemetery in St. Joseph Township, and for four years thereafter the remains of deceased residents ol this township were taken to some of the neighboring burying grounds.

In 1834, Jesse Klinger donated a small tract of land on the St. Joseph River, to be used as a township' cemetery. It fell into disuse in later years, but its graves have never been disturbed. Peter Parker donated two acres of ground in 1846. The latter is now used as a burial place for the township. It is tastefully laid out and well cared for.

From page 173 of the History of Allen County, Indiana. Publication date 1880 Publisher Kingman Brothers on Archive.org.

Jesse Klinger, a native of Pennsylvania, who settled on the Richardville reserve in 1829, and became a great favorite, and conspicuous for those kindly acts of neighborly kindness peculiar to the early days, was fairly embarked in making his farm, when he died in 1835, and was one of the first of those to be buried in the cemetery he had donated. His son, Samuel, born in 1830, was the first white native of the township.

Copied from page 211 of the book Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana Volume 1, Publication date 1889 on Archive.org.

Page 612

In 1834, Mr. Klinger had given a small tract of laud on the St. Joseph river, to be used as a cemetery, burials having been made as far away as the Maumee settlement previous to that date. A year later, when his efforts toward competency were nearing deserved success, his health broke, and he himself was one of the first to be buried in the little "Acre." His wife returned to her Ohio home, with- her five-year-old son, Samuel, the first white child born in St. Joseph, only to lose him, also, a few years later.

Page 614

The first St. Joseph pioneer to die was William Matthews, in 1830, before the establishment of a local burial place, he being laid in the Maumee settlement plot. The first cemetery, donated as has been said, by Jesse Klinger, 1834, was in use for twelve years, and was never disturbed; but a larger plot was given by Peter Parker in 1846 which then became the township cemetery.

Copied from the book The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River Volume 1 by Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs, Publication date: 1917 on Archive.org.

 

DAR Klinger Riverbend Cemetery photo
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

Earliest burial about 1834. No longer in use. According to old Plat Records in the Allen County Court House, there was a treaty between the United States and the Indians called The Treaty of the Wabash in 1826, giving certain lands to the Indians. The present-day golf course is on the before-mentioned land. Only 3 tombstones remain buried in the ground, one in German language. None for Mr. Klinger.

Go to: DAR tombstone photos

Kukuck Cemetery
aka Bullerman Cemetery
aka Saint Stephen's Cemetery

Google map shows Bullerman Park Forest the area was formerly the Bullerman farm.

No longer exists. Originally located between Reed and Maplecrest Roads, off Trier and Stellhorn Roads. Cemetery was on the Bullerman farm. Removed to Saint Peter Lutheran (Goeglein) Cemetery. Contact Allen INGenWeb if you know more about the cemetery or when it was moved.

Remains from St. Stephens Cemetery 1972

Photo of a tombstone labled Remains from St. Stephens Cemetery 1972 on the NSDAR New Saint Peter Lutheran Cemetery page and L. Kuckuk 14 Jan 1819 to 14 Dec 1887 on Find A Grave with the caption: Remains were moved & reinterred in a common grave at St. Peter's Lutheran New Cemetery located a couple of miles southwest of the original cemetery. [ the New Saint Peters Lutheran Cemetery is southeast of the Bullerman Farm locaton. ]

DAR transcripts show only 2 burials were known, Kukuck was in the German language. Kukuck L Geb 14 Jan 1819 Gest 14 Dez 1887 alter 68 Jahre & 11 ms. -----Aber ich weiss dass mein erloser lebt und er wird mich hernach aus der erde auferwecken. Hiob. 19K 25v. -----(1932 DAR listing.) Reverso translates this as: But I know that my life lives more freely and he will raise me from the earth Job.

Justine Marie Kukkuck Mengerson 2 May 1812 – 22 Sep 1888 is listed on the Genealogy Trails page for Saint Peter's Lutheran Church Cemetery but by the NSDAR or Find A Grave.

1974 USGS map showing Kukuck Cemetery location

1963 US Department of the Interior Geological Survey Fort Wayne East Quadrangle map, photorevised 1972, stamped Mar 07, 1974, in the middle of the Eastern half of the Northwest Quarter of Section 28, is the Kukuck Cemetery near a green wooded area south of Stellhorn Road, east of Reed Road, north of St. Charles Borromeo School and Catholic Church on Trier Road, west of Meyers Road now called Maplecrest Road.

Until around 1970, there was a wooded lot of about one acre in what is now Park Forest subdivsion just west of the former Park Forest Swim Club. The cemetery was in the southern part of the trees. There were around a dozen stones including a rather prominent obelisk.

According to topographical maps on the Historic Aerials website, the cemetery was located on what’s now the lot for the house at 5411 Hewitt Lane, which, according to Zillow, was built in 1970. The 1974 topo still shows the cemetery, but that’s clearly an error, as the 1973 aerial imagery shows the house. So the cemetery was likely moved in 1969 or early 1970.

Information from a February 21, 2024 email by Douglas Lambert.

November 14, 2023 comment to a discussion of a photo of a Manth stone in Maplewood Park during street and sewer reconstruction posted on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

It mentions old-timers recalling several small family cemeteries in the area prior to development of the family farms into subdivisions in the 1960s. A possible cemetery was on Goeglein Road between Stellhorn and Trier, was an empty lot for years never built on with no remaining tombstones (at least above-ground) with the usual cemetery plants of the previous century (like yuccas and day lilies). ... the intersection of Stellhorn and Maplecrest used to be called Maplewood Corners when Maplecrest was a dirt road many moons ago! I still remember the green highway sign!

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Parker Cemetery

5800 St. Joseph Road on the southeast corner of the Saint Joe and Saint Joe Center Roads, contact information and maps are in a kiosk on the east side of cemetery. Parker Cemetery website has their history, photos, names, burial information, maps, and more at: www.parkercemeteryfw.com/. The original St. Joseph United Methodist Church was also located with the cemetery in an existing schoolhouse on the southeast corner of St. Joe Center Road, then moved to the northwest corner in 1863, then in 1957 moved down the road to the Reed Road and St. Joe Center Road intersection from the church history. Church history also says John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed attended early church meetings along the St. Joseph River which is about half a mile west of the cemetery and eventual church location when Johnny Appleseed died on March 11, 1845, his funeral was conducted by the Methodist circuit rider.

Page 614

The first St. Joseph pioneer to die was William Matthews, in 1830, before the establishment of a local burial place, he being laid in the Maumee settlement plot. The first cemetery, donated as has been said, by Jesse Klinger, 1834, was in use for twelve years, and was never disturbed; but a larger plot was given by Peter Parker in 1846 which then became the township cemetery.

Copied from the book The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River Volume 1 by Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs, Publication date: 1917 on Archive.org.

Google map shows photo in Street View

DAR Parker Cemetery sign
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

In 1846, Peter and Elizabeth Parker donated two acres for a township cemetery. Earliest date March 13, 1850. Still in use. Latitude 41.1331 Longitude 85.0986.

80 graves were moved to different locations in the cemetery in 2004 adding a new sign and fencing when Fort Wayne wanted to widen the two-lane roads at the intersection to four-lanes. See Road work may relocate century-old graves from newspaper articles on the Parker Cemetery website.

There are 800 burials with 200 available plots according to Nancy Bell the secretary/treasurer for the Parker Cemetery Association in this newspaper article Trying to keep a family's legacy Work endures for aging caretakers at Parker Cemetery by Kimberly Dupps Truesdell published January 29, 2017 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.

See a photo of long ago intersection of St. Joe Rd. and St. Joe Center Rd. with an old building (church?) and possible tombstones in background posted May 22, 2017 on Twitter by Fort Wayne Fact and ACGSI retweet. A 1956 photo from the church corner was in THIS DAY IN HISTORY: May 1 in photos published May 1, 2018 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.

Go to: ACPL Index, DAR tombstone photos or Find-A-Grave

Pierre Settlement
aka Saint Michael's Roman Catholic Cemetery

South side of 7810 Saint Joe Center Road, east of Hazelet Road, cemetery is behind the Calvary Baptist Church

Google map shows the church but the cemetery behind the church is not visible in photo in Street View

DAR Pierre Settlement Cemetery photo
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

Earliest date 1871. Not in use. DAR site states "Named after Michael Pierre, an early French settler from Bettnig, France who was interred in this cemetery in 1871. At one time there was also a log cabin that served as a church for the Pierre Settlement on the site, which was known as St. Michael’s."

St. Michael's Catholic church, built on the farm of John Pierre in 1870, came third. This mission met the needs of a certain period, but with the trend of Catholic settlement in other directions, the building of St. Leo's at Leo, and of St. Vincent's near Academic, the church building has been abandoned and now stands empty and deserted by all but the graves of its early members, which still populate the little cemetery.

Copied from page 614 of the book The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River Volume 1 by Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs, Publication date: 1917 on Archive.org.

Go to: DAR tombstone photos

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State Cemetery


History Center Digital Collections

State Cemetery is shown bottom left of this blueprint map near the Old Saw Mill along the St. Joseph River north of what is now Stellhorn Road south of the Old Orchard and Johnny Appleseed Squatters Cabin shown on the Location Map of Johnny Appleseed Cabin and Vicinity noting the location of Johnny Appleseed's cabin and the area around his cabin as prepared by A.K. Hofer, C.E., Fort Wayne, for the Three Rivers Forum July 1937 shown on Location Map of Johnny Appleseed Cabin and Vicinity on the Indiana Memory digital library at IN.gov linked to the original map above at the History Center Digital Collection on the mDON mastodon Digital Object Network. No other information is known at this time.

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Page updated: March 3, 2024