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Poor Farm
aka
Old Folks Home or Alm's House
 Cemetery
nearest roads, 450 South, State Hwy 7-210 East
many unmarked graves-some graves are numbered and the numbers correspond to numbers in a grave ledger for the old poor farm. The location of that ledger is unknown.

All names marked with a * now have a file at the Jennings County Public Library in a binder marked Poor Farm. Research done by the Jennings County Family History Research Group.

Elias Boughman   1853-1938*

Simeon Boughman   Died:  December 22, 1937*

George E. Church   1848-1945*

Sam Collier   1871-1938

Laura Everhart  Died:  February 3, 1945*

Mabel Hoffman  Died:  October 29, 1941*

Thomas Knight  Died:  February 7, 1947*

James Kyle  1861-1941

Ed Large   Died:  March 24, 1940

Joe Smiley   Died:  November 20, 1938*

Lester Thomas   1890-1939*

Robert Vandusen   1864-1944 

David R. Penn-(Colored)  Died:  November 7, 1900,  buried Nov. 8, 1900

Squire Mails - Died January 16, 1904, burial January 17, 1904 Poor Farm Cemetery, per - Death Certificate

Edward Millspaugh - Died June 1, 1918, burial January 1, 1918 Poor Farm Cemetery, per - Death Certificate

Wright B. Deputy - July 17, 1845 - December 10, 1929 Poor Farm Cemetery, per - Death Certificate

Four graves marked only with numbers    1, 2, 3, 4

FROM JORDAN FUNERAL HOME RECORDS

Cordelia Adams - date of entry - Jan. 1, 1931, burial Poor Farm*
Tom Collins - date of entry - May 8, 1931, burial Poor Farm
Frank Jackson - date of entry - Nov. 4, 1933, no place of burial listed
John Mingous - date of entry - July 25, 1934, burial Poor Farm *
Margaret Ross - date of entry - July 13, 1933, burial Poor Farm
Velmore Spencer - died August 4, 1934, burial Sullivan Cemetery
Mitilda Woodbury - no dates or other notes
Jeptha Gahn - died June 10, 1953, burial Green Cemetery*

Comments on David R. Penn -[died of Genealogical Debility of many years  Father-John  Mother-unknown - note states age 46 but according to the 1880 census he was only 8 years old - this would have made him about 28] The note in brackets was written by Kenny Barber one of the people who transcribed this Cemetery in 1973. I did a litte search and David R. Penn was most likely the one he mentions from the 1880 census, he is listed in that census with Epilepsy parents are shown as John & Lavena with a little more work I found Lavena's maiden name was McCalfry (many spellings) as in the 1900 census her mother Mary McCalfry listed in the home as mother in law. I got totally sidetracked following this family and found John who was born in 1835/38 was from Kentucky and Mary from Ohio. He was probably married before as some of the children in the home were born  in Canada before he and Mary were married. I am sure there is a fascinating story here. It is possible he escaped Kentucky and traveled to Canada some more children were born in Ohio so after the war he might have come back to the States and went from Ohio where he met the second wife then moved to Indiana where most of their children showing in census records were born. I tracked some of the grandchildren as far as Michigan where they are listed as of American Indian heritage in the census. Is anyone out there researching this family?
  I got an answer to the above question from Dr. G.C. Waldrip III - "They were part of the mixed-race Rickman-Mason-Goins-Lyles-Penn settlement that existed from the 1840s through the 1920s in Bigger Twp. and in Butlerville. Yes, the grandchildren in Michigan later claimed Native American status; there are also scattered Jennings Co. records that list them as "Indian"--as opposed to "Mulatto," the usual designation. By 1920, most of these families had left the original area of settlement. Some moved to Vernon/North Vernon and integratd into the larger African American community. Others wound up in Indianapolis, Ohio, Michigan, and/or Oklahoma. The last family to live in the old neighborhood was that of John A. Goins (1887-1971) and his wife (and third cousin) Gladys Beatty (1901-66), who farmed his father's place into the 1920s before moving to North Vernon. They are buried at Rush Branch."



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