phcem21

VI. The Pleasant Hill Cemetery Land (“The Church’s Half-Acre”)

In the pioneer days, it was common on the large farms to establish and maintain a ‘family cemetery’,

where members of the family would be buried. The Samuel and (Mary) Polly (Skidmore) McAninch

family, and the Tristram and (Margaret) Peggy (Buntain) Pike family, were close friends and neighbors

(Tristram Pike bought the land south of Samuel, in 1834; Daniel McAninch married Phebe Pike, 1843;

both Daniel McAninch and Tristram Pike are Trustees of the Church, in 1849).

Significantly, the first two (known) burials in this cemetery were made before 1849 [1] [2] [3a1] --

1847: Margaret A. Pike / born Jan. 3, 1845 / died Nov. 13, 1847 / dau. of T. & P. Pike [1] (7), and

1848: Sarah C. McAninch / died Dec. 18, 1848 / dau. of D. & P. McAninch / aged 5 ds. [1] (6).

Apparently, the two families established this McAninch-Pike ‘family cemetery’ at the southern edge of

Samuel’s land, before 1849, in order to bury these two children. Thus, since this ‘family cemetery’ had

already been established (1847, 1848), it is easy to see why Samuel McAninch donated this specific

half-acre to the M. E. Church [20], for their new church building, adjacent to the existing cemetery.

Samuel McAninch died on 30 July 1859, and is buried in this cemetery. There was no Will recorded,

and his wife Polly (Skidmore) McAninch had died before him [21]. The inheritance was contested by

two different groups of Samuel’s children, their spouses, and surviving grand-children. The Hendricks

County Court appointed three commissioners to settle Samuel McAninch’s estate [27] [map, 27a]:

1.	Elias Grimes (Church Trustee, 1849; two daughters buried in the cemetery, 1851 and 1866);
2.	Job Hadley (Surveyor, 1850 [37]; infant daughter buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery, 1855);
3.	and Washington West (neighbor, in Clay Township; son of Abraham and Sinai West,
	Washington West was born ca.1828-1829, in North Carolina; there is no other (known)
	connection with Samuel McAninch or the Pleasant Hill M. E. church community) [59].

Another section of this report,

“Analysis and Identification of Family Groups, from Pleasant Hill Cemetery Records”, contains

additional information on the Grimes and Hadley families associated with the Pleasant Hill community.

Since Samuel had thirteen children, his land was divided equally, by Court Order, in February, 1861,

“... to each of the parties one equal 13th part of said lands”. The M. E. Church’s half-acre was

explicitly recognized in the 1861 Court Order; Samuel’s third-oldest son, Joseph McAninch, age 40,

inherited “Lot 12”, seventeen acres (seventeen and a half acres, “except one-half acre deeded to the

Methodist Church at Pleasant Hill”) [partition, 27] [map, 27a].

Joseph McAninch had married Elizabeth Jane Quiett, 21 May 1845 , in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois,

and returned to Indiana with his new wife, where their first ten children were born in Hendricks County.

After serving in the Civil War (Co. B, 148th Indiana Infantry), Joseph and his family went to Ringgold

County, Iowa, in 1866, where two more children were born later. Joseph died in 1907, and Elizabeth

died in 1913; Joseph and Elizabeth are both buried in the Ringgold Cemetery, Ringgold County, Iowa.

Permission granted to copy freely for any non-commercial purpose except copyrights owned by others