Source Information

Ancestry.com. Henry County, Missouri, Calhoun Cemetery Index, 1872-1965 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2001.
Original data: Ellsberry, Elizabeth Prather, comp. Cemetery Records of Henry County, Missouri Calhoun Cemetery. Vol. II. Chillicothe, MO, USA: Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry, c1965.

About Henry County, Missouri, Calhoun Cemetery Index, 1872-1965

This collection of cemetery records from Henry County adds to the growing number of databases in the "Ellsberry Collection." The database was compiled by long-time researcher, school teacher, and professional genealogist Elizabeth Ellsberry. These cemetery records contain the name of the deceased, relatives, birth date, death date, etc. as well as age, when given. You may also find notes on some of the graveyards listed. The database includes more than 1,400 entries.

The Calhoun Cemetery is located at the south edge of Calhoun, MO. on Highway V, on the right hand side of the road going south. It is a well-kept little cemetery on rolling land with an abundance of beautiful, hard maples. Like most, it has many unmarked graves and many marked with metal markers which are no longer legible. There were a few stones so badly weathered as to be impossible to read. Calhoun in the 1830s was the largest town in the county due to the presence of clays suitable for the making of jugs and other vessels. After the discovery of a mechanical way to make these items at other places the town declined and was surpassed by Clinton (which acquired the county seat) and by Windsor to the east. The population in 1965 was around 300. The age of the cemetery has not been determined.

The earliest death dates seems to be 1846 but could have been moved in at a later date. There are several in the 1860s, a few in the 1850s, and most from 1870 forward. There seems to be an unusually large number of stones showing birthdates with the death dates blank, many of them being so early as to make the possibility of being still living extremely unlikely. There also seems to be a larger than usual number of war veterans buried here. What is perhaps the most unusual stone there is one of a metal sheath slipped down over a stone shaft. The metal cover is not a homemade affair but carries a patent date of 1894. There is a metal plate screwed on which carries the vital statistics on one side and on the opposite side is a little door which opens up to reveal a picture of the occupant, complete with an obituary and verse. Her name was Cora Madden, 29 years and 24 days, wife of Samuel Madden, daughter of William and Mary Stillings; she left a little girl 16 months old and was a member of the Methodist Church in Leavenworth, Kansas. Mrs. Madden died 29 October 1899.