Source Information

Ancestry.com. Ray County, Missouri, Cemetery Index, 1851-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2001.
Original data: Ellsberry, Elizabeth Prather, comp. Cemetery Records of Ray County, MO. Vol. IV-VI. Chillicothe, MO, USA: Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry, c1965.

About Ray County, Missouri, Cemetery Index, 1851-1971

This collection of cemetery records 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 and his or her relatives, birth date, and death date, as well as age, when given. The database includes more than 5,300 entries.

Typing in the name of the cemetery will often provide you with information on its location. The following cemeteries are included in the database:

  • Allen Cemetery
  • Craven Cemetery
  • Elmira Cemetery
  • Hickory Grove Baptist Church Cemetery
  • Hill Cemetery
  • Hudgeons Cemetery
  • Lavelock Cemetery
  • Lawson Cemetery
  • Mason Cemetery
  • Murray-Anderson Cemetery
  • Old City Cemetery
  • Watkins Cemetery

Ms. Ellsberry began genealogical publication in 1958, when she published her own family history, The Warrens and You. In researching her own family, she found that libraries needed additional information from cemetery records, wills, land records, probate records, census records, etc., to help people with their family history. Ellsberry decided that she wanted to help by publishing books that contained solid genealogical data. She taught school for 34 years, but on weekends and summer vacation, she would travel around to different courthouses and cemeteries, recording the information she found. She also corresponded with several researchers and helped them in their research. Ellsberry self-published more than 300 books, and most of them are available for sale.

Most of the compilation of these books took place between 1958 and into the 1970s, so the recorded information should include the cemetery and/or courthouse records of that time period.

Address:
Ms. Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry
P.O. Box 206
Chillicothe, MO 64601