North Madison Cemetery

Madison
(Active)

This still active cemetery is located on the east side of Lake Street (St. Rte. 528) across the street from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, about 1/4 mile south of North Ridge Road (US 20). Although North Madison was originally north of the north (glacieral) ridge, this cemetery is at least north of the village of Madison.
The WPA cemetery map listed this cemetery as established 1812 and containing 2.5 acres.

On November 28, 1863, citizens of Madison Township met to organize the North Madison Cemetery Association, appointing John P. Hewitt chairman and Richard Hall clerk. They then duly elected trustees John W. Crocker, Charles Foster, Richard Hall, David Williams and John P. Hewit, Esq. as trustees of the Association. This was recorded in Volume A pages 24 and 25 of the Lake County Recorder’s Book of Associations.

The original four sections of the cemetery, in Cowles Lot, Tract 2, were property of James Raplee and his wife Elvira. This cemetery, known as North Madison Cemetery, was deeded to the Trustees of North Madison Cemetery on December 12, 1863. Recorded June 27, 1864 in Lake County Deed Volume U, page 302 and 303, this property consisted of 3 acres and 4 rods of land plus the right of way or carriage road from the north and south center road [Rte. 528] to the center of the south line of the above described lot, said carriage road to run east and west from the centre of the south line of said cemetery lot. These original four sections always have a pleasant breeze and are canopied by huge century old evergreen trees. These sections have definite mounds for every four rows with depressed paths between them. The oldest section is probably in the far northeast corner of the northeast section, where several old stones are close to the road, and some are broken and stacked there. From an annotated copy of the Lake County Cemetery inscriptions 1929 at Morley Library we learn of Captain Carlton Graves, Master, who drowned on the Lake Erie steamer Arcadia April 13, 1907 aged 79 years. He was born Dec. 29, 1827 (last digit illegible). The original stone was probably replaced with the huge new reddish-orange rock of granite which is in the south side of this section, between rows. This is next to a heart shaped stone of Lynn Graves, likely moved after 1929, as the older readings indicate these were on the north side of the section, not the south.

A deed agreement was reached on February 23, 1935 with H.F and Marie Wiker to purchase what is now section B, consisting of ˝ acre of land. Purchased for $300.00, this section was sold with the understanding that the premises were being purchased “for use as a cemetery for burial purposes.” The grantors also agreed “to waive statutory limitations in their favor with respect to the distance within which a cemetery may be located with reference to the dwelling and premises of grantors.” In other words, the home is very close to the burial sites.

On April 4, 1938, the Wikers sold another ˝ acre strip to the west of the previous section to the Board of Trustees of Madison Twp. [Lake County Deed Book Vol. 166 page 513]

From the tax maps, it appears that the land for Section C was obtained from Delos Bates, and Sections from C to the road were from G. Keener, both sections probably obtained in the 1930s.

In 2000 two new areas were opened in the east end of the cemetery. The fence was removed, and roads made around the two areas, which are similar in size and shape to the northeast and southeast sections. Each area (north and south) was divided into four sections, labelled J through M. This property had been obtained from Eleanor Gerak, widow. This property is irregular, and is a long strip of land running north and south overhanging the cemetery on both ends. It is an addtional 17.4 acres, of which only the middle is being used as of 2002. This is recorded in 1989 in Lake County Deed Vol. 623, page 30.

The entrance to the cemetery has a large sign, a split-rail fence, and a huge memorial orange granite rock with a brick walk up to it. It is in memory of Anson Bartlett, co-founder of the Grange born in Danby, Vermont October 21, 1816. (See memorial marker information)

The inscriptions for this cemetery were all read the same direction–the rows from west to east and the stones in each row from north to south. Sections NE, NW, SE, SW, and B are as the map shows. Sections SE and SW start at the huge pine trees. Section C is a combination of the sections the cemetery noted as C, D, E, F, G, H, and I. Section D was designated by the cemetery as Potters Field. Section A, as designated by the cemetery actually includes Section C readings rows 13-16. The readings were done using the roads as delimiters, rather than cemetery determinations of the sections.

Inscription readings were proofread and updated between August 13, 2001 and October 2, 2001 including the Single Graves and Potters’ Field, North of Sections A, NW and NE.

Note: Duplicate stone numbers indicate multiple persons inscribed on the same stone as detailed in the inscription column.