Shortly after the Civil war, Cornelia Barnum left her home New York
and established a homestead east of here. She wrote to her brother
William Denniston and brother-in-law Albert S. Barnum and
encouraged them to join her. They grew up on neighboring farms in
Fallsburg NY, and they became neighbors here. This cache and the
cemetery are at the junction of their two farms. The Barnum farm
was to the north, the Denniston farm to the south. The large white
house on Garfield was originally the Denniston home.
The two families were instrumental in the founding of the
village of Mayfield. WIlliam Denniston gave up farming to establish
the first store in the settlement and sold his farm to Samuel
Macey. The Macey family established this burial ground. When George
Rarick purchased this portion of the Macey farm, he continued to
use this area for family burials. Albert Barnum donated the
northern portion of the site and the cemetery is named for him.
There are a number of additional Barnum contacts in the area. An
additional cousin, Platt Barnum came here to farm. When the
villagers established the Mayfield church, Cornelia obtained the
donation of hymnals and prayer books from her most famous cousin
P.T.Barnum of circus fame. The weather vane on the church building
came from the Barnum Wire Works of Detroit.
There truly seems to have been one born every
minute.