Indiana Spirit Quest #102: Trench Warfare Traditional Cache

Pioneer Cemetery (All photos by The Shadow)

The Indiana Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of small, rural, historic cemeteries built by Hoosier Pioneers. In less than a year, the quest has grown to over a hundred caches hidden in nine northeast Indiana counties, and the hiders have grown to three cacher teams, each comprised of A Man and His Dog...The Indiana Division of Historic Preservation & Archeology claims there are over 100,000 cemeteries and burial grounds in Indiana. Personally we think this is an absurd figure, but since they're a part of the IDNR, they MUST be right...so we're at the one-tenth of one percent mark and climbing! PRAIRIEPARTNERS has set a record for one-day ISQ finds on 10-16-2004 at 55! 106 cacher teams have logged over 1,543 finds.

TOP TEN FINDS

FTF's

2. 16 --Bluegillfisherman
3. 14 --Buddaman
4. 8 --Pinestrail

The Shadow has selected Alton Cemetery in Concord Township,east of St. Joe, DeKalb County, for this caching adventure. Listen carefully to what he has to say:

This is a mid-to-large size cemetery, and still moderately active. Although on a busy State Road, it gives a sense of tranquility to the visitor. A pause beneath the large trees in the older section was quite enjoyable to me. A visit in warmer weather will be really nice here in the shade. There are numerous veterans here, from all wars, War 1812 on. The Coburn family seems to have many people residing here. Coburns here participated in most all of the wars, but they are only a few of the many veterans at this location. Offroad parking is available. -- THE SHADOW

The real beginnings are established in the founding history of the Coburn Corners Church of Christ. Therefore as the church developed, so did the cemetery history.

"In the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty six, a few deciples having moved into the township from Trumbull Co., Ohio, feeling their obligation to God to keep his institutions and commandments and to exhibit Christianity as far as was in their power, met accordingly at the house of Benj. Alton and formed into that order which we believed the scriptures require in the month of February 1836". ... It was organized in the house of Brother Alton, a little log cabin, about 16 x 20, one and one half miles north of the corners on the bank of the St. Joe River".

Part of the land obtained by Benjamin Alton was decided to be used for a "real" church building and as a final resting place for the members. Therefore Benjamin Alton sold to the members an acre and a half for those purposes in 1839

Even though the Altons had deeded this property for a burial ground, neither one of them were interred in it. It seems that the "exhaustive toil, and the malaria of the rich opening soil, undermined his naturally hardy constitution. He sank gradually to a feeble state from which he could not rally. His wife, Fanny (Hoyt) Alton, the faithful sharer of his life and fortunes, sank with him and before him." 1 She died March 24, 1847, and is buried in Wabash. Benjamin died April 7, 1847 and is interred in Wabash, Wabash Co. There is no real explanation why the two of them died within two weeks of each other.

It should be noted that "during the month of October, 1906, Benjamin Alton’s youngest son Cyrus went to visit the burial place of his parents near Wabash, Indiana with the intention of having their remains returned to DeKalb County for re-interment in the cemetery; of the Coburntown Church of Christ, the site having been deeded long before by Benjamin Alton to the church. At that moment in 1906, the church trustees were planning to incorporate the grounds, naming it the Alton Cemetery. After Cyrus Alton’s visit to Wabash, he reported his parents’ graves in such a beautiful cemetery that he decided to leave them at that place and accordingly ordered a monument to mark their resting place there."

The oldest readable burial tombstone is that of Minerva Coburn, dated October 8, 1840. There are missing tombstones and so this is the only source found.

The small congregation was growing and had started to meet in an old school house. Whether this was the Cheesetown or Coburntown school is uncertain. The center of the community was soon seen to be nearer the corner that became to be known as Coburn’s Corners. This modified the original plans to have a church and cemetery on the same plot. In 1860 the need of a separate place of worship was necessary. A small frame building was erected on the corner of what is now State Road 101 and County Road 64.a,

In 1903, the need for a larger and remodeled building was determined so a plot of land was sold to the Church of Christ at Coburn's Corners for the building. The old building was turned 90 degrees and the new one built around it. At some point in time, the church purchased the Cheesetown Schoolhouse, located directly west of the cemetery.

MAJOR DANIEL ABALE OHIO MILITIA (1776 - 1869)

CPL. EBENEZER COBURN (1794 - 1847)

PVT. Henry J. Abel Co. F, 44th Ind. Infantry Reg.(1833 - 1915)
PVT. David Andress Co. F, 44th Ind. Infantry Reg. (1828 - 1910

Q.M.SGT. Jacob O.Coburn Co. I, 6th Michigan Cavalry died POW, Belle Isle Prison, Richmond, Va. (1832-1864)

PVT. Wm. Henry Harrison Milliman Co. F, 44th Ind. Infantry Reg.
PVT. John Bryant Milliman Co. G. 53rd Ind. Infantry Reg. (1825 - 1863)
CPL. James M. Milliman Co. F, 44th Ind. Infantry Reg.(1835 - 1920)
PVT. Warren H. Milliman Co. F, 44th Ind. Infantry Reg. (1833 - 1862) PVT. Curtis Perry Co. G, 14th Ohio Infantry Reg. (1844 - 1893) CPL. GeorgeW.TrosteICo. F. 48th Ohio Vol. Inf. Reg.(1843-1924)

PVT. Arthur Woodcox Co. K, 3rd Ind.. Vol. Inf. Reg.

PVT. Charles O. Headley, U. S. Army,died on board Seattle coming home
Co. H 309th TRENCH MORTAR BATTERY A.E.F.
(Tombstone has engraved insignia for Trench Mortar Unit)

Popularly known as the "Lincoln Division." Insignia, a white disk, surrounded by a red circle, on which is superimposed "Lincoln 84" in blue and a axe with a red head and a blue handle. Organized at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, in Sept., 1917. The division was composed of National Army drafts from Indiana and Kentucky, and remained in training at Camp Taylor until Aug., 1918. Upon arrival in France, the division was designated as a depot division and ordered to the LeMans area. Here the division was broken up and cadres were formed for training the personnel as replacements for combat divisions at the front. Returned to the U.S. in Jan., 1919.

This division was composed of the following organizations: 167th and 168th Inf. Brigs., 159th Fld. Arty. Brig. 133d, 134th, 135th, 136th Inf. Regts., 125th, 126th, 127th Machine Guns Bns., 325th, 326th, 327th Fld. Arty. Regts., 309th Trench Mortar Battery, 309th Engr Regt. And Train 309th Fld. Sig. Bn., 309th Hqs. Train and M.P., 309th Supply Train, 309th Amm. Train, 309th Sanitary Train (333d, 334th, 335th, 336th Amb. Cos. And Field Hospitals).

CPL Paul A. Perry U. S. Army decorated with Croix de Guerre

Some of the other Vets:

World War I & II: Chaplain Walter H. Coburn U. S. Army

Lloyd P. Coburn U. S. Army severely wounded & captured during Battle of the Bulge;(1896 - 1979)

Doris M.Stuck Women's Army Corp.(Wife of Mark)
PFC. Mark E. Stuck U. S. Army Military Police

PVT. Robert L. Wade U. S. Army Co. C, 184th Inf. 7th Div. KIA Leyte, Phillipines

The cache container is a small camo'd match holder. BYOP. Park with care. If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out.

Cache In - Trash Out!

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LATEST UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL:

"I just wanted to drop a quick line to let you know how much I enjoy your ISQ caches. Even though I have only hunted one, I love to sit and read the history of the cemetery. Also I want to give you a pat on the back for the hard work that you guys put into the details of your cache history. I have noticed that alot of people just throw a cache out somewhere just because it is a good hide. You actually give some history for your hides. Thanks! Cache On!!"

MYSTERY GEODAWG NO.5

NOTE, AUG. 2005: Cache has been relocated with new clue. (NIGHT CACHING NOT ALLOWED AT THIS SITE. )