HENRY CEMETERY

FOUNDED: 1841

ADDITONAL NAMES: None

AFFILIATION(S): None

HISTORY:

The Henry Cemetery is located east of Highway Z, approximately one mile south of the village of Reger in Sullivan County, Missouri. The area in which the Henry Cemetery is located was known as the Main Locust Settlement, noted by several histories as the earliest part of the county to be populated. The Henry Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places. It represents some of the pioneer families of Sullivan County. Though no towns or even churches were located near the cemetery during its formation Henry Cemetery is in many ways a community burial ground. The two-acre cemetery contains approximately 200 historic (pre-1955) graves, though several unmarked graves and recent burials are scattered throughout the cemetery. Gravestones within the Henry Cemetery date from 1841 to present day. Henry Cemetery is an example of neighbors banding together to provide for the needs of a community or group. Death is an inevitable part of life, and burial grounds were some of the first permanent markers of early settlement.

Though the slave population was relatively small in Sullivan County, at least two families associated with the cemetery were slaveholders. Robert Henry was born in Franklin County, Missouri. In the 1880 census, Robert Henry (no apparent relation to Thomas Henry) is listed as a single, African American, servant in the household of Joel DeWitt. Robert Henry died in 1883 and has a gravestone over his burial place. Oral tradition is that there are unmarked burials of slaves (or former slaves) in the cemetery. There are future plans to conduct a ground penetration radar survey to locate unmarked burials.

BCN Contact Information:

Glenda Richey

gsrichey@comcast.net