Cemetery Ownership History

A chain of title was created to follow the ownership of the land on which the cemetery is on for about the past 260 years.  We know the cemetery existed by 1829 due to the headstones from the burials. We also know that John Carroll was the grandson of Mary Polton who owned the land in 1779 by inheriting it from her father-in-law.   It is certainly possible that Mary Polton and her family was buried on that land but it is also likely that the cemetery began in the lifetime, or death, of John Carroll, who lived within a short walk of the cemetery on land owned by John G. Proud.  But we can only go by the facts, and those are that bodies were/are buried within the cemetery (confirmed by cadaver dogs) and the stones dating to 1829 match with nearby property ownership. 

John Warfield (of Joshua) owned the property in from 1827-1835 which was purchased from Mary Polton's son, Zachariah Polton.  Perhaps the cemetery existed during the time of Zachariah's ownership and since it was off in a remote area that John Warfield ignored it.  Warfield sold it to Putney and Riddle in 1835 but there is no evidence that they occupied or were even invested in the Guilford area.  It seems more likely they were consumed with their large business ventures at Waltersville and would not have paid attention to a small cemetery at this location.  Without proof we can only make an educated guess based on facts available.

The first acknowledgement of the cemetery was the "graveyard" mentioned in the 1867 deed from Basil Ousler to Lewis DeGrafft.   I hope this information is useful for others who might want to do some research of their own and either confirm or refute what has been presented.