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There are over 785 burials, marked and unmarked, in the eight-tenth acre grounds of the Old Sharpsburg Cemetery. Many prominently figured into the history of this frontier community and Sharpsburg. We are continuing to find the names of those buried by newly uncovered stones, death certificates and genealogical research including court documents, tax records, census data and information from descendants. Family history, oral or written, Bible records and photographs are all valuable clues. To date we have not located either church or undertaker burial records.
YOUR HELP AS A DESCENDANT AND KNOWLEDGE OF SHARPSBURG, BATH COUNTY AND RELATED HISTORY IS VITAL FOR THE CONTINUED DISCOVERY TO HONOR AND PRESERVE THE NAMES OF THOSE BURIED IN THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY.

John A Richards, a former Owingsville lawyer, provides a brief history of the Old Sharpsburg Cemetery in his book History of Bath County, published by Southwest Printers, 1961, pages 363-4. According to this account the cemetery was established in 1832 during a cholera epidemic. The first recorded burial was Mrs. Jonathan Camplin interred by her husband in a city lot that he owned. The cemetery thus established continued to be used as a burial site for cholera victims. The epidemic is said to have reached its height in 1835 with some thirty deaths during a one week period and recurred again in the early 1850’s.

In 1849 the city lot that contained the cemetery was purchased from Milton Stone by Rev. RF Caldwell. On August 9th, 1849, Robert F Caldwell sold lot 51 in the City of Sharpsburg for the purpose of a burying ground for $25.00 to the Trustees of Sharpsburg including JH Camplain, William Peck, J Allen, Joseph Stephens, William F Matholias, HE Guerrant, DF Tidings and JP McNary. Of these trustees, JH Camplain, JP McNary, and Joseph Stephens along with family members are buried here.

The Crown Hill Cemetery, on the opposite end of Sharpsburg, was opened in 1884 and the Old Sharpsburg Cemetery is said to have been little used after that. We have been told by area residents that the cemetery became known as a burial site for African-Americans. The Old Cemetery, located just off the rear entrance to the Crown Hill Cemetery possibly predates the Old Sharpsburg Cemetery. Only one headstone is found on the grounds today.

Perhaps helpful is the placement of the Old Sharpsburg Cemetery in a timeline of Kentucky history: (1) the Battle of Blue Licks was in 1782 and generally recognized as the last major battle of the Revolutionary War, (2) Kentucky was admitted to the Union in 1792, (3) Morgan’s Station was raided by Indians in 1793, (4) the Old Springfield Church was first constructed in 1795, (5) Bath County was created out of Montgomery County in 1811 and (6) Sharpsburg was first surveyed 1814 on adjacent land owned by Moses Sharp and his brother-in-law, John Penix. Each contributed twenty acres for a total of forty acres. The city was originally named Bloomfield, a namesake of the many flowers to be found in these acres of forested land. Moses Sharp's gravestone is just outside Sharpsburg’s northern city limits between Ramey and Ratliff roads and after Moses’ death the city was renamed in his honor 1825. Photos are found here https://pbase.com/jtsmall/image/117976582 John Penix eventually relocated to Missouri.

To date we have found the oldest burial in the Old Sharpsburg Cemetery to be 1818, predating Richard’s account. The latest burial found currently is 1958. These burials include city officials and four African-American Veterans of the Civil War. Of the latter, two headstones have been found.

An annotated partial listing of burials includes:
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• Dr. Wright, a local physician, is elsewhere listed as one of the first burials, a victim of cholera.
• Joshua Barnes, a physician born in Bath County.
• Elijah E Webb first cousin 1x removed of Daniel Boone. James Webb, Elijah’s father, and Daniel Boone were first cousins
and neighbors through childhood, with visits between the families documented in Daniel Boone's remembrances.
Elijah's headstone is here https://pbase.com/image/124073610 and his son, Benajah, is here https://pbase.com/jtsmall/image/134498478
• Childs Wren, son of Jon Wren who was a prominent land owner, including the probable site of Fleming’s Pond,
the site to which Cols John Fleming and Daniel Boone repaired after the Battle of Blue Licks.
• James Gray Boyd and wife Elizabeth Perkins Boyd both from KY with children William A., a Sharpsburg innkeeper, and Mary Jane.
• Joseph and Jane Caldwell, relatives of Robert F Caldwell who sold the land to the City of Sharpsburg in 1849.
• SP McNary, a lawyer from PA and wife Elizabeth from KY, both age 41.
• Benjamin Ogden, a tailor and local resident before Sharpsburg was founded, his wife Eliza, both from KY, and children
Eddie, Willie, Benjamin. Willie’s marker has no dates but he is shown as age 5 in the 1850 census. Virgil, Lucy, and Henry
are also children but markers have not been located.
• William S. Sharp, physician, grandson of Moses Sharp, and wife Mary Hord both from KY. Children: Howard age 4, Joshua age 1, and William age 3 mos.
• Sara Sharp age 17, probable daughter of Mariah Sharp and granddaughter of Moses Sharp.
• Thomas Summers MD, farmer from KY, and his wife Margaret from KY. Children Mary, Elizabeth, Virginia, Paulina,
Thomas and James Eli, also a daughter Margaret Ann born in 1851. Possibly another dauther Lea Allen born in 1855.
These headstones have been relocated to Crown Hill Cemetery. See four photos starting here https://pbase.com/jtsmall/image/129309329
• Margaret Potts Smathers, consort of Andrew Smathers, and Andrew Smathers, a Freemason are buried here along with
sons James Daniel Smathers, a Civil War Veteran, and Thomas W. Smathers. Daughters Emma and husband Hezekiah Crouch
along with Amelia Matilda “Mary” and husband Nicholas A. Dimmitt are buried at Crown Hill.
• Hugh Little from Ireland, age 50, worked as a clerk for Mr. Ashby.
• Mary A Boyd, wife of Samuel McMichael who was an Irish immigrant, Civil War Veteran and hotel keeper in Sharpsburg.
Samuel's burial site is unknown, possibly OH. Mary's parents are James Gray and Elizabeth Perkins Boyd, also buried here.
• Harvey Ashby, aka Harvey Stevens, a veteran of the Civil War, US Colored Infantry and wife Harriett McCarty Ashby,
a housewife and fancy domestic cook, mother of twelve. She is the daughter of George McCarty, a Civil War Veteran who died
at Camp Nelson 1865, and Patsy Thompson McCarty with both burial sites unknown.
• Mary Polly Moffett sister of Reverend James Moffett, a well known circuit rider.
• Joseph Darrell, veteran of the Civil War, Company K, 13th Regiment, U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery.
• Joseph Stephens, Postmaster, and wife Elizabeth Stevens. Father Joseph was possibly a Revolutionary War Veteran buried in PA.
• James Johnson, member Independent Order of the Oddfellows.
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A complete listing can be found here in reverse page order (use the previous, rather than the next, button at the top of the page to view the pages in order) here https://pbase.com/jtsmall/image/128779807 The listing is updated on a periodic basis.