Lemuel Ellis Cemetery (inactive)

Another abandoned newly adopted cemetery is on the south side of River Road just east of Turney Road. This has been noted in some records as the Lemuel Ellis Cemetery. The Ohio Genealogical Society indicates this cemetery was moved to Center Road and only the stone of Ezekiel Richardson remains. There are no cemetery records to confirm that Lemuel Ellis, or anyone else for that matter, has ever been moved to the Center Road Cemetery. The only mention of Mr. Ellis (1764-1859) is on the vault at the main cemetery as a Revolutionary War soldier. Lemuel Ellis came to Perry about 1810 and was married to Polly Call.

The stone for Ezekiel Richardson, not found recently, was read some decades ago, to say "Ezekiel Richardson, died Jan. 14, 1860 in his 60th year." It was broken in three pieces at that time.

Lemuel Ellis' grave was to have been marked with a boulder from the Grand River which he had placed in his yard before his death, which, incidently, was February 20, 1859. Pictures show several tablet type stones there, with no writings. Around 1993, residents in this area, expressed a concern due to the construction of a home on the property surrounding this area. The owner of the home, Mr. and Mrs. Rick Betteley, agreed to leave the area intact for the time being.

There had been reports filed with Lake County Historical Society in the 1960s about youth taking stones and dumping them in the river, but no one was ever caught and no stones were ever found. The river is below a very high cliff.

In May of 1998, the owners gave permission for the Lake County Genealogical Society to clean up the area and explore for stones. It had badly overgrown over the past century and the new owners had not wanted to disturb it. Amazingly, the cemetery was nearly intact, with three rows of many stones, mostly with smaller footstones, all of a dark brown and orange color. They were all badly delaminated and exfoliated. No text could be seen on any of them. There were, however, two bases found for regular marble stones. A stone for Ezekiel Richardson, which had been noted in previous records, was not found. The stone for his wife, however was noted, although broken and scattered. It read, "Died / May 25, 1838/ Aged 39 years." A rough map of the cemetery, showing the placement of the (unreadable) stones, has been included.

The 1940 WPA map included the note that the cemetery was established in 1820, and was 0.07 acres. This map shows the graves at an angle to the road, and three rows of 17 graves. It shows Lemuel Ellis as being in the center of the western most row.

This cemetery is also clearly noted on the 1874 atlas.

This is on private property with no public access.