A committee has been formed to help preserve one of the oldest known cemeteries in Fredericktown. The cemetery has been known by a few different names in the past and has been abandoned for many years. More than 40 years ago most of the headstones marking the graves disappeared. Those headstones belonged to some of the earlier settlers of Fredericktown — some dating back to the mid-1800s. Only a few visible headstones are left, but they are no longer upright and are partially buried themselves. Committee member Renee Sargent-Harrison said when the cemetery was first established, it was actually in Cape Girardeau County. At the time, the deceased were not allowed to be buried within the city limits. “Madison County didn’t even exist yet," Sargent-Harrison said. "This is how old the cemetery really is and no one has really been buried there since the 1900s.” Sargent-Harrison explained that a lady went through the cemetery in the 1920s with a paper and made rectangles. “She marked each name and location of the graves in the cemetery," she said. "If it wasn’t for that we wouldn’t have a lot of the information.” Later, someone else went through the cemetery and performed more research. “The cemetery has gotten lost over time. We are trying to honor those who are buried there,” Sargent-Harrison said. She added the group’s mission now is to come up with a marker to show the name of the cemetery, its history and a photograph. “We will also have a list of the names of those buried in there,” Sargent-Harrison said. She went on to say that the corner has been surveyed and the group is working on cleaning it up and adding the monument at the entrance along with the name of the cemetery. “We have found the cemetery has had a couple of names," Sargent-Harrison said. "It was the Old Methodist Cemetery, because there was an old Methodist Church there at one time. It was also the First Town Cemetery.” Other names for it were the Newberry Cemetery and Fredericktown Founders Cemetery. Sargent-Harrison said it was deeded in Feb. 26, 1828 for $1 as part of Cape Girardeau County in the city of Fredericktown. She said the Methodist church was next to the cemetery and owned it at one time, but the church is no longer there. Then the cemetery was deeded to the city of Fredericktown, which still owns it and maintains it. There have been many discussions over the years about who actually owns the property. Joe Honerkamp has lived across the street from the lot for more than 40 years. He recalls the discussions shortly after he moved in about who owned and was supposed to maintain the property. According to Honerkamp, it was originally thought to be church-owned, but two separate congregations each claimed the other owned it. When the area became overgrown, Honerkamp recalls how he and three other neighbors cared for a quarter of the cemetery to keep it from becoming too overgrown. Honerkamp said he heard the cemetery was on city property. After he contacted city hall, it was discovered the cemetery was given to the city in 1952. For whatever reason, the decision was made to remove the headstones marking the burial sites. It’s believed that decision was made in order to make it easier to care for the cemetery. “I didn’t realize what was going on," Honerkamp recalled. "I came home from work and they were all gone." The headstones were thought to be taken to a local landfill, but they’ve never been located. Fredericktown Alderman Rick Polete brought up the cemetery during a recent board of aldermen meeting and said they just wanted to bring the committee to everyone’s attention because of their work on the project. Committee member Ruth Ann Skaggs said their group is working on raising money for the project. “We have some money, but we will start working to raise more money to help pay for the project,” she said. Sargent-Harrison said this is a big project and the group is moving forward. “Right now we are looking for anyone with information about the tombstones or historical information about the cemetery or those buried there." She said they have had a family from St. Louis already contact them with some information. There are about 80 people believed to be buried in the cemetery and there may be some soldiers from around the time of the Civil War buried there. Sargent-Harrison said if anyone has information about the cemetery, they can contact her or Skaggs, Collin Follis or Dwayne Ellis. The group can be reached through the Madison County Historical Society at raskaggs_2000@yahoo.com or 573-783-2722. Maridee Lawson is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-783-3366 or mlawson@dailyjournalonline.com