Pioneer Cemetery is located on College Street and Sixth Street in Bowling Green. It was a public burial ground. Looking at the history somewhat, in 1817, a one-room building was located in the cemetery which became the First Presbyterian Church. Rev. Joseph B. Lapsley came to Bowling Green to pastor the church. He was from a noted VA family and had been the pastor at the Big Springs Presbyterian Church in Bardstown, KY. A cousin of his, William McDowell was the Sessions Clerk (he the son of Judge Samuel McDowell who had served as a Colonel in the Revolutionary War). Rev. Lapsley died in 1823 and was buried at Lapsley Hall, his home in Bowling Green. Oral tradition says that the home was designed by his good friend, Thomas Jefferson. Later, his body was re-interred to the Pioneer Cemetery where a table-topped tomb marks the location. This grave was located exactly where the pulpit had stood during his preaching years. Something happened to the church after his death - it either burned or was torn down and all the church records were lost. In Dec. 1831 a call was issued to Rev. Samuel Wilson Calvert to preach and he was able to locate 43 of the charter members. John Marshall, the current Session Clerk at that time, found most of the church records and re-copied. A new church building was begun. According to records, the first funeral held in the new church was for the pastor, Samuel Wilson Calvert. The charter members were: Andrew Wardlaw, William McPheeters, William McDowell, Benjamin H. Hall, Agnes Cowardin, Elizabeth Reece, Margaret Caplinger, Sally Barclay, Susanna K. McDowell, Samuel McDowell, July Cook, Mary A. Harney, Elizabeth C. Hall, Margaret McDowell, Lucinda Brashear, Ann Graham, Mary Russell, Susanna Campbell, Jane Barclay, Anna Brannon, Peggy Wardlaw, Elizabeth Howorth, Polly Morehead, Martha Ransdall, James Harney and James and Patience - slaves.The first Elders of the church were: William McPheeters, Benjamin H. Hall, William McDowell and Andrew Wardlaw. Next week, I will begin a listing of the burials in Pioneer Cemetery as of about 1970-71. I believe, and some of you Bowling Green researchers can confirm, that there has been a book published on the burials of the cemetery that might be more detailed and contain more burials than those I have listed. Sandi Sandi's Puzzlers: http://www.gensoup.org/gorinpuzzles/index.php Sandi's site: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/ Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=south-central-kentucky