MyIndianaHome.net

Robert Rodgers, an early pioneer of Jefferson County, Indiana, emigrated from Pennsylvania with his wife Rachel and children. On Dec. 13, 1819, he registered a patent certificate at the Jeffersonville Land District Office, for 160 acres in the northeast quarter of section 1, in what is now Smyrna Township.

The Brown graveyard began when two of Robert's grandchildren died less than a week apart, in Sep. 1834, and were buried in the southeast corner of the Rodgers family farm. The children belonged to Robert's daughter Rachel Rodgers-Brown, and her husband John Parker Brown.

Robert Rodgers died in Apr. 1844, leaving his property to his wife Rachel. Upon her death, their son James Rodgers inherited 120 acres on the east side of the farm, which included the Brown Cemetery. On Jun. 21, 1864, James sold 40 acres of this land to his daughter Eliza Rodgers-Finehout.

John Parker Brown was the son of Patrick Brown, who is buried on the farm on Telegraph Hill where the old Poor Farm was located. His mother was Elizabeth, sister of John Paul, who founded Madison.

When the D.A.R. recorded this cemetery in the 1930s, it was on the Arthur Sauer farm. They stated that an iron fence surrounded the graves, and that there was evidence of other graves, with field stones. When the present owners purchased the land surrounding the cemetery in 1970, the Brown Family burial ground was covered with thick overgrowth, and the stones were mostly underground. Out of respect for the Brown family, they cleared the burial area, reset the stones, and replaced the delapidated iron fence with a wooden fence.

Brown family stone
   John P. Brown, 26 Nov 1794 - 3 Feb 1871
   Rachel Brown, 2 Dec 1803 - 10 Jun 1876
   Their Children:
   Rachel M. Brown, 21 Jan 1826 - 4 Nov 1863
   Robert R. Brown, 13 Dec 1827 - 22 Sep 1834
   Mary J. Brown, 27 Jul 1834 - 29 Sep 1834

Individual grave markers for:
Rachel M. Brown
Robert R. Brown
Mary J. Brown

Unknown burial
[Inscription is completely worn off.
Lamb on top of stone, indicating a young child.]