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Many of my mother's family are
buried in this cemetery. For a few years in the
early 1990s I served on the Pennsylvania Run Cemetery Ways
and Means committee. Members of this committee began
several fund raising projects, such as the limited edition
historic print of the cemetery. The committee also
revived the fish fries which had been held for many years
from which the cemetery received some funds for
maintenance of the cemetery and its buildings.
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A little background history on
Pennsylvania Run, according to a history written by Mary
E. Rush McCaulley:
In 1840, the Pennsylvania
Run Presbyterian church building (on west side of
Pennsylvania Run Road) replaced an older log
structure that may have dated to the early 1800s or even
earlier. A log structure had served as the meeting
house as early as 1789 when a supply (minister) was sent
by the Presbytery of Transylvania. The area had been
settled by a number of pioneers from Pennsylvania. A creek
or "run" nearby was named for these early
settlers' native state. The Cummins family is believed to
have donated land for the church and cemetery, though
no deed has been found to verify this. William
Cummins who died in 1795 is said to be one of the earliest
burials.
Due to the split of the
Presbyterian Church during Civil War period, "those
loyal to the South left Pennsylvania Run Church and
organized the Beulah Presbyterian Church at Fern
Creek."
In the 1940s or early 1950s,
the Pennsylvania Run Presbyterian Church building was
raised and a basement dug for Sunday School classes and
meeting rooms. A belfry was added at a later date as
well. By the 1960s membership had increased to such
an extent that land for a new church was purchased and
ground broken in 1964 on Vaughn Mill Road. The old
church building was deeded to the Board of Trustees for
the cemetery.
The church disbanded in
October 1973 and Pennsylvania Run Presbyterian Church --
the oldest Presbyterian Church in the Louisville area
and the first church in this section of Kentucky -- closed
its door."
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The cemetery Board of Trustees
filed incorporation papers during the early 1990s period
as well. The corporation oversees both
Pennsylvania Run Cemetery and Penn Run Memorial Park (the
newer cemetery). The trustees rent the old
church building (oldest part dates to the 1840s) to
the Smyrna Baptist Church.
The Board of Trustees of the
Pennsylvania Run Cemetery Association, Inc., holds an
annual meeting for those who have family buried in the
cemetery every Memorial Day. Contributions help maintain
the old church and other buildings and the oldest
cemetery.
It is my understanding that
before the early 1900s, only members of the Pennsylvania Run
and Beulah Church Presbyterian churches could be buried in
the cemetery. There were no other churches in the
Okolona area with cemetery land, nor were there any public
cemeteries (until Evergreen in the 1920s). The
Trustees of the Pennsylvania Run Cemetery allowed for
those in the community to stake off burial lots for their
families at NO COST as was stipulated in the early church
by-laws. That is how those associated with other religious
denominations and those with no means for a burial plot
came to be buried in the old Pennsylvania Run
Cemetery. It is probable that hundreds of burial
locations in the old cemetery have no stones. Records
for the earliest years are poor and/or non existent.
Penn Run Memorial Park, across
the street from the old church was opened in January
of 1970. The lots in this cemetery must be purchased. Note
that there are two distinct cemetery names. Penn Run
Memorial Park is used only for the newer cemetery on the
East side of the road, across from the church.
There was some discussion
among the trustees in the late 1990s about hiring a
company who could determine the number of unused burial
lots in the old section and seeing if the old deed
restrictions on selling lots in this section could be
amended. I do not know if this matter was addressed
further or not.
I DO know that the
Pennsylvania Run Cemetery Association needs your monetary
contributions in order to maintain and preserve one of the
oldest cemeteries in this part of Jefferson County. Since
no lot purchase or "endowment" funds were
required from those burying loved ones in the older
section, the association depends on monies raised by
contributions, the fish fries, and sale of the prints. I
have sent donations to: Pennsylvania Run Cemetery
Association, Inc., 8405 Pennsylvania Run Road,
Louisville, KY 40228.
In 1991, Donald Dearing
compiled "Headstone Inscriptions in the Pennsylvania
Run Cemetery SE Jefferson County, Kentucky."
The book is in two sections, the older part of the
cemetery that is west of Pennsylvania Run Road and the
newer section east of the road. Each section is indexed
separately. I don't know if he is still a member of the
board of trustees, but was at one time. I'm not sure
if the book can still be purchased or not.
Deborah
Campisano
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