Adams Township, Morgan County, Indiana, just West of Eminence.

I’m not the first of my family to live in the Hoosier State. Five generations up my family tree, you’ll find the Rheas,which trace back to the Scottish Clan McRhea.  After settling in Virginia,  the Rheas started to move west in the 1860s.  Joseph C. Rhea, the older brother of my great-great-great grandmother, was the first to settle in Indiana.   He ended up in Eminence, Morgan County right before the Civil War broke out.  When the fighting started,  Joseph joined up with the Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving the Union. His brother, James , was still in Virginia. James served with the Virginia Volunteers, assigned to the command of General Stonewall Jackson.  James was captured and held as  a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware; at the end of the war, James joined his  brother in Eminence.

My grandmother, Sarah Frances Rhea married Peter Franklin Fox moved to Johnson County, Indiana, just east of her brothers.  My great-great grandma Annie was born in Eminence in 1883.  By 1887, the family was moving west again, settling in Kansas.

Eminence is less than thirty miles Southwest of Indianapolis. Today was a beautiful day for a road trip. I thought I’d see if I could find any Rhea gravesites. Google showed me three cemeteries.

The first I found was Shumaker Cemetery, and it was by far the newest of the three.  No Rheas to be seen.

The second cemetery, Whitaker- Patrick was harder to find. I had about given up, when a heavy truck was coming down a narrow road. I pulled off to the side to let him pass, when I saw a faint trace of gravel and a mowed path that led upward.

Hidden away, behind the trees was Whitaker-Patrick Cemetery. It was tiny, with only a handful of graves, but it was by far my favorite. No Rheas there either.

The clouds had been darkening a bit as the day went on. I just found the third cemetery, Walters,when the clouds opened up.

It was the oldest, as far as I could tell from the road.  I feel confident that some Rheas are at rest there, but I wasn’t going to check in the rain. And someone built a house right next to the cemetery, so its a bit odd to get to.  But that is an adventure for another weekend.  Once I’ve found Grandma Sarah’s brothers, then I’ll start hunting my great grandpa Row, whose family settled in Northern Indiana in the 1870s.

My main question is, why did they keep moving west? Morgan County is much greener than Western Kansas!

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