Program on Old Bluffton Cemetery

The Wells County Genealogy Society and the Wells County Historical Society recently presented a program about the Old Bluffton Cemetery at the Wells County Historical Museum Annex. The program featured local citizens taking the roles of former Bluffton residents buried in the cemetery. Pictured left to right, Lynn Elliott (hostess), Jim Sturgeon (Jacob Borne), Jen Sturgeon (Ellen Magley Borne), Alan Daugherty (Robert C. Bennett), Larry McAfee (Erastus Kent Bascom), Marcia Hotopp (Saloma Russell Harvey) and Ben Jones (Dr. T.H. Crosby).

Pictured above is the entrance to Old Bluffton Cemetery, located overlooking the Wabash River on Hale Steet just off of North Oak Ext in Bluffton.

The Old Bluffton Cemetery was plotted in 1841 by the Sylvanus Church at the Hale Street site beside the Wabash River, just off North Oak St. Ext. It was plotted for 222 lots (16 ft. by 32 ft.) with 6 ft. alley ways. Plots were priced at $10 and anyone could ask to be buried there.

Burials no longer take place at the site, with the last burial taking place in 1901. In 1901 several people were exhumed and moved to Fairview Cemetery Bluffton.

Lynn Elliott provided the history of the cemetery and the cemetery honorees included:

Robert C. Bennett, born 1787 and died Oct. 18, 1859. His home was the first Court House in Wells County. (Played by Alan Daugherty)

Erastus Kent Bascom, born Aug. 13, 1823 and died Oct. 23, 1853. He was a druggist, a prosecuting attorney and the founder of the Oddfellows Club. (Played by Larry McAfee)

Dr. T. H. Crosby, born April 2, 1818, and died Feb. 21, 1883. He was a doctor and surgeon as well as soldier in the 39 Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. (Played by Ben Jones)

Saloma Russell Harvey, born Nov. 2, 1828 and died Feb. 9, 1883. She was a wife, mother of four childreen and a devoted Baptist. She and her husband were moved from the Old Bluffton Cemetery to Fairview. (Played by Marcia Hotopp)

Jacob Borne, born 1844 and died Aug. 18, 1889. His wife, Ellen Magley Borne, had Jacob re-buried at Fairview and a Knights of Pythias pin removed from her husband’s lapel to give to a son. Henry Thoma was the undertaker involved in the pin retrieval. (Played by Jim and Jen Sturgeon) The pin, now framed with an article written by Jim Barbieri for The News-Banner, is the property of the Wells County Historical Museum.

Article written by Barbara Barbieri for the Wednesday, October 8, 2025, News-Banner, Bluffton, Indiana.