By Douglas Harper (Memorial Day, 1990)

Mary Elizabeth Ritchie Price and her husband Benjamin Snivles Price sold the land to the Trustees of the Sunrise Cemetery on 25 May 1892.

(Mary Elizabeth Ritchie and Benjamin S. Price were the parents of George Price and Mag Price Casey.  They were the parents of Cora Price Carr.)

The trustees were J.M. Struve, Robert Karr, and George W. Sandy.

They paid $70 for the 1 acre and 2 roods.

Mary and B.S. Price reserved on lot in the cemetery for themselves.

Plots of 12 graves were sold for $5.00.  At that price the cemetery could have sold all 66 plots for $330.

The original grave yard was from the road on the east end of the current cemetery to the old road that has been absorbed in the cemetery and where Grand Doggett's grave is located.  There was an iron fence on the road side of the cemetery for a long time and there were trees at the entrance of the cemetery on the west side.  The east-west road through the cemetery is the original road.  Going from east to west there were 11 plots.

Total plots were 66 in the original cemetery.  Only two of the original 66 are still not used.  They are over the hill on the north east end.

Additional land was obtained in 1913 or, at least, the first plots were sold in the new half acre plot beginning in 1913.

Second addition.  Extended the cemetery to the west 4 plots but since the west road was in that area there were only 22 plots established.

The next addition of land to the cemetery was done about 1920 when another acre of land was included in the cemetery.

Third addition.  Extended the cemetery to the west by four plots, north one plot and east three plots to the east of the road.

Fourth addition.  Was given by Ernest Clifford and extended the cemetery north by one plot all along most of the north side.  The stipulation of the gift was that Ernest Clifford would have one 12 grave plot for his family.

Fifth addition.  Was given by Dan and Rose Clifford. This extended the cemetery north and added about 1.2 acres. This addition subsumed the strip of land donated by Ernest Clifford previously.

Beginning on January 1, 1917 all lots south of the main drive were to be sold for $20 and all north of the drive were to be sold for $15.

In 1955 the board set the price of a grave at $10 each or $120 for a 12 grave plot.

In 1958 the board set the price of a grave at $12.50 each which would have been $150 for a 12 grave plot.

In 1961 the board set the price of a 12 grave plot at $200.

Between 1961 and 1981 the price of a grave was set at $50 or $600 for the 12 grave plot.

The graves were selling for $100 each in 1988.

The graves are selling for $400 each today.

Click on the map above to see a larger image of this survey map of the cemetery.

A list of trustees of the Sunrise Cemetery has included the following:

Interesting Facts

Payments for plots or graves were in cash in most cases except the following:

Veterans

Wars represented by the markers in the Cemetery.  Of course there are others that are not marked so they can be identified.

Civil War

Spanish American War

World War I

World War II

Korea

Earliest Birth Dates

Those persons with the earliest birth dates, based on a reading of their tombstone inscriptions, are as follows:

First Burials

Mrs. Cora Price Car tells me [Doug Harper] that the first burial in the cemetery was a man named Price and was buried on the inside of the curve of the road on the east end of the first section.  There was never a tombstone and the road now turns over him.  The other earliest burials, based on a reading of their tombstone inscriptions, are:

First 12 Grave Plot Purchasers

The increase in prices of graves has gone for $5 for 12 graves to $1,200 for 12 graves, or an increase of 240 percent.  If the price of land had increased the same amount the original cemetery costing $70 an acre would now sell for $16,800.  Of course the original purchasers of the grave sites were only purchasing the little land needed to bury the person but now the purchase includes perpetual care of the grave site.

Surnames Found in the Cemetery

A little analysis of the surnames found in the cemetery.

Names run from Ackerman through Zumwalt.

The tombstones and the information that I have found and documented shows that there are at least 747 people whose names appear on tombstones or have been identified as being buried in the Sunrise Cemetery.

Douglas A. Harper

NOTE:  The text above is from a book prepared by Col. Douglas A. Harper (Ret'd.) entitled "Sunrise Cemetery Tombstone Inscriptions" (Revised Dec., 1990).  The text which comprises this web page has been taken from this book largely verbatim, except for some minor edits and alterations so as to be able to present the information in a web page format.  P.N.