NEFF FAMILY BURIAL GROUND

W. 1/3 of N.W. 1/4, fractional section 34, T.27N, R.1E. 2^nd IN P.M. in CLINTON Township in CASS County , INDIANA . Cemetery about 1/2 mile below [I.E., down (the S. side of) Wabash River from the West edge of the [1940]city of Logansport .  

Between 1826 & 1829, during the earliest years of the American settlement of Cass County , a family or caravan en-route going further west camped on the south bank of the Wabash River , east of the mouth of Longcliff Creek. Two or three of their children died here of some contagious disease such as smallpox. They were laid to rest at a point east of the mouth of said creek & about 40 rods [2 city blocks], west of the extreme N.W. corner of the present [1891-1940] Logansport State Hospital Cemetery & the south bank of the Wabash River & the south edge of the present [E-W] “River Road”, a westward extension of Logansport’s “Cliff Drive” which was formerly known as the “Lafayette State Road,” which here runs quite close to the river.

  Just due South of these graves is [May 30, 1940] a large red & very conspicuous old barn [on the Ernst Hamburg farm] that sits very close to the Longcliff Creek, which flows in a N.W. direction & merges with the Wabash River a short distance west.

  The three children’s names unfortunately are lost in time & history. It’s understood that shortly after these children died [1830-1831], JACOB NEFF & other adult members of this pioneer family established themselves nearby in this [N.W. 1/4 of frac.Sec.34] of Cass Co., IN. & curiously examined the rude little wooden crosses or other humble markers which were on the children’s graves [perhaps even then unknown] & decided to establish here with them as a sort of nucleus, a burial ground for their neighbors, friends & loved ones. During the following decades, several members of the NEFF families & quite likely one or more other families were buried here. Ultimately, the NEFF’S who were buried here were disinterred & removed to the much larger, better kept and more permanent St. John’s Cemetery about a mile S.W. The other graves, said to have been [6 or more] were left undisturbed in their now unmarked graves.

  The Old-Timers say that the paling-fence which was here has entirely disappeared & the River Road which was re-routed several years ago now passes directly over a portion of this forgotten little pioneer burial ground. Study of the fence along & immediately south of the State Hospital grounds gives some idea of the route of the River Road & the little cemetery which the new road “sliced off’ or now passes over. This is just one of the four separated cemeteries known to exist on the far-flung campus or grounds of the Longcliff, Logansport State Hospital located just S.W. of Logansport, IN.

  At this late date it doesn’t seem possible to obtain the names & dates of those who are interred her & so persons interested in those Neff’s & other families who were long ago buried here or in other Neff’s who were of the township are encouraged to consult “Thomas B. Helm’s, 1886 “History of Cass County, Indiana pgs.717 & 718. Also,

Dr. J.Z. Powell’s [1913] History of Cass County, Indiana” [Vol. 1, pgs. 548-549], which briefly mentions this cemetery.  

L’ANGUILLE VALLEY MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION

500 FRONT ST .,

  LOGANSPORT , INDIANA

Report by R.B. Whitsett, Jr.-Chairman-Cemetery Research Committee 

5-28-1940

Input by Pat Fiscel from the L'Anguille Valley Memorial Association Report for the Cass County INGenWeb Project April 2007.

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