The Lytle Cemetery (originally Raysville) was established
as a church graveyard at a very early date but ceased to be used sometime
in the mid to late 1800s. What remains of the cemetery is located on
the property of the Lytle United Methodist Church.
Kenricks' "History of Raysville" indicates that there were
over 200 burials in the cemetery. In 2009, gravestones were found
for 24 of the 28 known burials in the cemetery. The earliest was for
Lydia Brown in 1830 and the last was
for Susan Haines in 1865. Many
of the gravestones found were for infants and children. In May
of 1869 and September of 1870, the remains of 19 people were removed
from this graveyard and relocated to the Miami Cemetery in Corwin. Click
to see List. In 1948, the portion of the cemetery north of
the original building was abandoned in order to make room for a community
center addition to the church.
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Location: |
- Located in lot 13 of the unincorporated village of Lytle (originally
known as Raysville) at the northeast corner of Lytle Road (CR 28) and
Lytle-Ferry Road (CR 135). The cemetery is located behind the church
on the east side of the property
- "Ohio Cemeteries 1803-2003" by the Ohio
Genealogical Society , Cemetery #12329 [Lytle Cemetery]
- Coordinates: 39° 33' 38"N, 84° 7' 49"W
- TRS: Range 5 North, Township 3 East, Section 14
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Resources: |
- USGS
GNIS - Lytle Cemetery; FID #1963097 (39° 33' 37"N, 84°
07' 49"W)
- Google
Map at coordinates 39° 33' 38"N, 84° 7' 49"W
- Warren
County Auditor for Property Account
# 7618301, Parcel ID 05141770120; Lytle Methodist Church, 0.537
acres
- Range 5 Township 3
Section 14 from Warner's 1867 Warren
County Ohio Wall Map
- Village of Raysville
from Warner's 1867 Warren County Ohio
Wall Map. The church and graveyard are located in lot 13.
- Beers History of Warren County
- page 569
"The Methodists also had
an organization at Raysville at an early day, and built a log meeting-house
and established a graveyard. The log meeting-house was removed and
a very handsome frame built - probable about 1850 -- which was burned
down and afterward the present comfortable house erected. They have
a very good society. There has been a very large number buried there,
but the graveyard has almost ceased to be used."
- page 585
". . . Raysville, by M. Mills &
Bro. and others, November, 1855; contained twenty-two lots;
it had a name long before it was platted; . . ."
- Walter Kenrick, The History of Raysville, now Lytle, Ohio,
undated (1940s) manuscript on file at the Warren County Historical Society.
". . . The time of the organization of the
first Methodist here is unknown. The first meeting were held in the
pioneer's cabins, until in 1824, when Charles Hall sold to the trustees
of the Raysville Methodist Meeting 85 square poles of land on the corner
of Pinkey and Franklin Roads. The first church was built of logs and
used for over 20 years and replaced by a frame building in 1847. In
1860 a large frame church was built, which burned down in 1872, and
the present church was completed in 1873. . . .
"In the rear of this church building , in early days was established
a grave yard where 200 or more of the early residents of the community
are burried. . . ."
- "Lytle Church to Abandon Cemetery, Making Room For New
Social Center," The Miami Gazette (Waynesville, Ohio),
April 8, 1948
" . . . A legal notice published by the church in this issue notifies
"the family, friends or kindred" of persons buried in the
Lytle Cemetery of their right to remove the bodies and monuments of
relatives with 30 days.
"Bodies and monuments remaining at the end of 30 days will be removed
by the church to a special plot near the present cemetery. A fence will
be erected about the ground for the reburial. . . ."
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Transcriptions: |
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Variant Names: |
- Lytle Cemetery
- Raysville Cemetery
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Plat of Lytle Cemetery (No. 61) from WPA Veteran Grave Registration
Project, sheet 47
No veterans are listed. The orientation does not appear to be correct.
County Road 28 (Lytle Road) runs east and west and County Road 135 (Lytle-Ferry
Road) runs in a northeastern direction. |