Cemeteries

Even before the organization of Trinity, in the days when the railroad company opened the land to early settlers and homesteaders, they sold ten acres of land near White City to the “Evangelical Protestant Church” for $1.00.  Around the turn of the century this land was deeded to Trinity.  For years it was a source of revenue to the congregation in the form of rent money.  A small burial plot on this land contained several graves.  Information is sketchy as to who is actually buried in these plots but at least two have been identified.

In 1945 the land was sold to Mr. F. L. Briscoe for $1500.00.  According to church records at that time the cemetery was “reserved and exempted from sale.”  Unfortunately, no record of the exemption can be found in county land sale records.  Over the years the land has been resold numerous times.  

In August of 2001, a search was made by Trinity congregation in county records to locate this plot.  The plot was found on property on the west side of County Road 606 just south of its intersection with County Road 621.  The number of grave plots could not be determined since the area has been overgrown with trees and shrubs.  On this land is located a 4' x 8' area bordered by flagstones with at least two other larger flagstones inside the border.  These interior flagstones may have at one time been grave markers but they have fallen over and appear to have never been engraved with any information.

Trinity owns another, larger cemetery between Hanceville and Garden City.  On April 9, 1893 Mr. W. Schaffner donated one acres of land, located on his farm, to the congregation for the purpose of establishing a congregational cemetery.  Even today when one visits this well-kept cemetery one finds many Schaffner graves from long ago.  The Schaffner family migrated to Arizona which was considered a drier climate and therefore more healthy for the lungs.  Tuberculosis and pneumonia were frequently fatal in those days.