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Introduction The Tutt -Stuckey Cemetery is located on the south side of -; Cleveland Road a quarter mile west of Ironwood'Road. It is one of two public cemeteries in Clay Township that developed in the 1830's and 40's to meet the burial needs of the area's early settlers. Since its inception, the cemetery has been referred to by several names including: Brooks, Stuckey, Tutt, Sossoman and the Clay Township Cemetery. Most of the names attached to the site were derived from specific family members who were buried there. The cemetery site is in deteriorating condition, with overgrown shrubbery and brush, some of which has been cleared. The cemetery has a mixture of nineteenth and twentieth-century grave markers, some broken or weathered and others intact. There are also signs of ornamental trees and retaining -walls around some of the family burial sites. Tutt -Stuckey Cemetery is located in an area of ongoing development pressure; it is likely most threatened by the possible widening of Cleveland Road, an extremely busy thoroughfare between U.S. 33 and the University Park Mall complex. In addition to the possible threat from development, over time damage from nature's weathering and man's vandalism compromise the integrity and sanctity of the site and its usefulness as material historic evidence. it is the staff's recommendation, therefore, that this site be designated by ordinance as a County Historic Landmark. Landmark status would be one way to ensure protection of this valuable piece of local heritage. Historic Siqnificance The first grave at the Tutt -Stuckey Cemetery, that of Benjamin Brooks, was dug in 1836. The site continued to be used into the 1840's as a family burial ground. It was located on the Brooks family farm and, in addition to the grave of Benjamin Brooks, also contained his wife, Deborah, and their son, Samuel Brooks. By the 1850's the cemetery was one square acre in size and remained as part of the Samuel Brooks estate. In 1856 the heirs of Samuel Brooks: Mariah Brooks, Albert Brooks, A. Atwell and Sylvia Atwell, transferred the property to the Clay Township Trustees for use,as a public burying ground. The site remains so in 1992. The last burial here was that of "John Doe" in 1985; the site has been used until very recently as a "paupers" burial site. The Tutt -Stuckey cemetery is one of approximately fifteen remaining nineteenth-century, pioneer burial sites in St. Joseph 2