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CLEVELAND /LYNNWOOD CEMETERY An 1875 plat map of German Township in Higgins' I_1.1_u_strat.ed H_istor.i. al.... „_At_la__ sof St. .._.Joseph County shows a swath of land dUU out between properties owned by two early white settler families, the Sweets and Witters; a local history text [1] attributes W. Witter as the donor of the land for use as a cemetery. Currently referred to as Witter Cemetery by many local citizens and the German Township Assessors Office, the property was actually donated by John and Eva Cripe; the Cripes were also among the first Caucasians to settle in what is now known as St. Joseph County. A public record dated February 12, 1844 shows the donation of the southwest corner of German Township's section 22 to the inhabitants of the township for use as a cemetery (as deeded by John and Eva Cripe). Also known throughout local history as Sweet Cemetery and Cripe Cemetery, this paper will refer to the site as the Cleveland /Lynnwood Cemetery which depicts its general geographic location by relation to existing thoroughfares. The grave sites of numerous. early Caucasian inhabitants of the region are located on this plot of land. Members of the Hague, Miller, Wagner, Witter, Cripe, Stutsman, and Frame pioneer families are buried here among others. These early settlers of European descent were largely of German nationality and farmers by trade. Several became involved in the early politics, civic duties, public works, agricultural organizations, and religious denominations of the newly formed St. Joseph County. The Cleveland /Lynnwood Cemetery is one of the first established burial grounds in the county. The earliest known grave marker in the cemetery, that of Maria Miller, daughter of Elder David and Louisa Miller, is dated February 23, 1834; the latest known grave marker, that of Catherine Miller, 2nd wife of Elder David, is dated September 8, 1890. The following material is a collection of short biographical notes on the early settlers buried in the Cleveland /Lynnwood Cemetery as taken from local history texts written largely in the latter part of the 19th century (see bibiliography). In 1829, before St. Joseph County was organized, John and Sarah Hague settled a tract of land on the west side of the St. Joseph River within what was primarily known as Portage township, then in the latter part of 1830 as German township, and from 1840 to the present, Clay township. They were among the very first permanent white settlers in the area. A local history text [2] claims John Hague plowed the first furrow in the newly formed German township. John served as a petit juror on one of the county's first circuit courts in 1830 and was reappointed to the petit jury the following year. He died in 1857, Sarah in 1861; both died in