Place:Doddridge Chapel Cemetery, Centerville, Wayne, Indiana, United States

Doddridge Chapel Cemetery is Centerville in Washington Township in Wayne County, Indiana, USA.

Location 1: at Chapel and Abington Township roads, 4 miles south of US 40
Location 2: WASHINGTON TWP DODDRIDGE CHAPEL RD W FROM ABINGTON TWP RD

Search Find A Grave: Doddridge Chapel Cemetery

Notes

• Cemetery readings for this cemetery contained in the Indiana State Library as of 2013:
  • Call Number 1:G 977.201 W359y v.4,2
  • Call Number 2:GENEAL 977.201 W359r location only p.33
  • Call Number 3:G pf 977.201 W359 no. 4 pt 11
  • Call Number 4:G 977.201 W359da
  • Call Number 5:GENEAL 977.201 W359de location only
• per Palladium-Item (Richmond, Indiana), 14 Mar 2000:

"A band of pioneers from Pennsylvania had much to be thankful for after arriving safely in the US territory west of Ohio and north of Kentucky. They even delivered a baby along the way. When their wagon train came toa halt at sundown on April 8, 1814, they at once had a prayer meeting. As they prayed, these 19 pioneers planted the seeds of the Doddridge Chapel.

Today, most of their headstones stand intact in the chapel cemetery at Chapel and Abington Township roads, four miles south of US 40. Meanwhile, a civic group is working to ensure the chapel and cemetery remain intact. The Doddridge Chapel Research Coalition is having a meeting March 21 to get the public involved. Jon Morgan, of the coalition, is working to raise awareness of the property's value and put it on a historic register. "I don't know any cemetery in the state of Indianan that is as well-preserved of headstones and records," said Morgan of Cambirdge City. "It's one of the rich resources for genealogical and family research." The Centerville man is a descendent of pioneer Philip Doddridge, who donated the four acres for the church. Philip Doddridge was the first person buried there. In the southwest corner of the cemetery, a thicket of untamed black walnut trees shades his grave. He has two gravestones, showing he lived from 1737 to 1822 and was a Revolutionary War veteran. Standing the test of time, the original marble slab has a shield carved around the record. Next to it is a thick, 20th century headstone, marked with the names of Philip Doddridge and his wife, Mary.

Philip Doddridge and his fellow parishioners built a log cabin in 1816 in the cemetery's southwest corner for their Methodist Episcopalian meetings. Visitors might notice a large rectangular gap in the rows of headstones, where the cabin stood. parishioners moved services into a brick church they built in 1832, on the north side of the property. The congregation in 1876 replaced it with today's brick Italianate chapel. The Methodists stopped services there in 1971 after membership declined. The Doddridge Chapel Cemetery Association bought the property from the United Methodist conference to save it from demolition.

Doddridge Chapel Cemetery Association is raising money to keep up the chapel and its grounds by selling a record of the deceased buried in the cemetery. Copies of the record are $30 each and include a map of where each person is buried, birth and death dates if available on the markers and personal information. Call Reid Doddridge at 765-855-3572 to buy a map."