For this prompt - I thought I'd share the joint stone of Noah Dorsey and his daughter, Lucetta.
We went out to Dorsey Cemetery and got it photographed in November of 2016. We ended up finding the broken top half of Lucetta's stone...which happened to be her father, Noah.
The Dorsey family were the 'original settlers' of the Corydon area. Noah was certainly considered the patriarch, and his wife Nancy, the matriarch of a great family.
Noah's daughter-in-law Patsy (wife of his son John) is who named the town. I think the Dorsey's stamp on the town is quite evident. There's even a Dorsey Street.
Little Lucetta Dorsey was born on June 12th, 1820, and passed just over a year later - August 20th, 1821.
Her tombstone is among the oldest still existing in the county. Yes, Henderson was founded in 1797 but, it's exceedingly rare to find a tombstone here dated prior to 1820. In the whole county, I think only eleven with a death date of 1820 and before exist. One of the most prominent areas to find dates prior to 1820 is in Posey Cemetery which is actually a cemetery within a cemetery.
Posey Cemetery is within Baskett Cemetery. When the town cemetery started, they decided to bury "around" the original Posey Cemetery. They are, truly, in fact, two separate cemeteries.
Between 1821 and 1830 - there's only 28 existing tombstones in the county - Lucetta's being one of them. Even more surprisingly, most tombstones with the earliest dates are NOT in Fernwood but in small family cemeteries out on farms throughout the county.
Dorsey Cemetery is also unique in having quite an old birth date on a tombstone -- 1758. Nancy Ann (Hall) Dorsey's mother, Elizabeth (Ward) Hall was born in Manokin, Maryland. She emigrated to Kentucky in the year of 1805. She lived to see the age of 94 and passed in 1852. Her tombstone even states that she had been a member of the Methodist Church for 64 years.
Today, the Dorsey cemetery sits far back on a farm that's still owned by Dorsey descendants today. The Conn family were incredibly kind to us during our visit and very helpful. You can tell they have a real passion for their heritage and a love for the cemeteries on their property.
The Dorsey family back in the day married into many other prominent Henderson families including the Toy's, Walton's, Turner's, and most notably, the Powell's.
Noah's daughter Elizabeth married Thomas Whitehead Powell, who was a first cousin of 19th Governor of Kentucky - Lazarus Whitehead Powell.
If you're a Dorsey descendant and want to visit the cemetery - just reach out to the Conn family. I'm sure they'd love to have you out there!
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