DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Old Liberty Cemetery and the site of Enon Primitive Baptist Church, out in Cass County. Now, before there was a building, before there was even a deed, there was a congregation. Enon Primitive Baptist Church was organized near Old Havana on June 7, 1845.
And like so many frontier churches of that era, it didn't start with four walls and a steeple. It started wherever the people were — members' homes, schoolhouses, brush arbors open to the sky. That was the church.
The people were the church. For sixteen years it lived that way. Then, in 1861, a man named Anderson Miles deeded four acres of land on this very site to three church trustees: W.
Griffin, W. Burkhalter, and W. Knight.
With that ground secured, the congregation erected a wood frame building on the east side of what may have already been a cemetery before they ever broke ground on the church itself. That detail will sit with you if you let it. The oldest marked grave in Old Liberty Cemetery belongs to William Hill, born in 1790, died 1850, of Tennessee.
Around him, over time, gathered approximately two hundred marked graves. Another two hundred, it's estimated, are unmarked — some indicated by nothing more than a pile of rocks. Quiet witnesses to lives that left no chiseled stone behind.
Now, oral legend holds that the northwest corner of the cemetery was set aside for slaves — possibly black members of the congregation itself. That word, possibly, does a lot of heavy lifting, and the marker is honest enough to leave it standing right there. What the records do confirm: dating from the Civil War, there were at least two black members of this Baptist congregation.
At least two. Those numbers are the floor, not the ceiling. The Baptist congregation eventually moved on to Queen City, probably in the 1880s.
A Pentecostal group took up residence in the old wood frame building for several years after that. Then, in the 1940s, the structure was torn down. The building is gone.
But the ground it stood on — that kept its own counsel. Because Old Liberty Cemetery holds veterans. Men and women both.
And not from just one war or two, but six. The War of 1812. The Blackhawk War.
The Civil War. The Spanish American War. World War I.
World War II. Six conflicts, different generations, different causes, different corners of history — all of them coming to rest in this same four-acre patch of Cass County earth. A church organized under open sky.
A deed signed as the nation was tearing itself apart. Unmarked graves with nothing but stones to say someone was here. And veterans of six wars sleeping side by side.
That's what this ground holds. That's what this marker is asking you not to forget.
What the marker says
Enon Primitive Baptist Church was organized near Old Havana on June 7, 1845. Like many new churches of its day, this one met in members' homes, schools, and brush arbors. In 1861, Anderson Miles deeded four acres of land on this site to church trustees W. Griffin, W. Burkhalter, and W. Knight. Here the congregation erected a wood frame building on the east side of what may have been an existing cemetery. The oldest marked gave in Old Liberty Cemetery is that of William Hill (1790-1850) of Tennessee. There are approximately 200 marked graves in the cemetery; the same number is estimated for unmarked graves. Many graves are indicated only by piles of rocks. Oral legend suggests that the northwest corner of the cemetery was set aside for slaves, possibly black members of the church. Records dating from the Civil War show at least two black members. The Baptist congregation moved to Queen City, probably in the 1880s. A Pentecostal group occupied the building for several years; the structure was torn down in the 1940s. Veterans, both men and women, of six wars are interred in this cemetery: The War of 1812, the Blackhawk War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War and World Wars I and II. (1997)