Crowell cemetery is located in the North Eastern part of the county, between the areas known as Cave Springs and Nunn Switch. It's at the top of a hill off of Nunn Switch Road.
There are several rows of large sandstone rocks that mark the resting place of unknown persons. Some of the stones are large and others not so large, but they were set in straight rows.
Who are these unknown people that were buried here many, many years ago. Someone cared enough about them to transport these heavy stones to the cemetery and mark their grave.
The earliest engraved monuments belong to two infants of Nathaniel and Angelina Brantley. The death dates show March 13, 1838 and March 1844. The earliest stones are of the Crowell, Brantley and Travis families.
We know from Crowell family research that several of the early Crowell family members are also buried here in unmarked graves. These would account for some of the unidentified sandstone rocks.
The first Crowell pioneer to come to this area about 1818 was Benjamin Crowell. He died Dec. 13, 1852 and is also buried here, but he has a marked monument.
The cemetery for many years was known as the Hugh Crowell cemetery, but over the years it was shortened to Crowell Cemetery. Hugh and his wife, Eliza Ann, are both buried here, but they have no monuments to mark their grave.
The late Mr. J. D. Orr shared this story about the cemetery. His great, great grandfather, Hugh B. Crowell, told the story of a family in a covered wagon that was on their way west from Pennsylvania. They had a very sick child, so they stopped at Hugh Crowell's farm so the little girl could rest and hopefully get better. The little girl didn't get better and she died while they were there. Mr. Crowell told them to go up on the hill by the farm, pick out a spot and bury the little girl. To this day, in the middle of the cemetery, by a huge old cedar tree is a small stone at the base of it. This is believed to be the grave site of the little girl and the first burial in the graveyard.
Older residents of the area, who have now passed away, told of
several members of the early Brantley family that first came to
Crittenden County (then Livingston County) who are buried here, but have no stones to mark their graves, other than the sandstone rocks.
It is believed that James Brantley the ancestor of most of the Brantley's in Crittenden and Webster County's is buried here under one of these unmarked stones. The story was told that for many years his grave was covered with a large flat stone, but it came the nesting place of some snakes so the ones cleaning the cemetery thought best to get rid of the large stone.
The cemetery is lined with Crowell, Brantley, Orr, and Travis stones with many of their descendants and family members also buried here.
Years ago at the west end of the cemetery sat a small white church like building. Here funeral services would be conducted. It had a pulpit and wooden benches for the family and friends to sit on during the service.
Sometime between the time period of 1956-1960 the building burnt. The building wasn't rebuilt, perhaps because it wasn't needed as much now, since funerals were held in the more modern funeral homes at Marion. The building was replaced with a wooden shed with some benches to be used every year for the annual Crowell Cemetery cleaning day.
The shed was used for the dinners that were held during the annual Crowell cemetery cleaning day, which was always the 3rd Saturday in August. On this day people from all around that had family and friends buried in the cemetery would bring dinner in a basket and work tools and they would spend the day cleaning the cemetery, visiting with people they may not have seen since the last cleaning day, and then they would rest in the shade of the shed, having a large meal at noontime.
This tradition of cemetery cleaning day is gone now, as cemeteries that are fortunate enough, have a fund to have them taken care of during the summer months.
There are several pioneer families of Crittenden County buried in
this cemetery as well as several Civil War Veterans.
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