Looking over a list of those buried in Ewing Cemetery raises the question of how they are related — assuming that all those buried in a family cemetery would share some family connection. That assumption has spurred efforts to discover what those relationships are and to make that information available to persons researching their family history. See GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS.
Studying a list of burials in the order in which they were made prompts some different questions about relationships and also about life in Shaver’s Creek Valley in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Let’s take the first two names on the list below as an example.
Alexander and Ann Henry McCormick were among the earliest settlers in the valley, having come from Fannett Township, Cumberland County, about 1775. At that date, both Fannett Township and Shaver’s Creek Valley (then entirely within Barree Township) were contained within the vast original boundaries of Cumberland County.
The Alexander McCormick and Thomas Ewing families occupied neighboring farms at the base of Leading Ridge, some three miles distant from the village of Manor Hill and the cemetery now known as Ewing. In 1781, a daughter of each family — Elizabeth (Betsey) McCormick and Katharine (Katie) Ewing — were kidnapped by Indians and taken to Canada, a mutual experience that would surely have drawn the families together. [See STORIES for more on the kidnapping.] In 1787, when John Ewing and Elizabeth McCormick were married, the two families were joined by yet another bond. All of which seems to suggest there is good reason why the McCormicks would rest in the Ewing Cemetery. But there is a fundamental problem with that explanation.
The farm on which the Ewing Cemetery is located was a part of Shaver’s Creek Manor (owned by William Penn’s heirs) until 1792, when it was deeded to John Magill, who in turn deeded it to John Hennen in 1800. In 1829, the property passed from John Hennen to James Ewing and remained in the Ewing family until 1950.
The Ewing family’s long ownership of the property on which the cemetery is located, and the likelihood that they erected the fence sometime around 1900, explains why the cemetery has for a long time been called the Ewing Cemetery. But it is obvious from the dates of burial that the cemetery was established before John Hennen’s sale of the property to James Ewing. The many other families buried here suggest that it was, from an early date, a burying place for Shaver’s Creek families, particularly ones that were members of the Shaver’s Creek Presbyterian Church at Manor Hill.
Why families with close, early connections to that church chose to bury their family members in this cemetery, rather than the one adjacent to the church is unknown. The explanation could be as simple as that they preferred this site high on a hill, which was a favored location for many early burying grounds. Alexander McCormick Sr. was an elder of the Shaver’s Creek Presbyterian congregation, yet he (or his wife and family) preferred that he be buried here.
A factor that could have influenced that decision is one that we cannot, at this late date, discover much about: who were the earliest to be buried here in unmarked graves? This burying ground on the hill may contain the remains of the valley’s earliest settlers, whose descendants now lie in the marked graves that we see today. Perhaps the cemetery we now know as Ewing was the earliest place where the 18th century settlers of Shaver’s Creek Valley buried their dead, even before the church and cemetery in Manor Hill were established. Further research may shed additional light on this possibility, but unless more evidence is discovered in early wills, deeds, or family Bibles, we can only speculate on when and by whom this cemetery was established.
LIST OF BURIALS BY QUARTER CENTURY:
1800
1807 McCORMICK, ALEXANDER Sr.
1814 McCORMICK, ANN HENRY
1821 GRAFIUS, NICHOLAS
1821 HANNEN, JAMES
1825
1830 EWING, WILLIAM
1831 CRESSWELL, MARY
1835 CRESSWELL, MATTHEW
1837 McCORMICK, ALEXANDER Jr.
1837 ANDERSON, JAMES
1837 CRESSWELL, SARAH
1838 DRUMMOND, ANN H.
1840 EWING, THOMAS
1841 EWING, REBECCA
1842 McCORMICK, MARY
1842 HUGHES, JOHN
1843 GRAFIUS, ELIZABETH CORYELL
1844 LEONARD, JAMES
1845 ANDERSON, ISABELLA
1847 EWING, WILLIAM
1848 EWING, MAHLON
1848 JOHNSTON, MARY REED
1848 HENNEN, ALEXANDRA
1849 ANDERSON, HANNAH
1849 HENNEN, ELIZABETH
1850
1851 EWING, NANCY
1852 FRAZIER, CLARA M.
1852 HENNEN, WILLIAM
1853 RUDY, JOHN
1856 NEFF, ISABELLA McCUNE OAKS
1857 OAKS, ANN McCORMICK
1857 EWING, ELIZABETH ANDERSON
1858 EWING, MARGARET C.
1858 FRAZIER, WILLIAM
1859 OAKS, REUBEN W.
186_ HENNEN, SARAH E.
1861 FRAZIER, HARRY
1862 HARRIS, NANCY
1863 EWING, DAVID
1864 RUDY, HENRY
1864 McMAHON, NANCY BELLE
1865 OAKS, WILLIAM
1867 EWING, JAMES
1867 CRESSWELL, ROBERT
1867 LEONARD, JANE
1869 CRESSWELL, MARY STEWART
1869 HUGHES, NANCY
1871 FRAZIER, JANE
1873 STRYKER, PENINA HUTCHISON
1875
1875 BELL, MARGARET EWING
1875 RUDY, MARTHA EWING
1876 STEWART, THOMAS
1877 EWING, ELIZABETH CRESSWELL
1878 HUTCHISON, GEORGE
1879 RUDY, GEORGE
1879 HENNEN, MARTHA
1880 STEWART, MAGGIE J.
1880 HENNEN, MARY A.
1881 McMANIGAL, JAMES
1882 HUTCHISON, ELIZA HAGAN
1883 McMANIGAL, JANE BELL
1887 HENNEN, THOMAS
1887 HENNEN, JANE
1889 HENNEN, MARTHA J.
1890 McMANIGAL, EMILY
1891 HAGANS, MARY
1891 HENNEN, JAMES
1895 McMANIGAL, JOHN
1897 HENNEN, JAMES S.
1898 GEARHART, JENNIE
1898 McMANIGAL, EARL S.
1900
1902 CROWNOVER, ETHEL
1903 EWING, WILLIAM
1904 EWING, MARY ANN
1904 HENNEN, JENNIE H.
1905 HENNEN, MARY A.
1914 HENNEN, ROBERT A.
1915 GLASS, ERMINA LILLY
1919 RUDY, WILLIAM BELL
1919 JOHNSTON, ROBERT E.
1923 GEARHART, LEVI
1923 GEARHART, CATHARINE RAMSEY
1925
1935 HENNEN, ELIZABETH A.
1936 EWING, FRANCES J.
1936 EWING, CAROLINE K.
1936 EWING, MARY
1939 HENNEN, JOHN H.
1942 RUDY, ELIZABETH RAMSEY
1950
1950 EWING, HENRIETTA J.
1951 HENNEN, JAMES C.
1951 JOHNSTON, IDOLLETTE EWING
1953 RAMSEY, MARY JANE