Pictures by Gary Webb

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Historical Marker:

This cemetery has been the primary burial ground for
members of the Melissa Community for generations. Its origin can be traced to
the Pioneer Sherley/ Shirley Family. Although the specific date of its
founding is unknown. The oldest graves in the cemetery are those of William
M. Sherley (1856), Lewis Sherley (1867), and Albert Shirley (1879). They may
have originally been buried in a family cemetery on the nearby farm of Lewis
Sherley and relocated to this site when the Melissa Cemetery was formally
established in 1889. Also buried in the Sherley Family Cemetery were a number
of family slaves, and that site became the nearby St. Paul Cemetery. A number
of Melissa residents were interred here prior to the offical designation of
the cemetery as a public burial ground in 1889. According to local tradition
a railroad worker who died in 1872 is buried here in an unmarked grave. Many
pioneer residents of Melissa are interred in this cemetery, including
Confederate Captain Thomas M. Scott and veterans of the Mexican War, Civil
War, World War I, and World War II. The Melissa Cemetery Association cares
for the historic graveyard.

 Obit info submitted by Jeanne McNutt

For More Information, check out   http://www.melissacemetery.com/welcome.html