From History of Madison County, Ohio, Chester E. Bryan, Supervising Editor, B.F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis (1915)
In settling Deer Creek township, the first pioneers followed the streams and located on the higher and drier portions of the country first—in fact, it was a necessity, as many of the more flat and level portions of the country were so wet and unhealthy in their primitive condition, that it was unsafe and unexpedient to live upon them. Hence we would expect to find the early burial places in the regions of the first settlements. Many of these first places for receiving the dead of the early settlers were private family burying grounds, some of which should be mentioned. On the Gwynne estate were one or two such burial places, but now not a vestige remains to mark the hallowed spot, or to tell the passerby that underneath the sod rests all that remains of a noble sire of a pioneer family. Another of these burial grounds is found further down Deer Creek, near the old Headley farm, which was known as the Davidson burying ground, as it was located on his farm. It is now all in the open woods pasture and practically obliterated; although the dead of the Davidson family have been removed to another and more permanent cemetery. Yet a few graves remain whose headstones tell the following: Joseph McCray died on May 28, 1848, aged sixty-two years, nine months and five days; John W. McDonald, died on December 3, 1850, aged twenty-six years, and Mary Jane, wife of John W. McDonald, died on March 2, 1852, aged twenty-five years. Further down the creek, still on the Garrett farm, is the Garrett family burying ground, which contains principally the ancestors of that family.
One of the earliest burial places of the Upper Glade is the old McDonald cemetery. This was on the farm of John McDonald and contains the remains of most of the early settlers of the neighborhood. This lot was dedicated by the reception of the body of John McDonald, Sr., who died in March, 1811, aged seventy years. Further up the Glade, a little south of the National road, is found the Wright cemetery. This has always been a family burying place and contains the remains of the ancestors of that family and a few deceased persons of the immediate neighborhood.
The first cemetery in Deer Creek township to be under the care of and owned by the trustees of the township was the Lafayette cemetery, at Lafayette, on the National road just west of Deer Creek. The land upon which this was located was formerly owned by Stanley Watson, and the lot was first dedicated to this purpose by the reception of the body of Rachel, wife of J. Shryack, who died on July 12, 1838. The second person buried there was Sarah, wife of Andrew Anderson, who died on December 6, 1838. This tract of land upon which the burying ground is situated was subsequently purchased by James Wilson, who set apart for burial purposes the lot, embracing between one and two acres, which was continued as a receptacle of the dead, and to make it more permanent, and that it might have the care and protection that such a place should have, in 1874, Mr. Wilson deeded it to the trustees of the township, who, in 1878, purchased sufficient ground of Mr. Wilson to make it embrace five and three-eighths acres. This they nicely improved and fitted up with good gravel roads and walks, ornamented it with evergreens and shrubbery, and it is now among the prettiest of rural cemeteries.