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This volume examines the issue of death in early Hartford City, Indiana. It looks at the early development of the town through the era of the "Gas Boom", the causes of death in teh local community, the early undertakers, tombstones and cemeteries. It also examines the two earliest cemeteries in what is now Hartford City: the old North Cemetery where Hoover Park is now located, and the old Predestinarian Baptist Church Grave Yard at the northeast corner of Mill and Water Streets.

The appendix contains a tribute to Cecil Beeson and Max & Judy Wiesenauer as preservers and records of local cemeteries, a listing of those reinterred at the Odd Fellows Cemetery from 1895 to 1910, and an inventories of the old North Cemetery and the old Baptist Grave Yard.

The discovery of gas and oil, which produced inexpensive fuel, lured great glass and paper making factories to East Central Indiana. Although the American Window Glass Company was by far the largest plant, there were several other glass factories located in Blackford County.

Belgian and French people, excellent glass workers for many generations, were drawn to the New World by the chance to follow their own trade and the promise of good wages. These people lived mostly on the South Side of Hartford City near the American Window Glass Company factory, though not exclusively, and not all were glassworkers. There were other ethnic groups living in the area including Germans, Italians, Irish, Spanish etc.

Grave Matters contains stories of actual murder, attempted murder, killing, and unsolved mysteries relating to the general them of "Murder". We have selected these stories because we have found them to be of interest to ourselves and to others. These crimes did not all happen locally, but affected people of Blackford County in some way.

Guest Writer: Judge Bruce C. Bade
Technical Assistance: Mary Lou Marshall, Ron Storms, Amy L. Sorrell