Cemeteries
Howard County Cemeteries is a collection of cemetery data and photographs developed by John C. Anderson and Ed & Debby Beheler.
About the Cemetery Databases
Ed and Debby Beheler began working with cemetery data in 1996. Debby first focused on Cass and Miami Counties because of her affiliation with the USGenWeb Project. While Debby was working as a Genealogy Assistant at the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library, she became interested in Howard County cemeteries.
Ed and Debby worked with John Anderson to develop John’s Cemetery DataSource Software into a program that would allow the organization of cemetery data into an appealing and useful website for genealogists and family history researchers. John then convinced Ed to develop his Sunset Memory Gardens database into a website using John’s software. Sunset Memory Gardens allowed Ed and Debby to go through the cemetery records and they helped get the cemetery records in better order while they collected official burial locations.
As the SSMG database grew to near completion, Ed & Debby published a book, Sunset Memory Gardens Cemetery, in 1999.
Debby continues to work on cemeteries of Cass and Miami Counties. Ed continues to check obituaries daily for SSMG burials and walks the cemetery for grave marker additions to add to the database.
John Anderson has also photographed thousands of grave markers in cemeteries in Howard County. John compiled information from the Crown Point Cemetery’s official records with over 21,000 images of tombstones for a major accomplishment that went on-line in 2003 and took three years to complete. The photographs are copyrighted and may be used for personal, non-commercial use only. John’s efforts also led to a book, Crown Point Cemetery: An Index to Interments, 1868-2005.
Obituary Information
Bound obituary books have been created from obituary notices gleaned from the Kokomo newspapers and are available to view and photocopy or scan in the Genealogy & Local History Department at the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library. The obituaries are bound by year they appeared in the newspaper. Staff can scan and send copies by email FREE of charge; photocopies are 10 cents per page.
An index of the notices in the bound obituary books is available online. In addition, digital copies of the Kokomo Tribune obituaries often appear under “images” in Howard County Cemeteries links, thanks to Ed Beheler. A separate index to the Kokomo Tribune obituaries from 22 Oct 1998 to present is also available online.
Volunteers
Volunteers who have helped make cemeteries on this website possible include: Tom Quinn, Patricia and Jim Pointer, Patricia Tracewell, Timon Pike, Dick Seagrave, John Peck, Cindy Stover, and Barbara Dowden. Several others have helped by providing obituaries, cemetery records, and tombstone readings.