About Early Cemetery
The Early Cemetery was first established as a family graveyard on the farm of Henry and Anna Wenger. In 1797, John and Anna Margaretha Schmidt Early moved from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania to the area of Pleasant Valley near Friedens Church. Their son, Jacob married Henry and Anna's daughter Magdalene in 1800, eventually taking over the Wenger farm. Sometime later, open to the community, the cemetery came to be known as Early Cemetery. There is no known deed and numerous unmarked graves making it uncertain when the frist person was actually buried there. The earliest marked stone is dated 1797. The majority of burials took place in the 19th century. Common surnames include Bailey, Coffman, Early, Flory, Landes, Niswander, Rhodes, Wenger, Whisler. It is amoung the oldest of cemeteries in Rockingham County.