Bishop Cemetery sans Bishops

Searching through cemetery inscriptions is made easier by historians who have carefully transcribed every name and date and published it online. The Bishop Cemetery, described as being 1/10 mile west of State Route 559 and 2/10 mile north of County Road 44, was always curious to me because despite its name and location on old Bishop land, there are no Bishops buried there. Just three graves are there, belonging to a 67 year old Doctor and Senator, and two infants, one being the infant child of the doctor, and another with the surname Clarke. I was confused about this until I found this passage about the good doctor in the 1880 book History of Logan County and Ohio by Perrin, et. al.:

"Dr. John D. Elbert, of Kentucky, was the first physician in this township. He came in 1809, and settled on the farm now owned by Job Bishop. He was one of the founders of the first Methodist Episcopal Church, and died on his way to visit a patient, December 28, 1838. The epitaph upon his gravestone expresses the opinion of those who knew him well. It is as follows: "Dr. Elbert was a good physician, an honest man, a sincere Christian and truly the friend of the poor and afflicted. He died in the 67th year of his age." (page 468)

This is a fascinating clue about the place in time that Job Bishop (1824-1911) acquired his farm. He would have been 14 years old when Dr. Elbert died. The Clarke baby was buried in the Bishop Cemetery in 1853, just one year before Job Bishop was married to Mary Inskeep Moore. This probably means that the land was owned by the Clarke family in between being owned by the Elberts and the Bishops.

Job Bishop and his wife Mary lived and worked the land for many years and were very successful. However, they were not laid to rest in the little Bishop Cemetery. Not far from their land is the Mt. Moriah Cemetery, where a church and schoolhouse once stood. This is the place where Job and Mary were laid to rest among other members of their community. That small family cemetery might be more appropriately called the Elbert Clarke Cemetery, but I wouldn't have learned anything had it been called that.

Job Bishop is my husband's great-great-great-grandfather as follows: Job Summerfield Bishop > James Henry Bishop > Glen Owen Bishop > Jimmie R. Bishop > Bruce Bishop > Dusty Bishop