Stanley, July 14 - One of the oldest cemeteries in this section is the Number Nine Cemetery. This old cemetery forms an historic background for Number Nine Church, one of the oldest rural churches in this section. This cemetery furnished the resting place for the pioneers, soldiers and statesmen from this vicinity. The records for the cemetery are very incomplete, but according to them, the cemetery was opened in 1809, two years after the formation of the church at Number Nine. Part of the land in this cemetery was donated by the Rice family and Charles Rice was one of the first to be buried in this cemetery. His monument reads: "Charles Rice, Sept. 2, 1809." Among the other prominent men whose graves are in this cemetery are Seth Stanley and his descendants from which this village bears its name, Colonel Selma Stanley, and John Rippey, Capt. of Company Six, 8th Battalion, Penn. Militia. A number of the headstones bear queer inscriptions. Among them being, "Go home my wife, dry up your tears, Here I must lie, until Christ appears." Another is, "When you and I shall meet again, and there with Christ forever reign." Another bears the name of Silence for a departed wife. The old section of the cemetery is well-kept. About a quarter of a century ago, a new section was laid out across the road east of the church and in this section a large number of residents of the town of Seneca are laid to rest. |