Historic Mingo Cemetery seeks donations for survival
Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter
Mingo Cemetery board members Ron Bewick and Pam Lawrence discuss preserving the most historic section of the property.
Photo courtesy of Pam Lawrence
This is the tabletop-style tombstone in Mingo Cemetery for Capt. James McFarlane, a rebel who was killed in battle during the Whiskey Rebellion.
FINLEYVILLE – A cemetery where some of the most well-known rebels who took part in the Whiskey Insurrection are buried is now facing a battle for survival.
The annual expenses for the upkeep of Mingo Cemetery exceed the donations it receives to cut the grass around the graves, some of which date to the late 1700s. Members of the board fear the cemetery in Union Township will drain its savings, board member Pam Lawrence said.
“We don’t want to sell any more plots, in case we go under,” said Ron Bewick, another board member.
Lawrence said she turned to a crowdsourcing website this week in an attempt to raise $5,000 to support the cemetery.
The cemetery grew up around Mingo Creek Presbyterian Church at Route 88 and Mingo Church Road. The church is among the oldest in Western Pennsylvania. Its members used a log meeting house on the site in the 1790s to plot a revolt against a tax on the whiskey they produced that was enacted under President George Washington.
Capt. James McFarlane, a Revolutionary War veteran and whiskey rebel, was given a hero’s burial in the cemetery after he was shot in the groin and killed July 17, 1794, during a battle at a tax collector’s home near present-day Bridgeville.
Also buried in the cemetery is the notorious Tom the Tinker, who shot holes in the whiskey stills of farmers who supported the tax, which was designed to draw down the Revolutionary War debt.
John Holcroft, who was buried in the cemetery in 1816, was given the name Tom the Tinker, said Clay Kilgore, executive director of Washington County Historical Society.
Tom the Tinker also was involved in the tarring and feathering of whiskey tax collectors.
Dottie Bewick, who serves as the cemetery’s secretary, said men from every U.S. war are buried in the cemetery, which was incorporated in 1813.
There are at least nine Revolutionary War soldiers buried in the 13-acre cemetery.
“There are some from the Battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War,” Dottie Bewick said.
McFarlane was given a tombstone that has spindled legs holding a large stone tablet, giving it the appearance of a table or bench. It’s among three such tombstones remaining on the grounds, said Ron Bewick, who fears they are about to collapse.
“We’re hoping to get some extra money to restore the tombstones,” he said.
The cemetery separated from the church and incorporated in 1913 in a move designed to open burials there to all faiths to help it survive, Dottie Bewick said.
Last year, the annual fund drive netted about $12,000, which was not enough to cover the cemetery’s $17,000 annual budget for its upkeep, she said. The cemetery dipped into its savings to cover the balance, she said.
“We go year to year,” she added.
Inmates at Washington County jail who are enrolled in its Furlough into Service program are brought to the cemetery every year before Memorial Day to cut grass.
Mingo Cemetery is among the most historic burial grounds in the county because of its ties to the rebellion, which was among the most important events in early American history.
“That cemetery is home to so many (rebels) there, and their leaders, including John Holcroft,” Kilgore said.
Anyone who is interested in donating to the cemetery can mail checks to 526 Mingo Church Road, Finleyville, PA 15332, or visit its GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/mingo-cemetery.
Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Mingo Cemetery
- James Kerr Sr. died Feb. 25, 1825
- Nathanial Porter died Sept. 9, 1818
- John Gaston died Sept. 10, 1825
- Thomas Herron died Sept. 29, 1832
- Gen. John Hamilton died Aug. 22, 1831
- Capt. James McFarlane died July 17, 1794
- James Moss died Dec. 15, 1827
- Jacob McVay date of death unknown
- Daniel Huston died March 12, 1845
(Source: Mingo Cemetery)