The Nixon Graveyard is the oldest graveyard in Franklin Township. The lot was already in use as a graveyard in 1764, and it was used long before then as evidence shows. It is the most historic place in Franklin Township because many of the people who settled Franklin Township in its early days are buried there.

The earliest known gravestone was laid in 1772. The oldest lettered grave reads, "Samuel McFerson, Senior was born April 4, 1709 and departed his life 1772 aged 63 years." He was the first McFerson to be buried there. Samuel McFerson owned the land where the graveyard was built.

Many soldiers were buried at the Nixon Graveyard including soldiers from the Civil War. Here are just a few names out of the many who fought and lost their lives: Leonard Cronce, Andrew Gethard, John T, and William T. Marshall.

Two questions are still unanswered about the Nixon graveyard. How did both lots end up laid out in perfect parallelograms and how did the land become a public graveyard so long ago? No one may ever know.

I got my all my information from, Facts and Fantasies of Franklin by J. E. Stout.