The Sugar Tree Grove Cemetery is located on the farm of now Ron Smith (2013). It had been in disrepair for many years. Mr. Smith allowed the Patterson Family to fence it several years ago and he has made much improvement to it since then. In the 1840's it was the property of John Patterson and it is believed that he and his wife Mary are probably buried there. It is said there are a number of graves with no stones. For many years the graveyard was used as a pasture for cattle. And before that it was grown up with trees and bushes.
In 1991, pg. 8 of the Prospect News, Doniphan, Mo. was printed the below story. Excerpts from the story tells about the original owners of this property in 1836: There was a log house built by a man and wife by the name of Schultz. It tells of their attack and massacre by indians and how they both were killed along with their loyal dog. It states Mr. Grey, a neighbor, who lived on what is now the Bates Farm, came upon the scene and that he secured other help to start the cemetery that now exists which is now grown up in time with briars and vines and is hardly recognizable from other wooded land. But that in the midst of this ancient cemetery is the epitaph on a tomb of one George Patterson born in 1825 and laid to rest in 1875. (George was the son of John Patterson). To this man was born and raised four sons, Jim, General, John F., and Neal and a daughter Polly Roseanna Patterson Riley. Those early pioneers can be credited with starting one of the early settlements of Fourche Creek in Ripley County. According to this record with the death of Mr. and Mrs. Schultz, Sugar Tree Grove Cemetery was started in the year of 1836.

Submitted by Delores Patterson Allen