Lillie Akin McCrory

Akin/Aiken/Aken

Lillie Akin married John McCrory @1800 in Ireland. Their five children were Robert, Samuel, William, Margaret, and Jane. According to family history, Lillie died October 23, 1843 from a fall into the fireplace where she was doing the family cooking; the fireplace was then bricked up as a tragic reminder. Her grave on the farm, land which was entered by John McCrory in 1820, was marked by a plain slab of limestone with the inscription "Here lies Lillie McCrory, died October 23, 1843, aged 66 years."

Connersville News-Examiner 'O Yez! O Yez!' @ Oct. - Nov. 1946 "Alexander Sisters Have 100 Acres Their Ancestor Bought In 1820 The farm owned by Janet and Margaret Alexander west of Bunker Hill has been in the same family for more than a hundred years. In 1820 John McCrory entered the northwest quarter of section 30, township 14, range 12 east, Connersville township, west of the second Twelve Mile Purchase. He held this land until his death July 30, 1868. The land then went to James Ochiltree and his wife, Jane, a daughter of John McCrory's son, Robert. In 1906 the farm was purchased by William Alexander and wife, Jennie, who was a daugher of James Ochiltree. The present owners are their children. Of the original 174 acres, over 100 acres still remain. With John McCrory at the time of settlement in 1820 were his wife, Lillie Aiken McCrory, and their four children, who had all come over from Ireland in the winter of 1811-12. On the day they took possession of the land a blanket of snow eight inches deep lay on the ground. They found a black walnut tree that had been uprooted and blown over, and was about four and one-half feet in diameter, near a good spring of water. They scraped the snow away on the south side of the tree; set some forked stakes in the ground; then using small poles for a frame to lay bark upon, they soon had a waterproof roof overhead and covering above and on three sides, and a large open front door with a fire in the doorway for cooking purposes and heat for the house; also to scare away wild aniamls (sic) in the forest. Here they spent the long cold winter of 1820-21, until they could build a cabin in the spring. Lillie Aiken McCrory, the wife and mother of the family, was so pleased by the site of their first settlement that she expressed a wish to be buried at this spot. In the spring a cabin was built on the west side of Williams Creek. The family of Alexander Saxon lived in a cabin just across the creek, and several years later a son and a daughter of the Saxon family married a daughter and a son of the McCrory family. The log house built by John McCrory still stands, with several additional rooms, although it is no longer owned by the family. Here Lillie McCrory, wife of John, died October 23, 1843, from a fall into the fireplace where she was doing the family cooking. The fireplace was then bricked up as a tragic reminder. Her grave on the farm was marked by a plain slab of limestone which stood until about 15 years ago. The inscription ran as follows: 'Here lies Lillie McCrory, died October 23, 1843, aged 66 years.' "

This family cemetery was located near where the first McCrory cabin had been built on land entered by John McCrory in 1820. Family history documents that the graves originally had either a plain slab of limestone or marble markers which were destroyed but then replaced with a large boulder. The land continues to be farmed and there is no longer any evidence remaining of the burial spots. mrs

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Noted by findagrave contributor Damien Carter #51567615 in November 2023:

Latitude 39.6420626 Longitude 85.2374486

… replaced with a medium-sized boulder. The land around the original site continues to be farmed. There is a modern headstone (with questionable birth/death dates inscribed upon it) that is now marking the original burial site of Mrs. Akin-McCrory to this day off of what is now Gabbard Road.

Burial location was on private land & is currently marked with a small modern headstone & a medium-sized boulder & a possible gravesite beside her marked one. Modern headstone inscribed as: Lillie McCrory 1776-1842 (dates likely inaccurate).