Waugh Cemetery

Today's Walk Through the Tombstones is at the Waugh Cemetery in Bloomington, Indiana.  It is located behind the Winslow Park YMCA near the upper playground.

GPS Coordinates: 39.14302, -86.51468

This poor little cemetery is in a sad state of disrepair.  There is only one standing headstone and at least three basestones with bits and pieces of broken headstones littered in the clearing.  It's sad.

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Our first stop is at the grave of Rachel Sarah Amanda Waugh.

Born: December 21, 1825
Died: March 5, 1852, Monroe County, Indiana

She was the wife of James Waugh (?-?).  He is shown to be buried at Waugh Cemetery, but I couldn't locate his headstone.

Above her name on the headstone it says "no.2".  I am not sure, exactly what that means.   I am not sure if she was the second wife or if she was the second grave buried.

There was another headstone here for Esther Anne Isabella Waugh (1828-1850).  The last photo of her headstone was about a year ago, but it is not there now.  Above her name, it says "1st".  This leads me to believe that she was James' first wife and Rachel was his second.

UPDATE:  Thanks to an email from a visitor: "James' headstone is actually what the tall obelisk is sitting on in the picture. The IU Center for Veteran and Military Students is taking on restoring this cemetery as a service project starting this weekend."  Thank you for the information!!!!


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There are several broken headstones here.  I know that James Waugh is supposed to be buried here, but I am not sure which was his headstone.  There is one that had a lovely willow tree carved into it (look right).  A portion of the headstone is there, but I couldn't find any more of it to determine any information on  it.  There was one that looked like it said Elizabeth, but I couldn't be sure since it was broken up quite a bit.  I have a feeling that there are more burials here than just the ones listed.  There may be children here as well as other family.  Unfortunately, we may never know.

 These headstones seem to be from several different ones.  So much damage to such a small family gravesite.  It's sad and makes me terribly angry.


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I hope that you have enjoyed your short trip through Waugh Cemetery.

Please, PLEASE, let me know if you have any information about these graves.  I would love to be able to know more and help preserve this cemetery that is rapidly being lost. 

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UPDATE!!!!  

Hi everyone!  It is April 8, 2025 and I was working on my YouTube video for this cemetery, (check it out here!) and I found some information about James H. Waugh!!

I'm not going to change the information from above, because I want to be able to keep track of what I said originally.  But here is what I found:

Sergeant James H. Waugh served in the Civil War in Company I of the 10th Indiana Cavalry.  He was killed in battle near Franklin, Tennessee in December of 1864 while part of the Union Cavalrymen that were pursuing the Confederate retreat from Nashville.  He is actually said to be buried in Nashville National Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee and not here in Waugh Cemetery.  He does have a memorial stone that was erected in the last few years to commemorate his Civil War service.

The large obelisk stone that is here is for Rachel Sarah Amanda Waugh (1825-1850) and Esther Ann Isabella Waugh (1825-1850).  At first, I though that these may have been his wives as the headstones said (1st and No.2), but then looking at the dates, it didn't fit because they died in 1850, not that far apart from one another.  I finally found out that they are his sisters.  And they were twins!  Esther has "1st" on her stone and Rachel has "No.2", so that would have likely been when they were born.  

James was the son of William F. Waugh (1775-1827) and Rachel Alexander Waugh (1779-?). 

He had a few siblings: 

Doctor Elam Hamilton Waugh (1815-1891) - burial unknown, but probably in Boulder County, Colorado

William Elim Waugh (1820-1887) - buried in Oakview Cemetery, Albia, Monroe County, Iowa

Emily Nancy Waugh (1824-1869) - burial unknown

and the above twins.

James was married to Rebecca Miller (1820-1888) on September 3, 1840.  I haven't been able to find out where she was buried.  I doubt that it was in Waugh Cemetery because after James was killed in the Civil War, they sold the family farm to the Winslow Family.  That was after 1863 or 1864.  

James and Rebecca had several children:

Mary Elizabeth Waugh (1841-1844) - burial unknown

Emily Waugh (1843-1903) - burial unknown

Unknown Waugh Child (1846-1851) - burial unknown

Howard H. Waugh (1847-?) - burial unknown

William M. Waugh (1848-1853) - burial unknown, but possibly in Waugh Cemetery

James Wickliffe Waugh (1851-1935) - burial unknown, but possibly in South Dakota

Alice Waugh (1853-1939) - burial unknown

John Eli Waugh (1855-1934) - buried in Meridian Cemetery, Meridian, Ada County, Idaho

Walter Waugh (1858-?) - burial unknown

I was so excited to find out this information because this cemetery is so small and in such bad condition.  

Please visit the listing at Find-A-Grave.