Mystery Man Buried at Red/Rowden Cemetery

(Printed in THE MILLER COUNTY AUTOGRAM-SENTINEL in the column, 'WINDOW TO THE PAST', Dec. 17, 2012)

There is a man buried at the Red Rowden Cemetery just over the county line in Maries County which is very near Miller County and he seems to be somewhat of a mystery. I have tried to find out more about him but all I could find was his unusual burial site that is above ground surrounded by huge slabs of stone. He died in 1861 about the time the Civil War began to be fought in central Missouri but I don’t believe he was a casualty of that war since he was 63 years old when he died. Today there is a more modern stone that has been placed on top the strange sepulchure but I do not know who had it set there. The cemetery is located in Boone township, just west of the Little Maries River.

Rev. David Searle was born at Cavendish, Windsor County, Vermont on 16 Oct 1798 and died in Maries County 21 Aug 1861…. this information has been engraved on the newer tombstone sitting on top the old, stacked stones of his original burial site.

In the census of 1860 for Maries County, Rev. Searle is living in the home of Robert and Nancy (Tyree) Rowden and their five children. They were living in Maries County near the settlement/post office called Lacon which was about 8 miles northwest of Vienna near the Osage county line. He was 61 years old (b. 1798) and died a short time later in 1861.

I don’t know why he was living with the Rowden family. He was a native of Vermont and they had come to the area from Roane County, East Tennessee, in the 1840s. Robert Rowden was a son of Asa Rowden and Margaret Hannah who married back in East Tennessee and they also came to the Maries/Miller counties region about the same time of the mid 19th century……… I have tried to piece together some kinship between the Rowdens, Tyrees, and Searle family but could find nothing.

In some further research, I found where a man named David Searle was an early-day schoolteacher in Windsor Co., Vermont. He was the first teacher at what was the oldest one-room school in Windsor County called Eureka Schoolhouse, completed in 1790. Legend states that it was named that by Mr. Searles when he was heard to cry out “Eureka” when he reached the new settlement of Springfield, Vermont near where the old school was located…… Windsor County is located in southeast Vermont near the New Hampshire state line. I don’t know who the other David Searle was since the Rev. Searle, who came to Maries County, was not born until 1798. He could have been a son to the older David Searle, the schoolteacher. That is just speculation in my mind.

David Searle (probably the older) was in the 1800 and 1810 census records of Windsor County, VT; a David Searle was found in New York during the census’ of 1840 and 1850 (probably the younger) and then by 1860, Rev. Searle was in the census of Maries County, MO living in the home of Robert and Nancy (Tyree) Rowden near the post office called Lacon. It was located fairly near the site of Red Schoolhouse/Rowden Cemetery in Boone township. On August 21, 1861, Rev. David Searle died and was buried at the old Red/Rowden Cemetery where he still remains today, more of a mystery than ever ~~

Mystery Man Buried at Red/Rowden Cemetery​

Mystery Man Buried at Red/Rowden Cemetery