The Kinsolving Cemetery
Written by Justin D. Lamb
Out in a field off of Benton-Birmingham Road lies a concrete slab at which first glance one would think was the remnants of an old home place or building. The slab is actually a concrete tomb marking the burial of members of the Kinsolving family who lived in the area in the 19th century.
Very little details are known of the cemetery, but the concrete tomb was constructed in 1925 by the Benton Concrete Company. The original tombstones were destroyed by a local farmer who moved the stones in order to farm the land. H.P. Kinsolving, who was now a resident of Malden, Missouri where he became a prominent banker, later sued the farmer and won a case which ordered the land be set aside to honor his deceased family.
The concrete tomb is the final resting place of 11 members of the Kinsolving family who all died of tuberculosis in the 1890s. Very few records have survived detailing the names of those buried there. Solon Peck, a neighbor of the Kinsolving family, reported the Sam Solomon family who was distantly related to the Kinsolvings was buried there. “Five children and one son-in-law were vicitims of TB.”
The Benton Tribune reported the death of Vienna M. Kinsolving Dyke on July 5. 1893. A few weeks later, the death of her infant daughter was reported. “They were laid to rest beside her mother and people,” the newspaper reported.