My sister-in-law got me interested in this cemetery. The state of Indiana operated a “Boys School” for wayward, criminal, and/or abandoned boys for many decades near Plainfield. While in operation, the remains of the boys who died at the School, which were not claimed by family or friends, were buried on the grounds of the School.
Today, the cemetery is “inside” an Indiana state Corrections facility – generally inaccessible to the general public. No known list of burials exists. Apparently, many of the headstones are completely illegible.
The boys’ School records do exist and are accessible (in person) for research. I have not accessed them yet (I live about 7 hours away).
Using other documents, newspaper archives, death indices, etc; I have identified 56 documented burials and an additional 46 “candidates” for burial in the cemetery. I believe there were between 80 and 90 burials made in the cemetery.
Eventually, I will take advantage of my sister-in-law’s hospitality and began definitive research of these 102 “wayward” boys in the hopes of identifying their last resting place.
I plan to document my findings in a work tentatively titled To Mark the Poor Boy’s Grave (c) – the headline from an article about the Boys School Cemetery.