Jolly Bethel Church & Cemetery
Capps Creek valley · Barry County, Missouri · near historic Jolly Mill
Jolly Bethel Church and Cemetery stand in the Capps Creek valley just inside Barry County, near the Newton County line. They are under a mile from Jolly Mill, the 1848 distillery and gristmill around which the village of Jollification grew [S1; S16]. Settler families of the valley have buried their dead here since the nineteenth century. By family tradition, burials began with the pioneer Hisaw family in 1840 [S9].
In 1888 a county history described the congregation as part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South:
"Bethel Church, of fifty-five members, is one-fourth mile across the line in Barry County, on Capp's Creek. There a substantial church building has been completed." [S3, p. 285]
Finding the cemetery
- Location: Farm Road 2025 at Farm Road 1002, Capps Creek Township (Section 12, Township 25 North, Range 29 West), Barry County, Missouri, in the Pierce City area [S11].
- Directions: Volunteer cemetery researchers give this route. From the junction of U.S. 60 and Missouri 37 in Monett, go about 6 miles west on U.S. 60. At the Jolly Mill sign, turn south on Farm Road 1010, then west on Farm Road 2025 to Farm Road 1002 [S11].
- Published coordinates: 36.89523, −94.05980 [S5].
Please treat graves, markers and neighboring private property with respect.