Salem Baptist Church Cemetery

Harrisonburg Rockingham Historical Society

Rockingham County Tombstones by Cemetery

Cemetery	Salem Baptist Church Cemetery
Location	Refer to the Fishback Family Cemetery. The name has changed over the years.
Notes	In 1931 John W. Wayland noted in his cemetery recordings: "Old Baptist Church in Dayton -- this was, I think, Salem Baptist Church constituted November 15, 1845. See 'Autobiography of John E. Massey', 1909, pages 23-24. However, I am pretty certain that there must have been a Baptist meeting house and graveyard here earlier. It is possible, of course, that the bodies of Benjamin Fishback, Sr. and John Rice, both of whom died in 1836, were moved to this ground after 1845, or about that time. Joseph Coffman, whose wife was Abigail Lincoln, was a zealous Baptist. He lives nearby." In John W. Wayland's book "History of Rockingham County" on page 244, he writes about the Old or Primitive Baptist church in Dayton and that about 1840 it changed to Regular or Missionary, Baptists. And on page 245 the directions are the same as for the Fishback family cemetery.

Cemetery