This cemetery is located amidst dozens of igloos (underground storage facilities) inside the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, at the Utica end of the plant. A one-page list of nine of the ten cemeteries known to be inside the Plant, prepared in 1973 (available from the Jeffersonville Library), indicates the following surname(s) of persons buried at this location: Spangler

On our November 29, 1997 tour of these ten cemeteries, we visited Koonz Cemetery (see photo above) and found it in very good condition.  Only two stones are found at Koonz Cemetery:

.               .                         .               .

SPANGLER        David ("In life beloved,  b. 1773         d. 07-03-1822

                in death immortal"; age

                49 years, 4 months, 8

                days)

SPANGLER        Elizabeth, wife of David

                Spangler                  b. 08-10-1778   d. 03-20-1856

The stones of David and Elizabeth Spangler were chalked as their present condition (intact but severely weathered) made it impossible to make out the names and dates of the persons buried here. The two graves here are surrounded by a concrete footer and a sturdy fence. Notice in the background behind the man chalking David's stone the underground igloo, formerly used to store black powder ammunition.  Koonz Cemetery is literally surrounded by these structures (kind of like quonset huts covered with earth and sod), possibly as many as a hundred of them.  The free-range cattle grazing this area seems to particularly enjoy the grass found on top of these igloos.

On November 10, 1997, e-mail correspondent Dorothy Phillips <dot9@webtv.net> sent me the following message concerning her great-great-aunt, MARY R. SPANGLER LUSTER's autobiographical account of the SPANGLER homestead near this site:

"Just in case you haven`t read great-great-aunt MARY R. SPANGLER LUSTER`s {daughter of LEWIS & HARRIET (SARLES/SEARLES) SPANGLER, great-granddaughter of DAVID & ELIZABETH SPANGLER} autobiography, and just in case the Army didn`t destroy whatever was left of the old homestead [which I'm sad to report they did], I quote Aunt Mary:

"In the year 1903 the family of uncle JAMES SPANGLER who lived on the old SPANGLER homestead near Charlestown, Indiana, called the descendants together in reunion. It was on Christmas day, one hundred years after their first dinner in the log house that still marked the site of the early home; the house had somewhat fallen to decay and the reception was held in the handsome colonial brick residence that uncle had built before his death. His wife, aged 86 yrs, remained with her five children, and all living at home, save DR. CHARLES SPANGLER who lived in Louisville. The dinner was served to 33 cousins who mostly lived on land inherited from grandfather DAVID (SPANGLER).

"The graves of grandfather DAVID and his wife ELIZABETH, were enclosed with an iron fence that stood only a few hundred yards from the house. The burying plot had once been in the orchard, but the trees had long since gone to decay. Among our relatives buried there, were father`s five sisters and one brother. All of them had lived more than 80 yrs and lived and died in that vicinity.

"We looked at the house, then converted into a corn crib, that my parents built, and the stone spring house which furnished sanitary protection for their milk and butter. The springhouse was still being used as it had been for a hundred years. The stone fort that had protected the community from the indian invasions looked much like a long stone barn except for the holes where the flintlock guns and flint pointed arrows had been thrust through.

"At the home of COUSIN ISAAC KOONS, I saw the largest collection of arrowheads and indian implements that I have ever seen, all of which were found in those hills and valleys contiguous to and on the land of the SPANGLERS."

Aunt Mary wrote this little book (Library of Congress Call Number CT 275.L845A3) in 1935 at age 82 yrs. She wrote that the homestead was purchased by her great grandfather, WILLIAM SPANGLER, from then Governor of Virginia, William H. Harrison. This pioneer woman was the first type-setter in Missouri, where she and her husband, CHARLES LUSTER owned newspapers in Brunswick and West Plains, Missouri.

Aunt Mary's book offers the following information about DAVID SPANGLER:

"There are many interesting incidents related of DAVID`s career. Perhaps the most thrilling is the story of his capitivity among the indians! As a lad of about sixteen years, he was alone in dense timber cutting wood when a marauding band of indians swooped down upon him and bore him to their camp two long days journey from the settlement. His courage and endurance on the trip saved his life and he became a trusted emissary to other tribes and villages. He was of course accompanied by one or more indians. Though obedient to the demands of the tribesmen, he was quietly watching for his chance to escape. It came when he was sent out with a single companion through familiar territory where he made a successful dash for liberty, and reached the home that mourned him as forever lost.

"His death, when he was about 40 yrs old [his headstone indicates he was 49 years old], resulted from a plunge into the Ohio River after an unruly steer. He rescued the steer but his chilling experience resulted in pneumonia and death, leaving his wife Elizabeth to struggle alone in the raising and education of ten children."

Hope you are able to find the graves; wish I could be there to help; you`ll be in my thoughts.

Dorothy Phillips <dot9@webtv.net>
November 8, 1997

SPANGLER, Alfred      married PERKINS, Susanna A. C. on 22-Mar-1827

SPANGLER, Ann H.      married NICHOLSON, Larkin      on 23-Oct-1839

SPANGLER, Elizabeth   married EPLER, David           on 02-Feb-1825

SPANGLER, Elizabeth   married TUCKER, James          on 12-Sep-1839

SPANGLER, Lewis S.    married SARLES, Harriet        on 23-May-1835

SPANGLER, Lucinda     married KOONS, Adam            on 07-Apr-1831

SPANGLER, Polly       married CALDRON, Peter         on 09-Nov-1829

SPANGLER, Sarah       married COOMBS, Fielding       on 07-Nov-1839

SPANGLER, William     married SCHWARTZ, Nancy        on 15-Mar-1826

Jeffersonville Twp. Library                Charlestown Library

211 East Court Avenue                      51 Clark Road

Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130              Charlestown, Indiana  47111

Telephone:  (812) 285-5635                 Telephone:  (812) 256-3337



Sellersburg Library                        New Albany-Floyd Co. Library

430 North Indiana Avenue                   180 West Spring Street

Sellersburg, Indiana  47172                New Albany, Indiana  47150

Telephone:  (812) 246-4493                 Telephone:  (812) 944-8464