Robert Hargadine, a prominent merchant, was one of three original founders of the small settlement first known as Ashland Mills.

In 1867 his one-year-old daughter Katie died; hers was the first recorded burial on the sloping hill north of Ashland now known as Hargadine Cemetery. This family graveyard was established on land owned by James Haworth, who accommodated the graves of the Hargadine and Farnham families.

Haworth formally deeded one and one-half acres to the families "for the purpose of a Cemetery or Grave Yard for the burial of the dead and for no other purpose."

Source: National Park Service