Riverside Cemetery Plot 40, where the 12 headstones stand, was owned by Fred C. Small, who was a secretary of the cemetery association in the 1800s, yet no one named Small is buried there.

Many of Cornish’s early historical records were lost in a fire, so detailed information about the founding of the Riverside Cemetery plot cannot be located.

People in Cornish are just beginning to piece together the mystery of eight bodies unearthed behind Town Hall this week.

Glenna Googins, the Riverside Cemetery Association’s secretary and treasurer, said she has been searching through decades of cemetery association meeting minutes but cannot find any mention of bodies being moved.

Glenna Googins, the Riverside Cemetery Association's secretary and treasurer, said bodies were believed to have been moved from a cemetery near Cornish Town Hall as early as 1905.

A gravestone in Riverside Cemetery in Cornish, where bodies were believed to have been moved from a cemetery near Cornish Town Hall. Remains of eight people were unearthed behind Town Hall this week, and some think that the bodies might be those who were supposed to be moved to Riverside Cemetery.