IAGenWeb Bremer County

The Cemetery of Peace United Church of Christ
Also known as Peace Evangelical and Reform Church

 

Note: This information was taken directly from a note stapled in the back of the Bremer County Cemetery Book of 1983 that is at the Waverly, IA library. This was researched by Jim Corson and submitted in March of 1996. Five of the people listed here are my family. Carolyn Caplinger (former coordinator of IAGenWeb Bremer County).

In 1907, William & Mary Schroder deeded one acre of their land east of Waverly to the Trustees of the German Evangelical Peace Congregation of Waverly, Iowa, to be used as a congregational cemetery. The deed was recorded as Warranty Deed Record No. 54, Bremer Co., on April 20, 1907, and the description as recorded was:

"The South 1 acre of the East Half (E 1/2) of the Northwest Quarter (NW 1/4) of the Southwest Quarter (SW 1/4) of Section 1, Township 91 North, Range 14 West of the 5th P.M."

A general description of this 1 acre of property is from the north lot line of St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, 132 feet north, and from the middle of the road known as 12th St. S. E., 330 feet east.

The first person buried in this new cemetery was Caroline Buhmann, wife of Heinrich (Henry) Buhmann, who died on March 8, 1907, at the age of 58 years, 0 months, and 2 days. Heinrich died on March 25, 1933, at the age of 84 years, 0 months, and 28 days. Both Caroline and Heinrich were disinterred and reinterred in Harlington Cemetery, Waverly, on October 16, 1944, and are now in Section A, Lot 93, graves 1 & 2.

The second person buried in this cemetery was Elizabeth Kaben, who died on March 25, 1914, at the age of 88 years, 6 months, and 8 days. She was a widow and the whereabouts of her husband is not known. She was moved to Harlington Cemetery on October 20, 1943, and she is now in Section A, Lot 83, Grave 3. She was given a single grave space in Harlington by Mrs. Charles Hennings.

The third person buried in this cemetery was Will Homeister, who died in April, 1917. He was an elderly man and we have no record of his age. He was moved to Harlington Cemetery on April 12, 1944, and is now in Section A, Lot 88, Grave 3. We have no record of his wife, but his single grave space was given to him by his son, Will Homeister, who died in 1963.

The fourth person to be buried was August Mueller, husband of Elisa Mueller, who died on September 17, 1925, at the age of 75 years, 8 months, and 1 day. Elisa died on February 28, 1928, at the age of 83 years, 6 months, and 0 days. Both August and Elisa were moved to Harlington Cemetery on April 12, 1944, and are now in Section A, Lot 88, Grave 1 & 2. Both these grave spaces were gived to them by Will Homeister.

The next person to be buried in Peace Evangelical Cemetery was Canton Lindner, age 25 years, who died on March 24, 1931, and was moved to Harlington Cemetery, Section A, Lot 90, Grave 1, on October 27, 1943.

The eighth person to be buried in Peace Cemetery was Dorothea Eikemeier, wife of Christian Eikemeier, who died on October 21, 1935, at the age of 82 years, 6 months, and 19 days. Christian died on July 11, 1936, at the age of 80 years, 9 months, and 29 days. They were both moved to Harlington Cemetery on April 12, 1944 and are now in Section A, Lot 88, Graves 4 & 5, which were given to them by Will Homeister who died on January 16, 1963.

The next person to be buried was William Bray, husband of Elizabeth Bray, who died on December 31, 1939, at the age of 72 years, 11 months, and 2 days. Elizabeth died on January 24, 1943, at the age of 76 years, 7 months and 13 days. They were both moved to Harlington Cemetery on October 20, 1943 and are now in Section A, Lot 83, Graves 1 & 2, given to them by Mrs. Charles Hennings.

The eleventh person to be buried in Peace Cemetery was Christopher A. Lindner, who died on April 27, 1941, at the age of 77 years. He was the father of Canton Lindner. He was moved to Harlington Cemetery on October 27, 1943 and is in Section A, Lot 90, Grave 3.

The second to last person to be buried in Peace Evangelical Cemetery was Marylin Jean Eiklenborg, daughter of Fred A. & Dorothy P. Broesher Eiklenborg, who was stillborn at St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Waverly on October 15, 1942. Her parents lived with her grandparents, Henry & Jessie Eiklenborg, on a farm in Section II, Lafayette Twp., (referred to as East Lafayette Twp.) on the half-mile road, first place south on the east side, what is known now as the Ray Wedemeier farm. They only lived there in the late 1930s and early 1940s. There seems to be no record of her grave being moved, as we have the records of the other 12 burials being moved to Harlington Cemetery. Possibly, if her grave had been marked, the marking was soon lost after burial; and when the other graves began to be moved on October 20, 1943, her gravesite could not be located.

One person that I have located with a memory of the existence and general location of gravestones in this cemetery is Floyd Woods of 2528 Fairview Ave., Waverly, who in the late 1930s lived across the road from this cemetery and can remember hunting rabbits there. The gravestones were located in the front or west portion of the cemetery near the road which is now 12th St. S. E. Just taking a wild guess, and being somewhat familiar with burial habits 50 years ago, I would say that this child was probably buried in either the northwest corner or southwest corner of the cemetery.

Evidently the cost of general maintanance of the cemetery was becoming a financial burden on the congregation and renting the land for pasture would benefit the congregation more than a cemetery would, so the decision was made to move the graves and rent the land to Fred Hess. The property stayed in the name of Peace United Church of Christ (formerly known as Peace Evangelical & Reformed Congregation of Waverly, and also formerly known as German Evangelical Peace Congregation of Waverly) until the one acre was sold to Raymond L. Smith of Waverly and recorded on Warranty Deed dated June 27, 1977. The money received from the sale was used to purchase new hymnals for the church.

Henry Homeister of 2423 Hilton Ave., Waverly, is a member of Peace United Church of Christ and is the grandson of Will Homeister who died in April 1917. He remembers when the graves were moved and that all the 12 adult graves were in a straight line from north to south in about 20 to 30 feet from the west edge of the cemetery. The cemetery did have a fence around it. He said that the graves were moved because of very little burial activity (13 burials in 36 years) and the congregation thought they could earn more for the church to rent the one acre for pasture ground to Fred Hess, which they then did for the next 33 years. He said that his dad Will Homeister (who died in 1963) paid for the grave spaces in Harlington for the 5 people in his family - Will Homeister, his grandfather; August & Elisa Mueller, his uncle and aunt; and Dorothea & Christian Eikemeier, his father-in-law and mother-in-law. Will Homeister, his grandfather who died in 1917, came to the U. S. without his wife, because she had died during childbirth in Germany.

Additional Notes:

On April 12, 1944, William and Hermine Eickmeier Homeister were asked to move five family members:  Hermine's parents, Christian and Dorothea Buhmann Eickmeier; William's father, Wilhelm "William" Hohmeister;  and William's uncle and aunt, August and Elisa Mueller.  They were asked to move the grave sites because the Peace Evangelical Church had decided to rent this cemetery out for pasture to make money.  Before moving these graves, William and Hermine Eickmeier Homeister had to buy:

 

This was a lot of money back when the Depression was going on.

These five caskets were then moved into the Harlington Cemetery, 200 1st Street NW, Waverly, IA, in the far southwest part of this cemetery.  Wilhelm "William" Hohmeister was placed in Section A, Lot # 88, Grave # 3.  His grave does not have any markings although he is buried near William and Hermine Homeister, who are buried in Lot # 89, Grave # 1 & 2.  Hermine's parents Christian and Dorothea Buhmann Eickmeier are buried in Section A, Lot # 88, Grave # 3 & 4.  They do not have any grave markings.  Uncle August and Aunt Elisa Mueller were buried in Lot # 88, Grave # 1 & 2.  They do not have any grave markings.  All are located in the same section of Harlington Cemetery in Waverly.