...I will make thee an eternal excellency,
a joy of many generations.
Isaiah 60:15
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...I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Isaiah 60:15 |
TheCounty Home Cemeteryof |
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Eden Township, Section 14
This page was last updated 07 Aug 2000
Source: Cemeteries of Decatur Co. IA; compiled by Lois Slade and transcribed for our site by Janice Lira.
Nearest town: Leon
Earliest tombstone burial: May 27, 1900 #1-9
Latest tombstone burial: Dec. 24, 1912 #2-2
Latest known unmarked burial: 1939 #12History: On January 4, 1866, Dozier B. Gammon sold 160 acres to the county and the Decatur County Poor Farm began. The poor were housed in the original homestead house built my Dozier Gammon and his sons. An area was set aside for a cemetery. There are now 18 matching markers in two rows, mostly from 1900 to 1910. They were made of concrete at the county home and hand-lettered. Very few are readable today. There are probably many unmarked graves. When the county farm was sold in 1975, a large ledger containing residents information (including burials) was burned. The last known burial (unmarked) was in 1939.
An early burial policy of the County Poor Farm according to History of Decatur County by Himena Hoffman was: "When death came to an inmate, he was dressed in a three dollar robe and buried in a $10. Casket in the burial grounds on the farm, unless the family who had left him to end his days at the "Poor Farm" claimed the body and gave him burial elsewhere,"
The location of the cemetery was slightly south of the large county farm house, then east to the top of the ridge. However, the county farm house was torn down not long after it was sold. The cemetery area is fenced with an opening but no gate. It is not mowed.
There are few records left of the farm and the inmates. The Auditor's office, housed at the Decatur County Courthouse, has a few pages of the minutes of the "Poor Farm" committee. And, the Decatur County Museum has one list of inmates that were at one time living at the farm.
Row-Stone???, (unreadable) (1-1)
???, (unreadable) (1-2)
???, (unreadable) (1-3)
???, (unreadable) (1-4)
???, (unreadable) (1-5)
???, (unreadable) (1-10)
???, ------- died --------1903 (1-12)
BECK, Rueben died Aug 29, 1906 aged 60y (2-5)
BALES, George died 10-13-1904 (W.P.A.) (no stone)
BANCROFT, H. died 1-21-1905 (W.P.A.) (no stone)
BECK, Rebecca died 8-24-1905 aged --- (W.P.A.) (no stone)
CARTER, Albert age unknown died 6-25-1924 (Court House) (no stone)
COFFEE, (Throates?) died Feb 17, 1902 (W.P.A. "Thomas Coffee") (1-13)
E---, E. Died---11-13 aged 89 y (W.P.A. "Mrs E. Ewins died Nov. 1912 aged 89") (1-6)
EVANZ, Saml 56 y died Apr 22, 1898 (Court House) (no stone)
FORBES, William about 85 y died Apr 15, 1915 (Court House) (no stone)
GILBERT, David 79y died Mar 5, 1926 (Court House) (no stone)
HALE, John died 3-18-1911 aged 82y (2-1)
HANES, Robert 52 y died Aug 22, 1914 (Court House) (no stone)
HICKS, Frank 83y died Jul 25, 1922 (Court House) (no stone)
HUMPHREY, Fanny 79y died Mar 17, 1914 widow (Court House) (no stone)
HUNTLY, Emma over 70y died May 5, 1929 (Court House) (no stone)
JOHNSTON, William 76y died Mar 7, 1939 (Slade Funeral Home records) (no stone)
LADD, Wm. Died Sep 12, 1907 (court house š "age 71y 5m 11d") (2-4)
LENTZ, William 78y died Mar 5, 1936 (Court House) (no stone)
LEONARD, J.C. died Nov. 11, 1901 (1-7)
LOCKART, S. died 5-27-1900 aged 80y (W.P.A. "L. Lockner died 1905") (1-9)
McCULLOUGH, Minerva died Nov , 1900 (1-8)
McDONALD, Sarah died Sep 23, 1909 (Court house- "aged 61y") (2-3)
MENDAL, John age--- died 1904 (W.P.A.) (no stone)
MENDEL, Sarah died 12-24-12 aged 89y (2-2)
MITCHELL, Wm. 75y died Apr 3, 1931 (Court House) (no stone)
NASH, Daniel Monroe 75y 15d died Aug 31, 1933 (no stone)
PESSTER, John died Mar 8, 1903 aged 18 (W.P.A.) (no stone)
PORTER, John 84y died Jan 11, 1929 (Court House) (no stone)
POSTLEWAITE, William 85y died Mar 20, 1933 (Court House) (no stone)
ROGER, Wm. Died Mar 6, 1903 (W.P.A.) (no stone)
TALLMAN, Aba died ----(W.P.A. "Ada Tallman died 1903") (1-11)
WARTENBEE, Laura A. 72y 4m 5d died Aug 9, 1935 (W.P.A.) (no stone)
WHITTIER, Mose died 1930's at County Home (place of burial-not know)All 18 stones are made alike. They are made of concrete and hand-lettered. 18"H X12"W