"Greencastle Cemetery is located in Section 14, Poweshiek Township, Jasper County, Iowa. It is on Fall Avenue just West of the town of Greencastle. It started in March of 1861, when the 2 month old son of D. B. & S. M. Scott, was the first to be buried there. This location was given by the Lavalieur family for a cemetery. Many early burials took place in, 'the village cemetery,' as it was referred to in an 1882 warrantee deed.
"Gabriel Lavalleur, his wife Reine and their only son Frank came to Jasper County in 1860. Mr. Lavalleur was a grape expert and was very proud of his vineyard. He was originally from France and has a very interesting epitaph: 'Gabriel Lavalleur Born at Arez Dept. of Hautasone, France, April 7, 1804 Died on this farm November 19, 1887 after having labored twenty-seven years in the vineyard across the way. May he now rest at the cornerstone in the Lord's vineyard.
"In a warranty deed dated 14 September 1882, Frank, the only Lavalleur heir and Ammi W. Cross and his wife Martha Drew Cross deeded land to Rosalie Cross Lavalleur. Rosalie was the daughter of the Crosses and the wife of Frank Lavalleur.
"It wasn't until 6 March 1905 that Rosalie Lavalleur, then 'a single woman,' sold to the Trustees of Poweshiek Township one half acre of ground, used for cemetery purposes and lying immedediately West and adjoining the original cemetery, for the sum of seventy-five dollars. In a deed dated 6 June 1925, C. L. Zimmerman and his wife Edna Zimmerman sold, for three hundred dollars, more land to the Trustees of Poweshiek Township to add to the cemetery. Two more parcels to the East and South were added in 1979 to make up the two acre cemetery.
"With a cemetery this age it is not unusual for a family to have as many as four generations buried there. Greencastle is well maintained, has a fence, a veterans memorial and a drive into the cemetery. It is cared for by the Poweshiek Township Trustees."
Source: Jasper County, Iowa Cemeteries: Poweshiek Township, compiled by Jasper County Genealogical Society; published by the Iowa Genealogical Society. Copyright 1994. Used with their permission.
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