Jefferson County Online
County Home Cemetery
for the Poor and Insane

Liberty Township, Section 22


The Jefferson County Home for the Poor and Insane was started sometime in the 1870s; we have not been able to pinpoint a particular year. This page is a listing of the known burials on the facility's grounds, based on death records 1880-1930 found at the County Courthouse, and there are more whose identity is not known. Unfortunately there are no gravestones to mark the burials, the last of which were probably made before 1930. Some of those buried here will be found in the State Census records of Liberty township in 1885 and 1895. The 1885 census listed 33 persons here, and the 1895 listed 36 persons.

The County Farm consisted of 140 acres of land, about 100 of which was suitable for growing crops. The farm had every able-bodied person busy at an appointed task, whether it was working in the kitchen, doing daily housekeeping, or working in the barns and fields. The men tended the huge garden, planting and harvesting the crops, and took care of the animals. For about 100 years this was a nice self-supporting facility. In 1970 the government changed the rules regarding the residents. The barns and all outbuildings were demolished, the orchard was bulldozed, the animals were sold off, and the cropland was rented out through a bidding process to an area farmer. For 2011, the 106 crop acres were rented at $183/acre. A new one-story residential facility was built in 1977, and under the new rules NO WORK was to be done by the residents, only by hired help. The County Home was closed about 2000. Since then it has been sold to a local farmer who uses the facility for a small office and storage for farm supplies. Grain storage bins have also been built on the property.

Below the listing is a photo of the original main house prior to its 1977/1978 demolition.


Surname
Given Name
DOB
DOD
Age
Comments
ABBEY (Mrs.)   12 Feb 1879   Wife of George; no age noted
ANDERSON Charley 1797 19 Nov 1887   Born in Sweden
CANADAY Michael 1835 17 Oct 1898    
DUDGEON Infant (f)   11 Aug 1893 23 days Daughter of an inmate
FULTON Blanche   24 Nov 1887 35 yrs  
GRAHAM Infant   28 Nov 1892 21 days Child of Riley (widower)
HALL Infant   14 Aug 1890 22 days Child of Miss Effie
HARTER Sarah (Mrs.) 1803 28 Jul 1881    
JOHNSON Andrew   19 Mar 1897 95 yrs Single; born Sweden
KERN Joseph 1837 15 Dec 1897    
KUCH William   5 Jun 1891   No age noted
LAWSON Harrison 1816 19 Oct 1898   Negro
LEE William   19 Aug 1903 80 yrs Deaf and dumb
MARSHALL L. W. 1815 15 Aug 1900    
MARTIN N. E. (female)   7 Mar 1886 36 yrs Widow
McCLURE Cynthia (Mrs.)   25 Nov 1893 80 yrs Widow; accident - burned to death
McCRAY James   11 Nov 1879 60 yrs Single
McDONALD Julia Ann (Mrs.)   14 Jun 1891   Widow; no age noted
PETERSON Peter   May 1880 62 yrs Single; born Denmark
RINGSDORFER Henry 1845 2 Apr 1910    
ROBERTS Mary 1809 11 Oct 1895    
SHAFFER Maria (Mrs.) 1827 27 Oct 1895   Widow; born Germany
STILES William 1821 12 Aug 1891   Divorced
SUFFICOOL Samuel   Mar 1880 65 yrs Wife Ellen ______ THORNTON; Mortality Schedule
THORN Franklin 1814 12 Oct 1894    
TULLIS Mary 1816 28 Feb 1895   Single
WAGGLE Sarah (Mrs.)   17 Jul 1890 90y 9m 4d Widow of John
WEBB Jacob 1804 30 Dec 1887    
WELLS (unknown)   30 Jul 1898   No age noted

 


This page was created on 11-26-2010 and is copyrighted. This page may be copied and used for personal purposes but can not be republished nor used for commercial purposes without the author's written permission.

I am the County Coordinator and the Webmaster, the one who is responsible for the IAGenWeb project for Jefferson County, Iowa. Please contact me if you would like to contribute to this database or if you note any problems with these pages.

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