Johnson County Cemeteries |
Johnson County Cemeteries |
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A Search for the Oldest Cemetery in Johnson County
By: G. M Ludwig May 1946 (Source: Iowa City Press Citizen, 24 May 1946, pg. 6) |
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The
original community centers in rural Johnson county were not trading
centers, post offices, or churches. They were graveyards near a few
isolated rustic homes containing a grave or two. Trading centers, post
offices, churches, etc., were more or less established as a matter of
personal choice. The selection of a graveyard was forced upon the early
pioneers suddenly and unexpectedly.
The designation of the time and
place of one's death is not a human prerogative. The early squatters
and homesteaders reached Johnson county as a matter of personal choice.
But often no sooner had they reached their new home until somebody died
- a matter not of their own choosing. Often the victim was an innocent
infant; sometimes it was an old hardened son of the west falling before
the Silent Reaper immediately upon his arrival in his new home.
Perhaps
these original settlers lived in their new environment for several
years before there was registered much evidence of their presence. But
seldom had they secured any substantial hold on the soil before there
was a grave.
In those days of storm and stress, decisions relating to
death and the disposition of the dead were postponed even more than
today. Generally it was not until the tragedy occurred that any thought
was given to a burial place. Then amid a cloud of gloom despair and
frustration an important decision had to be made. Perhaps the deceased
had died of some communicable disease - black diphtheria, for instance
- and this decision had to be made immediately. The location of many of
the earliest graveyards of this county must be the result of just such
decisions. The wonder is not that many were so poorly located; the
miracle is that not far more were eventually abandoned.
When a boy I
was told the story of how Center cemetery and church originated. A
child died. A snow storm came. The roads became blocked. Moving a
funeral caravan through the drifts for eight miles was out of the
question. Some one suggested: "We need a graveyard and church here."
That was the origin of Center cemetery and church.
If the old people
of Johnson county could all be interrogated I am sure such interviews
would reveal many similar dramatic episodes. And there is little doubt
that during the first few decades of Johnson county history a cemetery
was begun in a community project including a church. Usually a church
followed.
Few graveyards were opened in this county after about
1870. Only three have been started since 1900, an Amish cemetery in
Sharon township in 1902, a Jewish cemetery north of Iowa City in 1918
and the latest one at Fairview Mennonite church in Sharon township in
1939 now containing two graves.
Where is the oldest in Johnson county: It is not that of Dolly Swan in Iowa City, for John and Louise Tantlinger had already
buried
a son in the River Junction cemetery the year before. Perhaps the
oldest authentic grave will never be located, it may no longer exist.
Besides there is some evidence that some early graves may represent
reburials. This seems the logical conclusion in the case of the one
represented in the accompanying picture. This tombstone appears in the
Castek cemetery in Monroe township. The inscription is:GEORGE W
son of
CHARLES P &
Dianah
LEONARD
died
Mar. 4, 1834
aged 8 yrs
9 mo 3 das
The next oldest stone in this cemetery is 1852. Probably this son was moved from some eastern cemetery.
The
gateway to the Blain cemetery in Jefferson township has the date 1836.
The Blain tombstone contains the record of the death of a two-month old
son who died in 1836. The foot stone for this child, however, is
missing. Perhaps he was never buried in this cemetery. His name may
have been later recorded to keep the family list complete Four other
small children seem to complete the family. Then when the cemetery was
reorganized this 1836 inscription was assumed to represent the origin
of the graveyard.
The other inscriptions I have recorded,
however, appear authentic. The map tells the story. It represents the
development of a series of burial places in the county that must quite
accurately represent the order of settlements. No one need remind me of
the possibility of mistakes. I wish these would be corrected. Let me
urge all who have interesting bits of information about the Johnson
county cemeteries, or who can furnish additional material or make
corrections, to do so.
The following list represent what appear the first burials in each of the Johnson county cemeteries:YEAR NAME OF BURIAL GRAVEYARD WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP 1842 Jacob Fry Frytown 1843 Christian Roup Bethel 1845 Rose Ankney Shaver Pleasant Hill 1864 Helena Miller Timber SHARON TOWNSHIP 1840 Mary Deckelmann Hummer 1846 Andrew Niffenegger Amish 1846 Edward Bowden Sharon M. E. 1854 Infant son of D. P. Gingerich Peter Miller 1858 Rebecca Weeber Weber 1864 John Hershberger East Union 1873 Henry Shrader Evangelical 1876 Magdalene Yoder Wagner 1879 Anna Barz Lutheran 1902 Mrs. Jacob Gingerich Gingerich 1939 Dale S. Hochstedler Fairview LIBERTY TOWNSHIP 1842 Benj. F. Overholser Cline 1855 Seraphine Rummelhart St. Stanislaus 1856 Mary Earhart Earhart 1861 Leon Wolz Mentzer 1878 George Laver Overholzer HARDIN TOWNSHIP 1860 Silas Cole Windham 1862 Felix Bradley St. Peter's, Windham 1864 Joseph Rohret St. Peter's. Cosgrove UNION TOWNSHIP 1848 Jane Williams Welch 1849 Brookens Carson Unity FREMONT TOWNSHIP 1838 Sils Tantlinger River Junction 1852 Madison Connely Swank 1853 Charles Evans Evans 1866 Jane Bowen Lone Tree PLEASANT VALLEY 1846 Martha Burge Sandtown 1847 Susan Powelson Walker 1850 Wife of David Trowbridge On Lentz farm 1852 Mary Trotter Fountain LINCOLN TOWNSHIP
The author found no cemeteries in this township.SCOTT TOWNSHIP 1849 Richard Bowen Brick Chapel 1858 Frances Bale Thompson EAST LUCAS 1839 Dolly Swan Iowa City 1918 Fanny Kimmel Jewish GRAHAM TOWNSHIP 1858 Emma Cochran Fairview 1861 Ralph Akers Oasis (Data unavailable) Morse NEWPORT TOWNSHIP 1860 Norman Blatler Newport Protestant 1887 Anna Plasila Newport Catholic CEDAR TOWNSHIP 1843 Ruth Sutliff Sutliff 1863 Mary Wieck St. Peter and St. Paul's 1871 John McCook St. Bridget's BIG GROVE 1839 George Falkler Falkler Grove 1840 Cotton Pratt Oakland 1858 Frances Kost St. Mary's PENN TOWNSHIP 1843 Margaret Alt Alt 1850 Mary Linninger Wray 1877 Martha Clark Oakhill CLEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP 1848 George W. Douglass TIffin MADISON TOWNSHIP 1849 John Steele Greencastle OXFORD TOWNSHIP 1852 Martin Mason Grabin 1868 Fred Cotter Oxford 1875 Phillippine Klenk Mt. Calvary MONROE TOWNSHIP 1834 (?) George W. Leonard Castek 1854 Frances Lippencott DuPont 1861 Josef Gehura Hala JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP 1836 (?) William Glain Blain 1843 Wilson Swisher Anderson 1849 Katherine Frazee Shueyville 1870 Teresie Skerlkova Sulek
