Keokuk's Lost Cemetery
Who was buried under Blondeau Street?
By Terry Altheide
"A cemetery on Blondeau Street?"
That is the question I hear a lot when I mention to people about
Keokuk's earliest graveyard. People were buried on what today is a well
paved Second and Blondeau Street, but in our earliest days this was a
forested bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.
The cemetery was established in 1832 and closed in 1855 when the city
leaders decided to create Blondeau Street. A Keokuk Post article on
April 25, 1857, said that "workmen engaged in grading Blondeau Street,
cut away a portion of the old graveyard adjoining the Catholic Church
and brought forth from their bed of mother earth some 15 or 20 skulls
which with their kindred bones are now thrown in a promiscuous heap back
of the church."
Evidently, not all the bodies were removed in 1855 when it was
advertised in the paper that those who had relatives buried there should
remove them to Oakland Cemetery.
In 1918, a workman by the name of Charles Whapales, while digging the
cellar for the house at 128 Blondeau, discovered two skeletons in the
space of four days. They were determined to be male and female and many
believed them to be man and wife, since they were buried side by side.
They were reburied in Oakland's Catholic Cemetery under the directions
of the Rev. George Giglinger.
A 1932 Gate City article further adds to the mystery of the identity of
these two souls known but to God. In an article titled "Where Are the
Graves of Keokuk Pioneers," the writer poses the question that these two
skeletons could be the remains of Dr. Samuel Muir and his beloved Indian
bride Sophia (her Native-American name has not been preserved.)
Muir, the founder of Keokuk, built a cabin in 1820 at the foot of what
today is Main Street. In 1832 he died from cholera and it's believed
that his was the first burial at the Blondeau Street site. It's likely
that his remains were carried to the top of this bluff and placed in a
grave overlooking his cabin on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Nothing is known about where his beloved Sophia was buried, leaving us
with the possibility that the founder of Keokuk, along with his wife,
sleep the sleep of death in an unmarked grave in the Catholic section of
Keokuk's Oakland Cemetery.
It's interesting to note that this same Charles Whapales found five
skeletons under a house on Des Moines Street in 1910. According to Doug
Atterberg, Keokuk historian, it's believed these remains were the
cadavers from Keokuk's medical colleges that were used in studies. What
became of these poor souls I've never discovered, but I assume they were
transported to the Oakland grounds.
Another famous name from Keokuk's past was buried at the Blondeau Street
site. John Gaines, Keokuk's first postmaster, notary public and operator
of the saloon where the name of Keokuk was proposed for the city, died
in 1839. His monument remained at the site for many years after the
graveyard was abandoned. It was finally removed and placed over Gaines
grave atop Sample Hill in Oakland cemetery.
Many cholera victims were buried atop the Blondeau Street bluff. The
year 1849 saw many people stricken with the dreaded disease. According
to one source, one in every 10 citizens of Keokuk died with the cholera.
A very large number of persons who died on the river boats were dropped
off here for burial. Though the exact number of cholera deaths isn't
known, we can assume that scores were buried at this old graveyard.
It also is believed that the 25 victims of a steamboat explosion near
Montrose were given a mass burial in the plot. Many anonymous drowning
victims also were placed in graves atop the bluff between 1832 and 1855.
Other cemeteries were maintained in Keokuk at 12th and Palean, Fifth and
Timea and it was rumored for years that an old Catholic Cemetery was
established on Water Street near the present day water works.
Whether all the remains were removed from these early burying grounds it
not know. Maybe some long ago buried soul lies peacefully under
someone's lilac bush in the backyard. If so, let them lie peacefully
Lord, never to be "thrown in a promiscuous heap behind a church."
Terry Altheide is president of the Lee County
Pioneer Cemetery Association.