Evergreen Lawn Cemetery

Records are alphabetically by surname with details on parents, birth, death, marriage and places of origin, as available.

The trustees of Wheeler Township and a committee appointed by the Town Council of George, Iowa, met in November of. 1897 to discuss establishing a township cemetery. The transaction was recorded on November 25, 1898. Five acres of the Southwest Corner of the Northwest Quarter of Section Two, TWP 98, Range 44, a half mile west of George was purchased. The first lots sold for $7.00 for people in Wheeler Township and the town of George and $10.00 for others. The new cemetery was named Evergreen Lawn Cemetery. By-laws were written. A board consisting of one of the township trustees, one member of the town council, and the mayor of the town would be the governing body.

The actual work for preparation of the cemetery such as seeding of grass and planting of the evergreen trees was done by volunteers under the direction of Mr. Fred Marschall. Wheeler Township records show that three corpses were moved to the new cemetery from a cemetery a half mile to the north. Among the first to be buried at the new cemetery were Carrie J. McKinney, the first wife of Dr. McKinney, and Sam Satterlee whose story appears under "The Story of Two Old Soldiers" in the In and Around George, Iowa book. A lot was donated for the burial of soldiers in 1900.

In 1992 he Board of Trustees of the George Bicentennial Museum decided to update the Evergreen Lawn Cemetery records and include a map of the cemetery. Research by the committee and other board members began and consisted of finding information from the old cemetery book at the city office, the former cemetery record book, records in the Lyon County Court House, obituaries from earlier newspapers, and information from family members. This data recorded the facts as accurately as possible. Included in these alphabetically arranged records are name, birthday, birthplace, parents, marriage, occupation, death, and burial place. These web pages reflect that work and the committee is to be commended for their effort. The layout of the cemetery is not included here, but is available along with all the data in photo copy form.

We hope that this data is a valuable asset to you and your families. Recorded burial began in November of 1897. The Board of Trustees of the George Bicentennial Museum will continue to record the burials each year and produce updates. To obtain a photocopy of the data, and/or the supplemental information as it is prepared yearly, please contact the County Coordinator, through the e-mail link found on the Lyon County home page. He can direct you to the person at the museum in charge of this project of theirs.