ABANDONED CEMETERIES & BURIALS

Note: If you have additional information on this topic, please email the County Coordinator..

ABANDONED BURIALS

The recording of cemeteries began in 1970s with a concerted effort to record what was known about Madison County cemeteries.  The project originated with the Iowa Genealogical Society in the 1970s, prior to the 1976 Bicentennial celebration, and was led locally by Lewis E. Morris. The following is what was gathered at that time.  We have this group of determined researchers to thank for the cemetery work that is still continues through the Madison County Genealogical Society.

Miscellaneous Stones

Prior to 1850 there was small cemetery north of town, north and east of the Philip Boyles farm. George Guye, pioneer settler, says this was the first cemetery. The first death in the County was a baby of the Phillip M. Boyles family. This would be Union Township. (Contributed by JoAnne  Walker)

1970 —Wilbur Riser, spoke of a burial plot in Madison Township, section 29 with four or five graves with the name Clampitt.  Fran Clampitt's dad also said they were there.  An old road went on the east side of the buildings.  This burial site is said to have been in the NW 1/4 of the SE 1/4 or SW 1/4 of the SE 1/4 part of the section.  No stones have been uncovered or found.  It was then at the edge of timber due north from Worthington Church and cemetery across Tom Creek, then west up hill about 80 rods.¹

1975 - An aged sexton of the Peru Cemetery, in Walnut Township, spoke of two transients and a black man who came off the railroad during the 1930s economic depression and were buried in the Peru Cemetery.  They were buried in pauper graves and their names are unknown.¹

1976 —John Alles, of Douglas Township, found in Cedar Creek running through his farm in Sec. 23 S 1/2 SE 1/4, a stone inscribed “Mary Eddy, wife of F. Irwin b. November 2, 1865 d. August 24, 1920".   It was later determined that a former owner of the property had worked at the Winterset Monument Company and had on occasion hauled refuse stone to his home.  This stone is believed to be a reject.  There is nothing further known about the person in the inscription.¹

 1976 —A stone found in a draw SW of buildings on ridge in a fence line being bulldozed on the Dean Mapes farm, S 1/2 SE 1/4 Sec. 13 and N 1/2 of NE ¼ of Section 24 of Douglas Township.. The stone was approximately 24x18x4” with the inscription “Baby Boy, b.1867 Henry, son of D and A Hal (Hallings?)".¹

Richard Johnson, a former resident of Jefferson Township, grew up there and now living in Madison Township, Madison County, remembers an 8 to 10 inch square stone carrying a description of the death of an older woman.   He describes the stone as being in Section 12, Jefferson Township.   This stone was in a draw below a pond.   The stone was said to be 20 to 30 feet to the west of the section line in the South ½ of the NE ½.   This stone was not found due to the area being a wildlife preserve.¹

Lewis Morris reports that he has a photocopy of a stone for John Cram encased in a tree.  The Cram property was located in the NW 1/4 of NE 1/4 of Section 27 in Union Township. Midwest Rock Products Inc. owns 472 acres of this section which includes the Cram farm.1 

Abandoned Cemeteries

Note: Some of these cemeteries have no "official" names. They have been given names herein by the editor to distinguish amongst them.

Douglas Township - County Poor Farm  Cemetery - In February of 1975, Leonard Abrahams, a lifelong resident of Douglas Township, living in Section 23, spoke of people who were residents of the County Poor Farm, located in Section 24, being buried on the County Farm property, west line, adjacent of the draw that goes through the property.   No records of who may be buried in these potter's graves are available. (Lewis Morris, MCGS newsletter, 2014)  Online newspaper research shows payments for various poor farm burials, but no location is given.  An archeological study was done by the State of Iowa in 2000 and their results reported no graves.  Local genealogists have a different opinion.

Douglas Township - Eyerly Cemetery - Land for a cemetery in Section 29 of Douglas township was given by George and Martha Eyerly on September 8, 1875. Whether anyone is buried there or not is unknown.²

Douglas Township - Kirvin Cemetery - Tradition says that there is a burial site located in Douglas Township on or very near the Section line running east and west between Sections 14 & 23 on the approximate north-south centerline of these sections on what was (in 1976) the Thomas Kirvin farm and believed to be relatives of the Kirvins. The gravesites are at the point where the North-South road turns west and goes down the hill toward the river bottom. It is also said that the stones were laid down and covered over by the road grading crew.

Douglas Township - Monaghan Cemetery - Douglas Township, Section 11 also has a reported abandoned cemetery. The name is not remembered and this abandoned cemetery is located in the SW half of this section, on the bluff overlooking North River valley to the west, south and east, with a country road at the foot of the bluff on the west side. The exact spot has not been found as a search was made for markers and foot stones and none were found. This area is partly timbered over.¹  (Coordinator note: Starting in 1896, this cemetery's location is shown on plat maps, as described above.) 

Jackson Township Cemetery - The 1875 township map shows an unnamed cemetery in the southwest corner of Section 8 of Jackson Township. Subsequent plat maps do not show the cemetery and no other written record of its existence has been found.

Lee Township Cemetery - WPA cemetery records state that there was an abandoned cemetery in  Section 18, Lee Township, - but apparently no stones were found or read. This cemetery was very close to the road and tradition says that when the road was widened (year not known) the existing stones were thrown upon the bank and left lay. There were said to be 18 or 20 gravestones. In March 1976, Walter Eichner, on whose farm the cemetery was located, pointed out the site.   It is on the south side of the road, on a knoll, near his east property. It is described as on the north section line of Section 18, and in the very northeast corner of NE ½ of the section. Inspection of the site produced a foot marker type stone and a gravestone bearing the inscription: George W.  s/o L. & S. Knight  D. with  the rest of the stone broken off. (This may be from the Feb 1880 death of George W. Knight, s/o Lester  Philatus and Sarah (Woolhiser) Knight, which was reported in the 1880 Mortality Schedule). There is also a claim that people by the name of Burgett were also buried there. Leo Jungman, a nearby neighbor, reported that a burial stone had been found in the ditch south of his buildings.   It bore the inscription:  Reuben Hale  d. 1-23-1883  age 57.  (Lewis Morris, MCGS newsletter, 2014; Coordinator note: This cemetery appears on the 1875 county map as well as most of the early plat maps and on a county map published in 1976.)

Lincoln Township Cemetery - There is an isolated grave site on the Lester Rhodes farm, Lincoln Township, Section 14, near the approximate east – west center line of the section, approximately 20 rods west from the north–south road and 125 feet west from said road on a knob running north toward Middle River.   This is presently north of a set of farm buildings.   Grave site measures 10 feet by 10 feet, surrounded by a woven wire fence with creosote posts and 2 inch by 6 inch rails nailed top and bottom.   A small elm tree is in the lot.   Two graves that were found by witching appear to be facing southwest.    The found headstones read:  Theo Ansley  d. May 19, 1865 age 71y 1m 12d  and Esther, w/o Theo Ansley  d. Sept. 25, 1862, age 69y 14d.   Tradition says two other people are buried here, but that may be in error. Also, in the Madison County two-volume history published by Mueller in 1915, on page 441, under Nobel Loehr, makes reference to E. L. Richmond being buried in an isolated grave in a field in Lincoln Township.1

Monroe Township Cemetery - The location of an abandoned cemetery in Monroe Township is said to be in Section 22, where the Bullock Cemetery is located, and it is suspected that the true location was Section 26, S 1/ of SW 1/4.  Tradition says that there was a cemetery located in what is knows as Book Jack Corner where a NW-SE road intersected then Highway 169 around the 1920s. The location of the cemetery is now located under the road. Tradition also says a farmer owning the land took the stones and dumped them in the creek.  Other folks say the stones were laid down and buried.   A stone with the Boling name was later found west of Highway 169; no more is known.¹

Penn Township - Francis Cemetery - Emily and Daniel Francis gave land for a cemetery in Section 15 of Penn township, May 8, 1875. Whether anyone is buried there or not is unknown.

South Township - Clough Farm Cemetery - Herman Mueller wrote in the Winterset News, February 25, 1937, page 10:

  One family burial plot is in the field of Raymond Johnson, about a quarter of a mile from the highway.  A family by the name of Clough lived where Harry Scott now lives and owned the SW 1/4 of Section 25 in South township.  Two of their children were buried on the southeast part of the land, at that time, possibly out on the prairie.  When they sold the land, they reserved the burial lot, and every owner did so until it came into the ownership of Andrew Proctor.  The plat had been fenced until that time, when he cut down the trees, tore away the fences and plowed over the graves.  Since Raymond Johnston has become the owner, he has now plowed over the graves and keep the markers in place.

In 1935, Mueller wrote (unsourced),  

No other names were found and if there are there more children buried there as claimed, they would have been infants born and died between censuses.

Union Township Cemetery - Could this be the same location of the Cloughs?  Located in SE 1/4 of NE 1/4 of a section (but section not provided), a small abandoned cemetery has been lost.  Some folks now living have described it as a knoll or fringe growing down toward a creek and a short way off from the north-south section line.  It has been described as having about 5 or 7 stones which seemed to be one family - a husband and wife in their 30s and a number of children  with death dates fairly close together.  No record of the names is known.  The land was developed for limestone quarry purposed in the late 1940s and eventually the stones were bulldozed out and covered up with refuse.¹

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Source 1: Isolated Burials and Burial Sites, compiled by Lewis Morris, 1976.

Source 2: Madison County Land Records, Mary Welty, County Recorder.

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