BARKER-PHILBRICK CEMETERY

Barker-Philbrick Cemetery 

From the Madison County History of 1869: "Private Cemetery. Mr. Jeremiah H. Barker and Dr. David H. Philbrick have a private cemetery in a beautiful location on the hill-side just south of the city cemetery. Mr. Barker has two children at rest there and Dr. Philbrick one. The original intention was to have vaults built in the hill-side at this place, which was first used in 1862.  At that time the city cemetery was considered by these gentlemen to be too damp for burial uses, but it has since been so well drained and improved that they will probably remove their dead there and abandon the private cemetery"¹ .

From The Winterset News: "The two or three cedar trees that are on the hillside close to the old abandoned lime kiln mark the spot where two boys or young men were buried. The Winterset cemetery, its south boundary above the quarry, in the early days was extremely wet although it is on a high ridge. When Abner Philbrick died, his parents buried him on the then beautiful hillside instead of in the cemetery. And, when the two children of Jerry Barker died soon afterward, they buried them beside the Philbrick boy.

They planted cedar trees near the graves and surrounded them with a neat fence. There were some limestone slabs on the graves. Boys said that they were placed there to keep the wolves from digging up the bodies.

In later years, after the country was drained, the bodies were removed to the cemetery. Dr. Philbrick was a druggist whose store was where the News office now is and Jerry Barker was a jeweler where Graves store stands. Both were in business before the Civil war and died here".²

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Coordinator's note: Although Dr. Philbrick and Mr. Barker both died in 1885, Dr. Philbrick is listed in the Winterset cemetery but son Abner is not, nor are Jeremiah Barker or his children.

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Source 1: History and Business Directory of Madison County by J. J. Davies, 1869, page 440, Mills &

                 Company, Printers & Publishers, Des Moines, Iowa

Source 2: The Winterset News, Winterset, Iowa, March 7, 1935, Page 1, Column 1

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