Cemetery Histories

Peru Cemetery There are two cemeteries in Walnut township, the largest of which is known as the Peru cemetery. It contains about four acres of land, on the hill near where the original town of Peru was located in Section 3. The first part of the cemetery was given by Aaron Hiatt, grandfather of C. M. Hiatt of Peru. The second part from Leslie Hiatt, and the last part from the Weaver estate. According to the records, one of the earliest burials was in 1860, that of Hannah S. Brown, who died May 18, 1860, at the age of 41 years. Calvin S. Hollingsworth died in 1865, and William M. Lytle died December 29, 1862, at the age of 35 years. Some of the families who had lots in the original section of the cemetery and were buried there in the 1870’s and 1880’s were G. C. Foster, Daniel Baker, Martin C. Travis and Jed Osborn. Other families having lots are the Youngs, Hillmans, Ackelsons, Reeds, Bishops, Fosters, Browns, Sawhills, Harwoods, Emersons and Lorimors. Those having lots in the second addition were the Fenimores, Grimes, Moores, Shearers, Schoenenbergers, Hamms, Travis, Gregorys, Howards and the Kirks. The Spencers, Shearers and Showers have graves in the third addition. This cemetery is still used and is kept in good condition.

Pleasant View or Walker Cemetery, Webster Township One of the older cemeteries of the county is in Section 23 of Webster township where there were many early settlers. The first burial was that of Mrs. Elvira Haven in 1855, and children of D. and H. Richmond were buried there from 1857 to 1860. A Civil War Veteran, W. S. Richmond, was buried there in 1891. T.M. and Elizabeth Walker and A.M. and Caroline Hart gave the land for the Walker Cemetery. It was recorded in May of 1876, and the name was changed to the Pleasantview Cemetery in 1916. Other families buried there are the Walkers, Richmonds, Harts, Yorks, Jollisses, Coffmans, Smiths, and Shaws. Josephine Smith was buried there in 1882. F.M. Walker came to Madison county in 1855, and located in the township where his relatives still reside.

Powell Cemetery	This cemetery is 2 1/2 acres located on a ridge on the east side of Highway 169. The legal location is within the SE 1/4 of the SE1/4 of Section 24 of Madison Township. That part of the cemetery that contains burials has been fenced off to prevent intrusion by livestock. The cemetery contains the remains of descendants of Benjamin Powell, and early Madison County settler.

Primitive Baptist Cemetery The oldest church in Madison county is the Primitive Baptist church located a mile northeast o Winterset, and the cemetery which adjoins the church is one of the oldest in the county. The Rev. John Evans, who came to Madison County in 1846, was the first minister, a “Hardshell Baptist” and he helped organize the church in 1847 at the home of John Butler in Union Township. Vivian Robbins Debutts of Sioux City, daughter of Mrs. Caleb Robbins of Winterset, and granddaughter of Elizabeth Crawford Banks wrote a history of the church, its early members and the dates of the burials in the cemetery. James P. Crawford was thought to be the first person buried in this cemetery, which is in Section 30 of Union Township. He and his family came to Madison County May 15, 1855 and he died December 6, 1855. Other early burials listed alphabetically were as follows: Butler, Julia Elizabeth, died September 8, 1874, age 1 year, daughter of James and Anna (Crawford). Dorrell, Charles F., died February 7, 1877, aged 4 years. Evans, Robert A., a trustee of the cemetery, who came to the county in 1848 and died June 6, 1880 and his daughter, Amanda Jane, died October 8, 1861, aged 14 years. Farnsworth, Frankie, died December 29, 1867, aged 7 months and Elmer E. died September 8, 1867, aged 1 year. They were the children of H. C. (Henry) and A. (Adeline Hood) Farnsworth. Gentry, William, died April 16, 1862, at the age of 47 years. He and his wife Sarah came to Madison County in 1847. Guye, Everett O., died March 31, 1869, aged 4 months, Serena, died May 19, 1869, at 37 years and Levi died December 16, 1887, aged 23 years, children of J. W. and S. Guye. Hood, Mary (Gifford) (Mrs. Alfred), died 1869, aged 54 years. Kellogg, Monroe, died June 27, 1859, aged 1 day, Sylvester died January 23, 1876, aged 18 years. These are children of Miles and Elizabeth (Smith) Kellogg. Moore, Frederick, died September 20, 1873, aged 2 years, son of Phil C. and Mary Ellen (Crawford) Moore. Osborn, Anna (Fidler), died in 1874, at the age of 85 years, son, Moses, died August 30, 1861, ages 48 years. Poffinberger, Samuel W., died December 18, 1882, his wife, Hannah Smith, died October 4, is buried at the Trester Cemetery. Shaw, John T., son of John T. and Nancy M., died October 13, 1862, aged 9 months. Smith, Aquilla, died October 1, 1865, aged 77 years, and his wife, Elizabeth Collier, died December 23, 1862, aged 62 years. Smith, Margaret, wife of Levi, died August 1857, aged 21 years. Her children, John C. died Septermber 9, 1857, aged 6 years and Anna E., died November 20, 1861, aged 3 years. Thornburg, Delila, died February 23, 1875, aged 67 years, wife of Absalom Thornburg, who died January 23, 1865, and children Vervie, died September 9, 1875, aged 4 years, Albert Clifton, died April 21, 1879, 4 years, and Sarah died December 5, 1875, 3 years. Tannehill, Elder Dennison, died September 29, 1861, aged 47 years. Tedford, Henry, died September 11, 1870, aged 1 year, and James A. died September 1868, aged 10 months. Woolery, Mary (Mathias), wife of Eli, died November 6, 1869, aged 41 years. Her children buried in this cemetery are Anderson, died September 6, 1857, aged 1 year, Agnes, died October 1861, aged 17 years, Ida May, died April 11, 1870, aged 8 months, Flora, died March 4, 1868, aged 7 years and a third daughter died as an infant. Young, Infant, son of J. W. and K. E. Young, died November 19, 1861.

Richmond Cemetery This cemetery contains only a few graves, and it is in the southeast corner of Section 23, of Webster township and was on the farm occupied for many years by the Samuel Ridout family. It is no longer used.

Saint Patrick's Cemetery St. Patrick’s cemetery stands on the Southeast corner of the southeast corner of Section 36 in Lee township. It is adjacent to St. Patrick’s Catholic church for the community known as the “Irish Settlement.” Some of the early pioneers located in this part of the county, and there was much discussion as to whether the church and cemetery should be located on the north side or on the south side of the North river. Mrs. Alice McCusker O’Laughlin, who recently moved from Winterset to Des Moines, wrote an interesting account of the cemetery for the Madison County Antique Association. She said that a stranger, an old man and government surveyor, returning from further west, became ill. He stopped to rest at the home of Patrick Walsh and died there, on the south side of the river. While Mr. Walsh and some of his neighbors left to locate a burying		location, a half dozen men from the north side of the river, slipped in and took the corpse, buried him and thus started the cemetery on the north side of the river. Soon afterwards, in the summer of 1856, or 100 years ago, the church was built.Very many of the first settlers lie in St. Patrick’s cemetery now, and also their descendents. The family names of Connor, McMannus, McLaughlin, Ryan, Cunningham, Finan, Mongahan, Gill and Swift appear, even to the fourth and fifth generations. John Cutler, the young man, then 15 years of age, left behind to guard the body of the surveyor, or the first burial, died at the age of 99 years in 1930, and he lies now in St. Patrick’s cemetery. (See note below). One of the well-known covered bridges of Madison County is named in his honor. Also, on the stones can be seen the names of heroes of the Civil War. Of them, Martin Waldron and M. M. Gilleran are buried here. One will note on the headstones of this cemetery, as well as in many of the others, the young ages of the dead, that is 18 years and many infants from two months to three years. Although there was apparently no marker on the first grave, dates are on the stones as early as 1858 and 1859. One Memorial is standing in honor of a young First World War, Martin Douheny. It was unusual because it was such a large memorial, and because the young man had died of influenza and was actually buried at sea. St. Patrick’s cemetery is still used by the parish people and is kept in good condition. County Coordinator's Note: Mrs. O'Laughlin's narrative contains at least two errors. John Cutler was born in 1832 and was probably around age 25 rather than 15 when this event occurred and he died 31 Jan 1932, not 1930.

Sayre – Elm Grove Cemetery The Elm Grove cemetery in Section 20 of South Township was deeded November 13, 1872, by N. S. Allcock.

St. Charles Cemetery - No information

Stringtown Cemetery Another of the old cemeteries of the county is what is called Stringtown, in Douglas township. David Applegate, a native of Ohio came to Madison county in 1858, and located in Section 18 of Douglas township. Shortly after he arrived here, the death of a neighbor’s child made the people realize that they needed a cemetery in that part of the county. Mr. Applegate offered to give an acre of his farm, at the northeast corner for a cemetery, and this was the beginning of the Stringtown cemetery. W. D. Wood’s farm joined the Applegate farm on the north. The deeds of this cemetery were filed October 11, 1901, by Andrew Allen, R. E. and Benton Applegate and July 10, 1902 by John and Nancy Brown. Miss Alda M. Applegate of Enid, Oklahoma, recently wrote a history of the old cemetery and she stated that years later, the two neighbors decided to have their land surveyed. The found that the first little grave had been placed on Mr. Wood’s land, so these two pioneer men donated the land. (to be used for the cemetery). Some 40 years later, Mrs. Chris Smith, formerly Mary Rogan, daughter of James and Elizabeth Rogan, died and Mr. Applegate gave another half acre of his land for a Catholic cemetery. Mrs. Smith’s body was the first placed in that cemetery. Mr. Rogan in expressing his gratitude to Mr. Applegate, said, “Mr. Applegate, how carefully we brought Mary here from Ireland and now we have so tenderly placed her body on your land.” Today, those two old neighbors and friends have been buried near each other for many years. Other old neighbors and friends who are buried there include the Allgeyers, Rogans, Bards, Amys, Cowdens, Thompsons and Schaffers. Miss Applegate further stated that “The Rogans at the old stone house, the Richmond place, Bards, Applegates, Amys, Sticklers, John Stewarts, McGarts, Cowdens and Thompson homes were so nearly in a line that it was termed Stringtown, so the origin of the name.” The mail for these people was called Stringtown mail and was called for at the Winterset post office and taken by a member of the group and distributed to patrons on the way home.

Trester Cemetery The Trester Cemetery in Section 25 of Madison township was names after James and Anna Trester who had seven children and located in that part of Madison township in the 1850’s. Two of the early burials were an infant daughter who died in 1858 and William Trester, a son of W. P. & F. A. Trester was buried there in 1855. Ruth, a daughter of Thomas Nicholson was buried there in 1869, at the age of 65 years. She was an aunt of Mrs. Ada Bunker of Winterset. The cemetery is not used at this time, and some of the tombstone dates are difficult to read, but inscriptions that could be identified are as follows: James Trester, a great-grandfather of Mrs. Lucille Wright, died in 1867, at the age of 45 years; his wife died in 1882 at the age of 59. Nora, a two year old daughter of M. & N. Gabbert, died in 1874; Mary Gabbert died in 1884; Nancy Jane White died in 1867, and Jellie Skates died in 1890. One stone with the name George Gafner, son of J. F. and Mary Gafner, who was lost for five days, and was found dead in October 1878.