Mills County, Iowa

St. Mary's Cemetery
(St. Mary's Township)

This cemetery was located in Section 1, St Mary's Township, east of what was once the St Mary's steamboat landing. The flood of the Missouri River in 1952 ravaged the cemetery and left a deep pond in its place. At one point in the area, the flood caused a lake 26 feet deep. Arrangements were made at the time for reburial of any remains in another cemetery. There is now no evidence of the gorge or the cemetery.

Several informants state it was known as St Mary's Cemetery and that it had 18 to 20 stones. Burials were mostly members of the DeLisle family. Two DeLisle brothers cared for the cemetery while they were living.

The few names to record are of burials in the 1800's. Later, in the early 1900s, there was an unusally large hog-raising project on the farm on which the cemetery was located and the area was widely known as the Hog Ranch. At the time of the flood, one grave marker remained in a high corner of the cemetery. Deciphered was the name of HACKER and the date 1870.

WPA Cemetery Recording circa 1938:

The Works Progress Administration cemetery listing circa 1938 shows but three names (some of their records were lost):

  DeLISLE, Louis died 16 Jan 1886, 19 years
  PEARCE, John 1804 - 12 May 1870
  BOGGS, E Z died 1873, 57 yeras

Ruth Kellogg suggested, there may have been burials of the GRASSAU family. The maiden name of Mrs. George DeLisle was Grassau.

Source: Contributed by Deb Smith