Montgomery County, Iowa
Buckner/Pleasant Grove Cemetery)
(Lincoln Township, Section 4)

Buckner cemetery was registered May 13, 1879, in the recorders office of Montgomery County, as Pleasant Grove Cemetery, but is known locally as the Buckner Cemetery. On November 6, 1876 Jackson Buckner gave an acre of ground to be used as a cemetery.

The cemetery is located three miles north of Wales and three-fourths of a mile west. The name Pleasant Grove was chosen because of the big grove of Walnut trees, which surrounded the cemetery. The trees were sold to the United States Army in 1917 to be used for the butts of rifles in World War I.

Mr. Buckner also gave the acre immediately west of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to be used as a building site for their church. The congregation raised $1,400.00 for that purpose, but in 1879 the church was built three miles north at Wheeler Grove. This church was struck by lightning and burned to the ground.

There were 25 burials in Buckner cemetery before it became an official cemetery. The first burial was William Thompson, brother of Elizabeth Conner, in 1852. This was one of the first four burials in Montgomery County that year. There have been four burials from 1930-1990. In 1930, a farmer mowed the cemetery for hay and piled up some of the stones. Until 1990, there have been 108 burials which included 22 infants [two sets of twins], 18 children under age 16, 65 adults and an unknown number of new born babies. In 1990, a group of men cleaned up the cemetery, cut dead trees, trimmed the brush, reset and straightened the stones, repaired the fence and installed a flag pole and bulletin board.

Two people who met with tragic deaths are buried in Buckner cemetery. D. Lee Buckner took a load of cattle to Chicago in 1903. He stepped off the wrong side of an El Train and was run over by another train. Chad Thayer was killed accidentally while playing with a gun in 1985.

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For additions and corrections to these records, please contact: Montgomery County Coordinator.

This is a community volunteer project. Feel free to submit your own Gravestone Photos for Bucknery/Pleasant Grove Cemetery. Thank You!