GREENWOOD CEMETERY EARLY BEGINNINGS

by Eleanor B. McCleary
In 1836 the town of Bloomington (known today as Muscatine) was established. As the town grew, and more deaths occurred, it became apparent that a special plot of ground needed to be set aside for a cemetery. Muscatine Cemetery located on Iowa City Road (known today as Lucas Street) was established on August 15, 1843 when William St. John sold five acres of land for $125 to the President and trustees of the Town of Bloomington for their purpose of providing general public burial grounds. The "New Burying Ground" was announced in an ad which appeared in the "Bloomington Herald Newspaper" on August 18, 1843. It states:

The New Burying Ground

The New Burying Ground has now been surveyed and layed out into Family Lots and a Pottesfield.
A sexton will be appointed and as soon as possible the graveyard will be fenced.
The Public are hereby requested to bury in the new Burying Ground hereafter.
The Family Plots will be sold for five dollars.
Public Sale On Saturday the 19th inst.
The Family Lots will be offered for sale on Saturday next the 19th inst
at two o’clock P.M. sale to take place on the premises.
By order of the President and Trustees,
Pliny Fay, Recorder, Aug. 16th 1843.

June 1849, Muscatine Cemetery's name was changed to Greenwood Cemetery.

For many years this early graveyard register was considered lost. Articles found published in the Muscatine Journal Newspaper on Jan. 31, 1967 and July 17, 1982 that suggested that there were an estimated 1,000 burials not on record at Greenwood Cemetery. Another article suggested that the early records had been destroyed in a fire at City Hall in 1849.

The Public Burial Grounds Graveyard Register 1843 - 1853 was recently rediscovered by Mrs. Robert S. McCleary as she was searching for her husband’s great - great grandfather. Apparently in the late 1980’s old records being stored in a vault at Muscatine City Hall were being sorted and cleaned out. Many precious, old, documents of historical nature, were donated to Musser Public library for preservation. Among them was this register. It was found filed "in the manila folder, in the lateral file, shelved behind the machine that photocopies microfilm, in the Reference Section".

Photocopies of the register are available but it is difficult to decipher the spidery handwriting on old paper. In 1996, so to facilitate its' study, Eleanor B. McCleary and Jo Ann Carlson prepared a type-written reproduction of the original Register and consolidated the documentation of the early public burial grounds. Plat map, early history, and a photo of the Early Settler Monument are included.

A VERY frustrating observation was made was that out of the 702 burials listed in this register, 223 people do not have any burial location noted. There are 10 burials in Block Fraction, 2 in Block 1, 1 in Block 2, none in Block 3 and Block 4. From Block 5 to Block 26, there are many listings. We believe that Block Fraction is part of Block 1. Further into the graveyard register, it makes reference to 30 Rows with as many as 50 Numbers in a Row. As of this date, we have no idea where those Rows are located within the cemetery. Nor do we know were the Pottersfield section is, referenced in the ad placed in the Bloomington Herald in 1843.

This fact, encouraged the McCleary’s to submit a proposal to Iowa Sesquicentennial Commission to erect a monument remembering all the people referenced in this register. Their proposal was accepted and the money was raised. The Early Settler Monument was unveiled Memorial Day, 1996.

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