Norwalk Cemetery

NORWALK CEMETERY is located in the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 18 of Greenfield Township. It is located at Norwalk, Iowa.

Samuel Snyder erected the first house, a log cabin, in 1852 and was followed by Peter Black and W.S. Slagle. A hotel was built by George M. Swan a few years later. The post office was established and was called Pyra, with Mr. Glaze as postmaster, When Mr. Glaze resigned, George Swan replaced him, and the name of the post office was changed to Norwalk, in honor of Norwalk, Ohio, Mr. Swan's former home.

Mr. Swan was born in Norwalk, Connecticut on May 24, 1813 and emigrated with his parents to Richland County, Ohio, in 1825. He learned the printing business in Columbus, Ohio, and was connected with a paper in Norwalk, Ohio, for some time. He came to Iowa and settled in Linn Township in 1855. In 1856 he laid out the town of Norwalk, Iowa in order to give the post office a name.

Other early pioneers of Norwalk include A.N. Good, Dr. E.H. Carter, Benoni Black, Mary Black, Peter Black, Thomas M. Wilson, Eliza Wilson, Jane Onstott, Jessee Huff, Mary Huff, George Blosser, John Kern, Mirian Kern.

The Norwalk Cemetery is among the oldest in the county. In 1858 the cemetery was laid out under the following association: Benonia Black, President, A.N. Good, Treasurer, George Swan, Secretary. The trustees were Andrew Snyder, Amos Devoe, W. Casady, A.T. Miller, William Crown and Henry Onstott. In Deed Book K on page 630, H.B. Allison and his wife, Mary J., of Warren County, Iowa, and David Gabby of Washington County, Pennsylvania, in consideration of $40.00 sold and conveyed to the Norwalk Cemetery Association of Warren County, Iowa, four acres of land for the burying grounds. This transaction was recorded on July 27, 1859.

In the early days, the lots sold for two and one-half cents per foot. The price for opening a grave was fifty cents but sometimes the family could not pay. Henry Onstott and Mr. White's little girls were the first to be laid away in the cemetery.

Most of the markers are in good condition although some have been broken by the ravages of time and weather. Plain little slabs dimly revealing names and dates of early Norwalk pioneers are scattered among the more pretentious and ornate monuments.

Captain Breckenridge, a colored slave brought to Norwalk from the south by Israel Perkins, is buried in the Norwalk Cemetery. For many years, Breckenridge, was a faithful janitor at the Methodist Church. He was very religious and well-liked by the local people.

Originally, Norwalk Cemetery was laid out in the country outside of the town, but Norwalk has grown to encompass the cemetery.

Cemetery and Death Records of Warren County, Iowa, Warren County Genealogical Society, Walsworth Publishing Company, Marceline, Missouri: 1980.

View records submitted to the Iowa Gravestone Photo Project for Norwalk Cemetery.