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 Quandahl Cemetery

this page was last updated on Monday, 26 December 2016

Quandahl Cemetery - photo by Eilene (Halse) Lyon

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I was recently visiting historical sites in Winneshiek County related to my ancestors who were some of the earliest settlers there. One place I went to was the coordinates for the Quandahl Cemetery. What I can report to you is that the site is next to an old, falling down homestead, which apparently belonged to my ancestor, Robert Halse. His father-in-law, Samuel Drake, was given a life-lease to live on the property by Robert and Eliza Jane (Drake) Halse in 1862. I have not located a death record or grave site for Samuel Drake, nor for his sons, William Drake and Richard Drake, who also lived in that area. My guess is that the three men may be buried there. However, a search of the area did not reveal any sort of grave markers. It would take specialized sonar equipment to determine where the graves are. I am attaching a photo of the house. The house is on private property, bordered by state land. The state land is wooded and with some moderate to heavy undergrowth. The cemetery coordinates fall on the state land just north of the house. Robert Halse and William Murphy (another of Samuel Drake's sons-in-law) are buried at the Big Canoe Lutheran Cemetery, but none of the Drakes are there. My only guess is that the Drakes were not part of that congregation. They were Scotch-Irish. Robert Halse was English. I have many reasons to believe that Samuel Drake and William Drake died in Winneshiek County, Samuel prior to 1870, William prior to 1880. Another comment I might make on the Quandahl Cemetery- the "road" through the state land is the best route. It requires fording the creek twice, but comes within 80 meters of the site. I made the mistake of trying to take a straight line without benefit of reviewing the Google Earth or topo maps first. Oops! I'm still pulling burrs out of my socks

 Eilene (Halse) Lyon biotech46@gmail.com



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this page was last updated on Monday, 26 December 2016