Focus is on pioneer cemeteries
~by Mary Weaver
Gov Branstad proclaimed May as Cemetery Appreciation Month in Iowa, and with 27 cemeteries in Greene County we have plenty to appreciate. Every township with the exception of Hardin has a cemetery; nine of those 27 are designated pioneer cemeteries, defined as 12 or fewer burials in the past 50 years.
Even without a proclamation from the governor, Greene County has two methods of assuring all the cemeteries remain intact and well preserved. The township trustees receive tax funds for the upkeep and to assure maintenance of the grounds, while the Greene County Pioneer Cemetery Commission receives funding to provide adjacent oversight to assure preservation of graves. Each cemetery must have access, even by walking, and land owners must inform buyers of a cemetery on the property, similar to stating abandoned wells or underground fuel tanks.
There are wonderful stories associated with the establishment of the early cemeteries. One of the most poignant from “The Heritage of Greene County Iowa 2011”, is the death and burial of the first white woman in Greene County, Mrs Nancy Tucker. Mrs Tucker was born in Virginia, and the family came to this area by covered wagon. She died from the plague in 1872 at the age of 104. The hillside where she was buried was deeded as the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. The story is written that the Tucker family shared a local spring as a water source with the Indians who lived in the area. An old Indian who called himself a doctor, boiled roots and created medicine for her. The Indian who helped care for her died three days after her and was also buried near her. The burial site is south of the gate of the church yard as it is entered from the cemetery to the Pleasant Hill Church lot. There is no marker at this site.
Harry C. Smith’s words are documented in “The History of Rippey”, regarding a ledger from Dr. J.C. Lovejoy in 1862. Funeral outfits listed as sold. “These considered of 4 yards of black cloth, 3 yards lace, white gloves, shoes, coffin handles and coffin mats. The cost of such an outfit was twenty-four dollars. Coffins were homemade of native lumber.”
The symbols on the older tombstones are also an interest. A lamb usually signified innocence and was frequently on a child’s headstone, a finger pointing upward with the palm of the hand facing the viewer indicated the soul had gone to heaven, while a shield and eye warranted protection from the devil. Clasped hands such as those pictured on a tombstone in the Old German cemetery signified unity. The clasped hands also were used on the stones of members of the Oddfellows Lodge.
The Greene County Pioneer Cemetery Commission is chaired by Shirley Clark, representing the Genealogical Society, with county conservation director Dan Towers, Lee Sloan of the Historical Society, along with township trustee Ada Ross, and Mick Burkett ex officio of the county board of supervisors.. The Commission is under the oversight of the board of supervisors.
Ross is an active member of the Genealogical Society. “There are people who come here looking for their ancestors graves, and when those graves are gone, it’s not good,” she said.
“When you don’t take care of those pioneer cemeteries you’re desecrating graves. You’re disrupting memories,” Genealogical Society member Arlene Johnson said.
Governor Branstad has signed a proclamation for the month declaring May as Cemetery Appreciation Month. Among the proclamation statements…..WHEREAS, pride and respect for our pioneers leads to an interest in and concern for the future….and WHEREAS, appreciation of ancestors’ resting places develops a sense of pride in their ancestors’ accomplishments and in their communities…..
Pioneer cemeteries are as follows: Gibson-Fleck-Thompson, Bristol Township Section 31; Old Cedar, Cedar Township Section 11; Old Franklin or Van Horn, Franklin Township Section 13; Old German or Patterson, Franklin Township Section 19; Winkleman-Taylor, Grant Township Section 27; Truman Davis, Grant Township Section 36; Headly, Jackson Township Section 14; Horan, Kendrick Township Section 7; and Old Rippey, Washington Township Section 8.
The Greene County Historical Society has maps available providing the sites of the pioneer cemeteries. They are available at no charge at the Historical Museum on E. Lincoln Way in Jefferson, and are also available at each community’s local library.
