By Elaine Rassel
As of recent, there has been a problem with a cemetery in Sergeant Bluff that is adjacent to a company that makes bricks. The company will pay to have this cemetery relocated as they need extra space for their company. A person spoke out saying his great-grandparents had come to this area in the late 1800’s for a better life. They and their children are buried in this cemetery that is up for relocation. The lastthing they had is a small piece of land in the cemetery for their eternal rest. Now some want to evict his ancestors and others so they can put another dollar in theirpocket. He goes on to say this is a historic cemetery that needs to be protected not destroyed.
Just how important was a cemetery to our ancestors? Usually cemeterieswere located on the edge of a town. That is until housing and companies began to close in on the cemetery. The cemetery in question, Woodbury Township Cemetery, was at one time on the edge of town, and probably on land that was not the best to farm but was good enough for a final resting place for their loved ones until 2021.
A common sight, part of the Iowa landscape, is a rural cemetery. Unless you are looking for them you may miss the cemetery. Rural cemeteries may have stones, irregular in placement, and rows could be long or short. In the summertime, they may be hidden by bean or corn fields and in the winter time, they are just mounds of snow. Rural cemeteries dot the landscape with headstones that sprawl across rolling hills or they may just sit in small rows beside neat country churches. In rural Marcus, Trinity Lutheran Cemetery is not next to the church but rather down the road from the church and is fenced off and a gateway states the name of the cemetery.
The rural cemetery may be the last great frontier of our collective consciousness. It may be the seldom-discovered look into our complex past. While driving down the road, you are invited to stop by this cemetery, this grass-covered museum, that is an open-air history book that visitors are welcome to enter free of charge. Touch the lichen-covered limestone that was erected by our ancestors. Smile at the sentimental verses that laid the deceased to rest.
Almost every small town has a cemetery. It may be located on the edge of the town, or follow a road to a steeple since many cemeteries were laid out on land donated by a local family so that the community could build a church. Acres of land were set aside for a church and a cemetery. You will find these cemeteries on land that was unsuitable to farm because it was too hilly or maybe the soil wasn’t any good. But, this land was good enough to put loved ones to rest.
Public records from an Iowa town gives a clear picture of how much a part of the community cemeteries were in the early 1900’s. They played a very important part in the town’s everyday life. When an improvement for a cemetery was deemed necessary, the local ladies’ organizations of the town went to work to help the cause. There are stories of bazaars, ice cream socials, or bake sales to earn money for the cause. Maybe a fence was necessary or a flag pole should be erected. There was a time when the Marcus Amherst Cemetery was asking for “trees” to beautify the cemetery.
Marcus always seemed to have an interest in the cemetery especially when Memorial Day came. They would march from the Legion building downtown, in organized fashion. The girls of the community would carry flowers and place them on the graves when they reached the cemetery.
Not every town had this dedication. In 1920 in Albion located on Highway 330 just northwest of Marshalltown, children who didn’t participate in the annual Memorial Day celebration were threatened with not receiving their end of the year report cards! This declaration brought out a record number of students carrying flowers and marching in the parade to honor the town’s fallen soldiers.
Modern day equipment wasn’t present to dig graves. A cemetery at Shell Rock, in 1907, the articles of incorporation were adopted for the Riverside Cemetery, and later that year a man named Richard Hall was employed to dig graves at 15¢ an hour. The price the association charged for this service was three dollars during the summer and five dollars during the winter. (At one time, Floyd and Bus Jenness dug graves for $25! but now our graves are dug by Schmillen Construction with modern equipment.) In 1909, the association made the decision to purchase more land for Riverside Cemetery. A committee offered $1,000 for more land that laid on the southwest side of Main Street. The owner of the land refused to sell for that amount of money but later on did sell as the committee was prepared to threaten to take legal steps to force him to sell.
The cemetery had the needed land but years later knew improvements were needed. They added a tank and a well, a vault, driveways, walks, a fence and brick pillars and a wall at one of the entrances. But the association was facing another problem even though all these improvements had been added. In 1924, the association said they would refuse to bury any dogs in the cemetery, although what series of events might have led to this vote was never mentioned.
Plots lying near churches were natural sites for cemeteries. The cemeteries that were started in the 1900’s by Catholic churches, often had cemeteries attached or one section of a large cemetery was set aside only for Catholic burials. This was because the concept of consecrated ground required a site entirely separate from Protestants and non-believers. Times have changed for most of these Catholic cemeteries and now an individual plot may be consecrated as the time of interment, eliminating the need for separate burial grounds.
Larger cemeteries may have a separate space set aside for infants and small children. The small stones may have just a first name on it or a date. Others may include a sentimental verse or a lament mourning the loss of an innocent. Parents may have chosen to put their deceased child/baby in these cemeteries if there weren’t any other close family members buried nearby. Looking at the dates and names on some of these stones, you may see many at about the same time. This might indicate an epidemic that went through the town that took the smallest members along with it.
In the Marcus-Amherst Cemetery, there are many older stones in the northeast section of the cemetery and it is said there are some graves with no marking. Some call this “Potter’s Field”. This is not meant to be disrespectful, but rather a term used to say that there are many buried there and their graves are not marked any more. People passing through could have buried their loved one here and continued on their journey. Yes, they left a wooden cross behind to mark the grave. Even when wagon trains going west had a death on the trip, a grave was marked with a wooden cross. Time has taken the cross away and now there is just grass. No grave sites are sold in this area but rather left for only on the last day to know who was buried here.
What kind of problems will be found in relocating this cemetery? There were no vaults those days, caskets will not be taken in one piece, and was there even a casket? How would you feel if it was the last place your ancestors were laid to rest
in and now it was up for relocation? This cemetery problem will probably be left for the township to approve its relocation and then be sent to a judge. Will there be enough people that will speak up or will MONEY talk?