Chapter Twenty Nine

OSKALOOSA'S CEMETERIES - EARLY FUNERALS -
RECOLLECTIONS OF DEAD. 

In the very early years, when death came to the home of the western traveler, some ridge or hill was selected on which to bury the dead. It would be a spot well marked by a huge tree or grove or stream. Sometimes, in the necessity of keeping up with the caravan, a grave was hurriedly dug by the side of the trail.

Thomas A. Stoddard, who passed through Fort Kearney, July 14, 1852, on his return from California to Iowa, counted 600 fresh graves by the roadside between that point and his Iowa home. He also states that up to the foregoing date the government records showed that 41,156 emigrants had passed through Fort Kearney going westward.

The first cemetery near Oskaloosa was laid out on an acre of land donated for that purpose by Judge John White, who lived on the ridge just southwest of town. Mr. White was the first probate judge in this county (1844- 49) and retained the title throughout his lifetime in distinction to John White, the financier and banker, whose home was just north of Oskaloosa.

This cemetery was located on the ridge southwest of the second ward school building. Mr. George White, a son of Judge White, states that the first person buried there was a California emigrant who died while his caravan was passing through on their westward Journey.

Quite a number of the early settlers, whose names have not come down to us, were buried in this old graveyard. One pioneer, who was a boy at the time, describes clearly the simple burial service. The crude walnut coffins and the wooden head boards which had the name of the interred inscribed upon it with oil and lamp black.

It is a serious reflection on the ingratitude of this city that this sacred spot has been allowed to be desecrated in so many ways. The people whose bones lie there, whoever they may be, fought the battle of civilization for us, enduring hardships and giving up life itself for the conquest of the wilderness. They have bequeathed to us this good land for which we did not toil. Their last resting place deserves to be protected and treated with reverence and gratitude. Unless we set the example to future generations, God's acre will only have a commercial value in the mind of the multiplied thousands, who shall take our places. As the plain marble slab and the unmarked grave have meant nothing to us, so the polished monument and the splendid mausoleum will mean nothing to the children of men, who shall struggle for an existence in Mahaska county in one or two hundred years from today. May heaven bless the memory of the unselfish life of the pioneer and keep us from being ungrateful to his dust.

On account of the wet and spongy condition of the soil in this first cemetery, the ladies of the city organized a society in 1848, which had for its purpose the raising of sufficient means to purchase and improve a five-acre lot a mile north of town. They raised money by making different articles of plain clothing and placing them on sale at the stores in Oskaloosa. With means thus acquired, they purchased from John White the plat of ground now known as the old cemetery. This was used as the city's burying ground until 1860. In June of that year a public meeting of citizens was called to organize a cemetery association. At this meeting P. Myers, J. R. Needham, C. F. Childs and William Loughridge were appointed as a committee to report articles of incorporation for adoption at the next meeting. Another committee consisting of Wesley Moreland, W. S. Edgar and William C. Rhinehart were appointed to select a site and ascertain the cost of lands suitable for the location of a new cemetery. At the next meeting the committee on articles of incorporation reported a suitable charter. We give the preamble in full because it contains a good list of well known names and shows the spirit of the founders of' the new movement:

"Be it known by these presents that we, James Rhinehart, J. F. Childs, Henry Lyster, James A. Seevers, J. H. Macon, Eli Ketner, John Y. Hopkins, John R. Needham, James McQuiston, D. Warren Loring, Henry Howard, Philip Meyers, A. F. Seberger, Benjamin F. Ingels, N. C. Crawford, William Loughridge, James P. Dixon, Samuel A. Rice, M. L. Jackson, William M. Wells, John D. Gaunt, William S. Edgar, Samuel Ingels and Solomon E. Rhinehart, desiring to establish a new cemetery at or near the city of Oskaloosa, in the county of Mahaska and state of Iowa, do, hereby, in accordance with the provisions of an act passed by the seventh general assembly of the state of Iowa, entitled, 'An act for the incorporation of benevolent, charitable, scientific or missionary societies,' approved March 22d, A. D., 1858, adopt the following articles of association." The entire paper has the ring of completeness. It provided that the name of the society should be Forest Cemetery Association. On the adoption of the charter the following officers were elected:

President, Rev. J. F. Childs; vice-president, Samuel A. Rice; secretary, James McQuiston; treasurer, D. W. Loring; director, VV. S. Edgar. On August 20, 1860, the association purchased of William S. Dart twenty acres of land at $50 per acre, lying northeast of the city. The land was surveyed, fenced and laid out in lots under the name of Forest cemetery. An average valuation of not less than five cents per square foot was determined by a committee and a day appointed on which lots were sold to the highest bidder, with the provision that each sale should bring not less than the price of the assessed valuation. John R. Needham, James Seevers and W. S. Edgar were appointed a committee to report suitable rules and regulations. These rules, with the articles were published in pamphlet form. A majority of the projectors of this new cemetery are now sleeping in its bosom. In later years an additional tract of land, consisting of about twenty acres was added to the original purchase on the east. The Catholic cemetery is now located on a part of the grounds last purchased.

A house was built for the sexton in 1875. Many of the well known pioneers are buried in this city of the dead. A. S. Nichols, who was chairman of the board of county commissioners from 1844 to 1848, lies here. He supervised the surveying and platting of the town of Oskaloosa. We are told that he traded a horse for a claim of several hundred acres of land just west of town, which he afterward entered and improved, on a part of which Iowa Christian College now stands. Micajah T. Williams rests here, on the spot which he himself selected under the restful branches of a large oak tree. Mr. Williams was the first county clerk, and suggested to the county commissioners the name of this city. William Loughridge, who for years was the brilliant congressman from this district. His wife, Diploma Loughridge, was the first burial in the Forest cemetery. Her death occurred November 26, 1860, at the early age of twenty-five years. A gentleman who attended the funeral says the ground was a veritable tangle of hazel brush and forest trees at that time, and in no sense an inviting spot in which to lay a loved one. Since then there has been between four and five thousand laid to rest beneath its sod. The monument of Brigadier-General Samuel A. Rice is one of the prominent drives. It is twenty-three feet in height and five feet and four inches square at the base. On the upper part of the marble column is carved the names of the eight battles in which the General engaged. It was erected by the Twenty-ninth and Thirty-third Iowa Infantry. The two Iowa regiments which were in General Rice's brigade. The gallant officer died of wounds received at the battle of Jenkin's Ferry. Captain Comstock, who was severly wounded in that engagement, says as General Rice rode over the field, in the heat of the contest, on seeing a number of his own brave men among the dead and wounded, he paused for a moment and, dismounting, with tears of sympathy, he shook hands with the wounded and expressed deep solicitude for the issue of the battle. Then remounting, he swept onward to meet the enemy's last, but desperate and unsuccessful attack. While riding down his left wing, he was wounded by a minie ball which caused his death.

The Grand Army of the Republic have grounds on the western slope of the ridge where thirty-five of their number have found their last resting place. Eighty-nine of the original members of the post are dead. Many of these, however, are buried in lots with their families. There are 218 members of the post yet living. The entire number of graves, which are annually decorated by their comrades, is 158. The above grounds now controlled by the Grand Army were purchased by an organization of ladies during the war. After the war had closed and the Grand Army of the Republic had been organized, this plot of ground was deeded to the post here and has been somewhat enlarged by a donation from the cemetery association.

Among the dead will be found the names of John R. Needham, the founder of the Oskaloosa Herald, elected lieutenant-governor of Iowa in I861. As noted above, Mr. Needham. was chairman of the committee on rules and regulations, and suggested the name of the association. He seems to have lived an unusually busy and useful life, for he died at the age of forty-four years.

William Edmundson, the first sheriff of this county, has a monument to his memory in this cemetery. Likewise his brother, Matthew Edmundson, who was also a Mahaska county pioneer.

Rev. Asa Turner, who came to Iowa in 1838, and had much to do with the founding of both Denmark Academy and Grinnell College.

William H. Seevers, one of Iowa's supreme judges.

The talented M. E. Cutts, who died in his fifty-first year.

The studious and impartial Judge J. Kelly Johnson.

These and many of our most distinguished citizens of the earlier days are buried here. Near the entrance to the cemetery on Ninth street stands a large receiving vault which is used much in the winter when the ground is frozen.

There is a growing number of beautiful monuments and private vaults which adorn the grounds. Among the more prominent of these is the Ferrall vault and the Spencer vault, the latter now in process of construction. The management have already recently received a bequest of some $10,000 from James McCauley to be used in building a memorial structure to his memory. With this fund it has been decided to build a memorial chapel on the cemetery grounds which will   accommodate about 150 persons. 

The present board of officers are as follows: President, W. R.. Lacey; vice-president and secretary, John A. Kalbach; treasurer, W. Esgen; directors, W. P. Hawkins and Frank Glaze; superintendent, W. H. Cunningham. The last named officer has served the association for nineteen years. There have been but few changes in the entire board in that length of time. Mr. Cunningham was preceded by James McQuiston, who had charge of the association grounds for a long term of years.

The cemetery association now has a surplus fund of about $20,000. This fund will continue to grow until the grounds are filled, and then form the basis of a permanent income which will be used perpetually to keep in order and beautify the grounds of the association.