Public Press 25 Jun 1884 p3 c2
City Cemetery Concerns
Or An Hour Among the Tombs in The Northern Burial Grounds
Ten Thousand Silent Sleeper
A Public Press reporter found a melancholy pleasure in lingering for
an hour among the tombs of our people who have passed through the valley of
the shadow of death, and now slumber in their graves in the Northern
Cemetery.
In that lonely cemetery many pleasant memories of the past are
revived and interesting incidents connected with the last days of our city
are brought to mind.
There lies the remains of many we were wont to meet daily in the
ordinary pursuits of life. There sleeps some old and tried friends, who,
"though lost to sight are to memory dear."
There lies a father who was cut off in the meridian of life, leaving
a wife and young family to struggle with the people of this cold and
unfeeling world.
There sleeps an indulgent and affection mother whose memory is
engraven on the hearts of her children and friends.
There rests brothers, sisters and other relatives.
The young, the middle aged and the aged; the good and the bad; the
benevolent and the miserly; the christian and the infidel; the innocent and
murderers all find a common level.
There are many lots purchased forty years or more ago, that have room
to spare for graves, while there are many more recently bought that are will
filled with small hillocks and tombstones representing the last resting
place of the family that have gone before.
It is not to be wondered at that this is the most sacred place in the
world to many citizens. At this season of the year, when flowers are in
bloom, the foliage adorns the trees, the birds sing sweetly and carelessly,
the thoughtful and philosophical do not feel alone in this secluded spot.
The Northern Burying ground was laid out in the year 1841, and quite
a number of graves were removed there from the city graveyard on Lower First
street, between Elm and Oak.
Forty years ago this graveyard seemed a long distance from the city
proper, but now the city has grown until dwellings are built up to the
extreme city corporation limits and in fact houses have been erected beyond
and around it.
The first plat contained about ten acres, and no additions were made
for a number of years, or until 1875, when about fifteen or twenty acres of
ground were added on the South and West.
In this cemetery are fully 10,000 bodies, over 500 monuments, eleven
vaults, and almost innumerable headstones.
A beautiful little lake near the center of the cemetery contains
fully 20,000 gold fish.
The largest and most expensive monument is that belonging to W. C. DePauw.
The estimated cost is $15,000. It was made in Italy and brought here almost
completed ready for erection. The height is 40 feet, surmounted by a statue
of faith 7 feet high.
There are other very costly and beautiful designs in the way of
monuments, but they are entirely too numerous to mention.
The following is the list of vaults, with owners' names and date of
building:
Seth Woodruff, 1842; Himes and Meekin, 1845; Peter A. Roan, 1845;
Thomas Sinex, 1850; Elijah Ensign, 1851; James T. Allen, 1853; S. Draper,
1854; F. G. Dannecker and Geo. H. Hanky, 1861; John G. Shellers, 1875; city
vault, 1878; John Briggs, 1874.
In many parts of the cemetery there are dilapidated tombstones and
sunken graves. It is impossible for the sexton to attend to such matters,
especially when the small salary of $300 is taken into consideration.
It would be almost an endless task to quote the endless inscriptions,
and to begin, it would be difficult to quit. Some are sensible and
sentimental, some silly, and many very inappropriate. Among the most
appropriate and pretty is the following on the monument of Jno. R.
Nunemacher, and it was evidently chosen by himself before his death: "Say
not goodnight, but in some happier clime bid me good morning."
Under a willow tree, near the Eighth street entrance, lie the bones
of eleven of the victims of the steamer Lucy Walker explosion which sad
event occurred a few miles below this city on the 23rd of October, 1844.
There is a dilapidated tombstone or so over the graves, but the elements
have worn away nearly all traces of the names inscribed thereon.
The remains of Ex-Governor Ashbel P. Willard lie beneath three large
pine trees near the Northeast corner of the cemetery. Myrtle has taken
possession of the premises and the grave presents a dilapidated appearance.
There is no monument, tombstone, slab, nor anything except the large pine
trees that have fed upon his body for the past twenty-four years. Gov.
Willard's grave is and has been sadly neglected.
All that is mortal of Hon. Michael C. Kerr, who died about 8 years
ago, can be found near the grave of Willard. Both were noted democratic
politicians and statesmen and they find repose near each other in the state
of their adoption and among those who delighted to honor them.
The first burial in the then new graveyard was that of Sarah Caroline
Hatton, a four year old daughter of C. C. Hatton. The graveyard had been
platted, but the sale of lots was not made until a month or so afterward.
Some tombstones are found dated as far back as 1835, but they were
removed from the old graveyard. But few interments were made in the
Northern cemetery until 1842-3.
At that time Willard was buried, the burial register was kept very
loosely and imperfectly. The following is the only entry made at the time
this great man was placed beneath the sod: "Oct. 10, 1860, Gov. Willard was
buried in plat 4, age__, out of the city.
Col. Dan. Shrader, the present efficient sexton, has adopted a
complete system of keeping the register of burials. He gives the number of
permit, name of deceased, residence, age, date of death, date of burial,
number of plat, range and lot, where born, disease, physician and
undertaker.
From Col Shrader, the sexton, the following, with other information
was received: the number of burials from Jul 1850 to Oct. 1864 was 3,787.
There was no record kept, or it cannot be found, from 1864 to 1867. the
number from 1867-1874 was 3,415. The total number of burials on record is
7,202. Fully three thousand more must have been buried during the 13 years
in which no record was kept.
There are many more interesting matters that might be spoken of, but
this article is already too long.
© Sue P. Carpenter 3//28/01