Founded in 1877, Pleasant Hill Cemetery was used until 1918. The cemetery contains graves of Civil War veterans along with other settlers and their children. Pleasant HillUnited Brethren Church stood nearby; it closed in 1962.
The Pleasant Hill Cemetery Association was formed in 1890 when Joel Royer deeded the land. The cemetery serves as a memorial to the settlers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and to the hardships they faced.
]]>In 1887, Douglas County purchased this 5 ½-acre field from nearby Forest Lawn to use as a cemetery for poor and unidentified people. It was named Potter’s Field, a traditional title from the New Testament. Of 3,912 individuals recorded to have been buried here, 1,663 were infants. Most of these graves did not have markers. Over time, family and friends claimed many of the bodies for burial elsewhere.
Among those laid to rest was William Brown, a black man lynched in 1919 by a white mob near the Douglas County Courthouse. Though accused of rape, Brown is widely believed to have been innocent. Most historians view his murder as part of that year’s anti-black “Red Summer” violence that claimed hundreds of lives across the country.
The property was closed in 1957, and the County paid for these burials in ordinary cemeteries going forward. Potter’s Field fell into disrepair, tended only by volunteer efforts, until a major community rehabilitation project in 1986. The City of Omaha now maintains the land.
]]>Benjamin Wagoner homesteaded this land in 1870. In 1882 his widow, Catharine Fouts Wagoner, gave these 2 1/2 acres in his memory "for the benefit of the community at large and the religious people known as Brethren, or German Baptist, for the purpose of a free burial ground." The first trustees were Edwin Mohler, Henry Wolf, and James McCartney. In 1899 settlers of this community built the Garfield Brethren Church 3/4 mile west on the Noah Wagoner Homestead.
]]>Founded in 1870 by Israel Swihart, the cemetery was named for his wife, Mary Brewster Swihart. Those buried here include three Civil War veterans, and several children who succumbed to the harsh conditions of life on the Great Plains. The cemetery is also the eternal resting place for persons unknown, whose grave markers have been ravaged by time and the elements. It serves as a memorial to the sturdy pioneers who lived and died while making a home on the Nebraska prairie.
]]>Traditionally known as the Cuming City Cemetery, this eleven-acre tract of land was set aside in 1976 primarily as a preserve for native vegetation. Never plowed, this prairie looks much like it did to the Indians and to the first white men who settled Nebraska in the 1850's. Grasses such as big and little bluestem, Indian grass, and side-oats grama still grow here. Now owned by Dana College, the site was acquired with the assistance of the Nature Conservancy and the Cuming City Cemetery Association.
Part of this plot is reserved as a burial ground for the descendants of Lewis M. Kline, pioneer newspaperman who founded Cuming City in 1855. By 1857 the town boasted 53 homes, 3 stores, and 3 hotels. It disappeared in the 1870's, when most of its citizens moved to Blair on the new railroad. The main north-south street of the old town site of Cuming City is now U.W. Highway 73, 1 1/4 miles southeast of here. The Kline family, which had its first burial here in 1857, donated this acreage to Cuming City for a cemetery. Many of those buried here were later removed to the Blair Cemetery where maintenance is provided.
]]>The Rishel family came from Pennsylvania to Sarpy County in May 1865. The locality where they settled became known as Peach Grove after a nearby post office by that name. The cemetery was established August 30, 1875, when Mary Jane Rishel Long deeded land already used as a family burial ground. Sarah Rishel was the first known burial in 1868. Frank Leslie Rishel was the last known burial in 1935. The cemetery name recalls the former residence of many interred here.
]]>The Granville Cemetery Association was organized in February 1881. Incorporators included Civil War veteran Adin H. Potter, formerly of Granville, New York, who deeded the land. He was one of the few Union soldiers to escape from Andersonville (Georgia) Prison during the war.
The earliest marked grave dates from 1880. Many interments were infants and children, including Edith, daughter of Adin and Diana Potter, who died February 18, 1881. Francis H. Baker is the only known Civil War veteran buried here.
]]>Thirty Swedish settlers in Harlan and Phelps counties organized Bethel Lutheran Church on November 12, 1877, at the home and post office of Gustaf Hanson, which was located seven miles south and two miles east of Holdrege in Harlan County.
Their first church, a small sod structure, was built here in Phelps County on a plot of ground in the N.W. quarter of Section 31, Divide Precinct, donated by Mathias Hedlund. A cemetery located south of the church was receiving graves as late as 1932. The native prairie grass serves as a reminder of the past.
Lay pastors serving the congregation were Olof Hedlund and C. J. Johnson. Pastor J. E. Swanborn was the first called pastor. The sod church was replaced in 1884 by a frame church built in Holdrege. In 1892, a frame building was erected at this site to be used during the summer months as a "Swede School" for the children of the congregation. The present congregation recognized with thankfulness the commitment and sacrifice these early pioneers made to affirm their Christian faith.
]]>The cemetery name is adopted from a nearby stream along which Native Americans once camped. George F. Lee donated the original land in 1866, with the first burial on September 10. Twenty-eight graves from family plots were reinterred here in 1868. The cemetery expanded in 1884, 1912, and 1990. The chapel, constructed in 1916-17, commemorates the cemetery's fiftieth anniversary. One notable grave is that of Barbara Kagey Mayhew Bradway, associated with the Underground Railroad in southeastern Nebraska before the Civil War.
]]>This hallowed ground is the final resting place for many early settlers of Madison. Founded in 1874, it was used until early 1900. Here lie Madison's founder, Henry Mitchell Barnes, first generation Americans, Civil was veterans, pioneers, and many children who didn't survive to adulthood because of primitive medical care. This marker is a tribute to people of all walks of life who made sacrifices and endured hardships of pioneer days that future generations might remember their heritage.
]]>Boot Hill was the final resting place for many early westerners who helped make Ogallala a booming cowtown in the 1870's and 1880's. These people, the cowboys, settlers, and drifters, came to Ogallala when the railroad and the Texas Trail opened a new market for the Texas Longhorn.
Although one of the first burials here was mother and child, many came by running afoul of the law -- some for stealing another man's horse. Others were killed by re-fighting the Civil War or for questioning the gambler's winning hand. In July of 1879 three cowhands were buried in a single day, victims of the sheriff's guns. Another man, "Rattlesnake Ed", was buried here after he was shot down over a nine dollar bet in a Monte game in the Cowboys Rest, a local saloon.
Most were buried with their boots on, thus the name Boot Hill. Their bodies, placed in canvas sacks, were lowered into shallow graves and marked with a wooden headboard. Some of the bodies have since been removed, only the unknown or the unclaimed remain in this western cemetery.
]]>Pioneers settling in this area, including many Civil War veterans, bought five acres from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad for $25 and established a school in 1875. Osco School District No. 6 deeded two acres for the Pleasant Prairie Graveyard in 1876, and the earliest known burials took place that year. More acreage was purchased in 1898, and the name was later changed to Osco Cemetery. It is the oldest organized cemetery in Kearney County.
Two monuments honoring veterans are located in the cemetery, the newest one having been erected in 1995. On Memorial Day, formerly "Decoration Day," veterans' organizations from Campbell, Upland, Minden, and Heartwell have helped recognize the Osco veterans. Children from Osco School also took part.
The cemetery never affiliated with a church, but kept its ties to the school. Volunteers have always seen to the upkeep of both. In 1949 the Osco School closed its doors and was purchased by the Osco Cemetery Association. Through the years the building was used for cemetery meetings, as a polling place, and for serving lunch on Memorial Day.
]]>The cemetery was established in 1876, one year after the first settlers of the Czech club "Slovania" arrived in the Warsaw vicinity. The plot was donated by Martin Slobodny. Initially, Sunday worship was held around a large wooden cross in the cemetery. In 1877 the community built their first church across the road, a small wooden building combining the sanctuary and the rectory.
Inspiration to build a larger church began during the tenure of Rev. John Stephen Broz (1890- 94), who initiated many Czech customs into the community. The bell in the cemetery was acquired during his time. Construction of a brick church began in 1895. It was built by parishioner C. V. Svoboda and Andrew Gruber, proprietors of the St. Paul brickyard. It was blessed on the feast of St. Wenceslaus, September 28, 1895.
St. Wenceslaus of Warsaw was the first Catholic church in Howard County. The last mass offered was on December 21, 1949, and the church was demolished in 1964. Only the names on the monuments remind passersby of the Czech pioneers whose struggle made a future for their descendants.
]]>Swedish immigrants, known as Mission Friends, moved from Princeton, Illinois, to Monroe Precinct, Hamilton County, in 1880-82. They organized the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission congregation at S. P. Swenson's home in February 1883 and affiliated with the Mission Covenant in 1885. A building was erected in 1890 and a parsonage in 1893. The first pastor was Rev. C. M. Youngquist, 1883-89. The final service was in the summer of 1935. The building was later razed and the materials used to build a Covenant church in Hastings, Nebraska.
]]>About 1871 what is known as Youst Cemetery was established on the homestead of Samuel B. and Mary Elizabeth Hunt Youst. Youst, S.B. Chapman, and Richard M. Hunt were the first settlers on Beaver Creek, arriving from Lucas County, Iowa in 1870. After the village of Hampton was established in 1880, approximately one mile to the north, many early residents were buried here. Civil War veterans buried in the cemetery are Samuel B. Youst, Lewis M. Hunt, Stanford May, G.W. Hiatt, Benjamin Conner, Alva Misner, and Fred Smith.
]]>The Farmers' Valley Cemetery, founded in 1876 on land donated by John Brown, is the final resting place of many pioneers of Hamilton County. On three sides winds the Big Blue River, along whose banks the first settlers in the county built their soddies and log houses.
Among the historic graves here are those of nine Civil War veterans; Marion Littlefield, killed by Indians at Pebble Creek; Mary Kaily and her child, frozen in the l873 Easter Blizzard; and Perry Reed, Nebraska State Senator.
]]>In 1879 Hall County purchased 160 acres at this location where the county’s paupers could live and work in exchange for shelter, clothing, food, and medical care. In March 1881 part of the Poor Farm property was set aside as a cemetery for those who died while in the county’s care and had no other place of interment. No records reveal the names of the estimated ten to twenty individuals who may be buried here. The Poor Farm closed in 1919.
]]>Many immigrants in Glengary Township and the surrounding area were Catholics of Czech and Irish descent. During the early years few priests were available, so they visited the community whenever possible beginning in 1874. Local parishioners conducted prayer services regularly when priests were not present. The chapel, the first permanent house of worship in Fillmore County, was built in the 1870s on the Josef Kotas form northwest of this cemetery. A successor church, St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, was erected in the newly formed town of Milligan in 1890.
Burials commenced here before Anton Svec purchased the property from the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in 1878. He deeded two acres for a cemetery to his Czech brethren in 1887. Although known locally in earlier years as the Catholic Cemetery, and later as the North Cemetery, it was incorporated as the Cesky Bratri (Czech Brethren) Cemetery Association in 1904. The chapel was moved to the cemetery from the Kotas farm in 1901. The building was restored and dedicated as the Pioneer Chapel in 1998.
]]>Stockholm Lutheran Church and Swedish Cemetery, located one mile south and one-half mile west of here, recall the Swedish-American heritage in Nebraska. In the early 1870s Swedish immigrants began settling in Bryant township, Fillmore County, concentrating between the present towns of Shickley and Ong. As the settlement grew, these pioneers considered the need for a church, organized a congregation in 1875, and purchased six acres of land, although meetings were held in a schoolhouse and members' homes until 1881, when the first church was built. In 1878 five acres were deeded to the Swedish Cemetery Association to provide a burial ground for the community.
By 1900 the old church was too small to accommodate the people who came to worship services and social events. The present church, a thirty-six by sixty foot frame structure with Gothic Revival detailing, was constructed in that year at a cost of $3,549. The congregation continued to use the Swedish language occasionally for worship until 1937. Stockholm Lutheran Church and Swedish Cemetery were entered in the National Register of Historic Places on June 30, 1995. Stockholm Church
]]>The Shipley Cemetery, named for William Shipley, is located one-half mile north of this marker. In 1893 Shipley deeded part of his homestead for public use as a cemetery.
The oldest known burial, dated 1861, is Shipley's grandson, James. In addition to William Shipley, more than half of the twenty-five known burials bear the Shipley name. Others include Richard Woolsey who, with William Shipley, served in the Nebraska Cavalry during the Civil War.
The Shipley Cemetery Historical Association and Washington County have restored and maintain the cemetery.
]]>Forest Lawn Memorial Park was established May 13, 1885, under the guidance of the Forest Lawn Cemetery Association. Its membership included pioneer Omaha business and professional men. A founding trustee, John H. Brackin, offered the original area of 100 acres of young native forest. His was the first interment November 12, 1886. The cemetery was developed on the park plan. Thanks to the vision of its founders and the sensitive care of those who have followed, the present area of more than 320 acres of rolling hills is indeed an expanse of forest and lawn. It has been called one of the nation's most beautiful cemeteries. Historic Omaha family names dot the peaceful hills, men and women who helped build the community. Here rest veterans who served their country in many wars or conflicts including the Civil, Spanish American, and World Wars, and in Korea and Vietnam. Forest Lawn has an aura that both consoles and inspires. Nothing shall, as the centuries roll on, disturb that sleep, nor mar the beauty of this spot which death has hallowed, and which love preserves with tender memories.
]]>Founded in 1858 by Byron Reed, early Omaha real estate developer and financier, Prospect Hill is the final resting place for over 15,000 citizens. While burial permit #1 was issued for Territorial Legislator Alonzo Salisbury on October 4, 1858, many were already buried here in the Cedar Hills and Omaha City Cemeteries, parts of which are within today's Prospect Hill boundaries. Many prominent Omahans lie here. They gave their names to Omaha streets, schools and churches, and to many Nebraska counties and towns. There are veterans from every American war beginning with the War of 1812. Also interred here are nearly 100 soldiers who died on active duty during the Civil War or while serving at Omaha Barracks (Fort Omaha) from 1863-1887. In 1887, administrative affairs were taken over by Forest Lawn Cemetery. However, in the 1890's, lot owners formed an Association to operate Prospect Hill. It continues to function. Omaha's pioneer cemetery, Prospect Hill, remains an active cemetery as well as an historic site which chronicles the growth and development of Omaha and Nebraska.
]]>Ann Young was the 36-year-old wife of George Young and the mother of Seth, the first son born to white settlers in Dodge County. The year was 1856, and after forsaking plans to homestead in Kansas the tiny colony, consisting of the Youngs and her brother's family, the Robert Millars, settled down for the night of July 4th near the location which later became North Bend.
During the remaining summer and fall they built log dwellings and prepared for a difficult winter. It was one of the bitterest on record. These were the conditions into which baby Seth was born in November. Less than a month later he was motherless. Ann didn't recover her strength and died at Christmastide. A coffin was fashioned from kitchen floorboards, and she was buried New Year's Day on the knoll which became this cemetery.
Many of the later burials were moved to the Woodland Cemetery, established at North Bend in 1887, but Ann and a large number of others remain. Seth saw that the burial ground was cared for until his death in 1952. The burial ground is the oldest in Dodge County and represents an important chapter in Platte Valley history. It reminds us, through the presence of Ann Young, of the extreme hardships faced by our early pioneers, particularly by pioneer women.
]]>One of the many Swedish settlements in Nebraska during the late nineteenth century was north of Gothenburg in northwestern Dawson County. An enduring symbol of this settlement is Swedish Crosses Cemetery, where three children of Mr. and Mrs. Berg are buried. These unique grave markers were made in a traditional Swedish style between 1885 and 1889 by the children's grandfather, Benjamin Palm. Mr. Palm was the first blacksmith in Gothenburg.
]]>The first recorded interment in the Fort Robinson Cemetery was James Brogan, July 2, 1875; the last was Fred Lester, June 13, 1945. Among the 258 interments listed in the cemetery records are two officers, Markland Williamson and James A. Swift; two Army scouts, Moses "California Joe" Milner (Custer's favorite scout) and Baptiste "Little Bat" Garnier; ten men killed in the January 1879 Cheyenne Outbreak; two Medal of Honor recipients, Emanuel Stance and George Jordon; and about 140 women and children, dependents of service personnel.
Its location at the confluence of Soldier Creek and the White River made the Fort Robinson Cemetery subject to frequent flooding. In 1926 E.A. Brininstool, chronicler of the West, was shocked to find the cemetery overrun with weeds and underbrush. Later, caretakers were appointed, and the cemetery was well maintained until the post closed.
Shortly before the army abandoned Fort Robinson in 1948, most of the remaining graves, 23 listed as unknown, were moved to Fort McPherson National Cemetery near Maxwell, Nebraska.
]]>Site of the first permanent Cuming County settlement by the Benjamin B. Moore family in 1857, the town of DeWitt was laid out by an Omaha townsite company in 1857. The post office was established February 3, 1858, and discontinued May 26, 1871. In a hotly contested election in 1858, DeWitt lost the county seat to West Point by a vote of 12-7. All that remains of DeWitt is this native-sod cemetery.
]]>Other than an occasional missionary or circuit rider, there were no church organizations of any kind for miles in any direction. On September 12, 1910, neighbors gathered in the Dry Valley schoolhouse and organized the Dry Valley Union Congregational Church. Robert and Alverda Boyer donated land three miles west in the NE1/4, Sec. 6, Twp. 26N, Rng. 32W for a cemetery and church. The first burial was November 1910.
Stonemason E. L. Holland, who lived nearby, made and laid the 24-inch concrete blocks using native sand for the church construction. He set the cornerstone June 3, 1911. The church, featuring eight arched windows and tin ceiling, was dedicated December 8, 1912. In 1924 the membership withdrew from the denomination. Sunday school continued and visiting pastors conducted services until 1958.
In 1987 neighbors gathered again, this time to save and restore the church. Sunset services prior to Memorial Day and Christmas candlelight services are held annually; weddings, baptisms, and funerals occasionally.
]]>Paragon Lutheran Church evolved from Bow Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church, established in 1873. Founding families were Albert Erdenberger, Bernhard Olsen, Martin Bottolfsen, and John Anderson. Services were conducted in homes, the District 24 schoolhouse, and in Hartington until Paragon Lutheran Church was built in 1904. Bernhard and Maren Olsen donated the cemetery ground in 1876; Nils Seim was the first burial. Along with the church, cemetery, and school, the Paragon community once included a gristmill, post office, and general store.
]]>The establishment of St. Patrick's Cemetery is typical of that for many of Nebraska's early cemeteries. It began with the death of Edward Ned Murphy, son of Edward E. and Ann Crowley Murphy. He was born January 20, 1847 near Toronto, Canada and died February 7, 1880 at the nearby Murphy family farm before the Parish Church and cemetery were established. A good friend, Fredrick Stohlmann, a Lutheran by faith, donated an acre to St. Patrick's Parish. James Murphy, brother of Edward bought an adjoining acre on which Edward Ned Murphy was buried as the first parishioner to be buried here.
]]>The Kingston Cemetery is located on the hill just west of this marker. Founded in the early 1870s, the cemetery was the final resting place for nearly thirty of Kingston's early settlers. In 1887 the Kingston settlement was moved to the rail junction and renamed Pauline. The cemetery was later abandoned.
Just northeast of this marker is the site where John C. Fremont's party camped on June 25, 1842, while mapping the route known as the Oregon Trail.
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