County Farm Cemetery update

Back in July, I wrote a little about a Chariton Historic Preservation Commission plan to place a sign at the Lucas County Farm Cemetery to commemorate those buried there --- all but four in unmarked graves.

Thanks in large part to the efforts of Commissioner Melody Wilson, who coordinated research and logistics, the sign has been designed and will be ordered officially next week from Iowa Prison Industries (which produces much of Iowa's roadside signage), then put into place by the county engineering department.

The little cemetery alongside Burlington Northern & Santa Fe tracks just northwest of town is the sole remnant of the Lucas County Farm, where the poor and afflicted were, when other options were not available, housed, cared for and in some cases buried commencing in 1869.

The sign will contain the names of 38 people whose burials are recorded in county home records, county death records (after 1880) and in some cases newspaper accounts. There may be more graves, since no effort ever was made to keep records specifically related to the cemetery. The spellings are not necessarily accurate, but are as recorded originally.

Here are the names and dates that will be on the new cemetery sign:

James Adkins, 1838-1912

J.C. Berry, 1837-1911

Mrs. J.Y. Berry, d. 1918

John Burns, 1863-1920

Jacob Bown, 1849-1907

James O. Bryan, 1867-1885

Edmon Carey, 1817-1894

Rachel L. Coleman, 1850-1898

Horace Coles, 1860-1895

Archie Cramer, d. 1917

Lewis Erickson, d. 1909

Louis Ferm, 1830-1917

Chas. Freed, 1869-1890

Benjamine Hillen, 1841-1879

Elias Jacobson, 1837-1916

Ida Mae Jenkins, 1887-1905

Albert Johnson, 1865-1887

P.G. Johnson, 1846-1911

Henry Kelley, 1820-1894

James Lafyett, 1849-1895

Wm. H. Linn, 1849-1885

Lydia Long, 1804-1891

Arthur Lucas, 1858-1893

Lucy Mathews, 1845-1914

John Miller, 1848-1917

Mary A. Moor, 1831-1879

Ola Olson, 1871-1911

Mrs. Swede Olson, 1816-1892

Peter Pearson, 1819-1902

James Perkins, 1802-1892

John S. Reed, 1827-1902

John Reiner, 1831-1918

Lizzie Shambory, d. 1916

Rebecca A. Shipley, 1815-1889

John Smith, 1826-1906

Nute Wayland, d. 1926

Alfred Whitcomb, d. 1926

Wesley Willey, 1808-1890

We've also talked about erecting some sort of memorial at the Potter's Field section of the Chariton Cemetery, where well over 100 Lucas Countyans rest in unmarked graves. That is a somewhat more complicated project, however, in large part because of the large number of burials. So we're still talking about that one.