A marker for Potter's Field

The Chariton Cemetery Potter's Field, where approximately 175 of the poor, the unknown and the unwanted have been interred over the course of 150 years, now has a marker, installed recently near a curve in the driveway that borders the northeast corner of this pretty hilltop in the graveyard's southwest corner.

The cast aluminum plaque was purchased by the Chariton Historic Preservation Commission; the granite base for it and installation materials and services were donated by our friends at Chariton Monument Co.

Funds to buy the plaque were raised through ticket sales for the annual Chariton Cemetery Heritage Tour, sponsored by the Commission and its only source of funding.

So far as we know, this area was set aside soon after June 25, 1864, when 19 private investors formed the Chariton Cemetery Co. and purchased 80 acres of rolling and rising land along the north edge of the Chariton River valley. The cemetery developed here replaced two earlier graveyards, one now known as Douglass Pioneer Cemetery located just southeast of town near the original Chariton Point settlement, and the other on the hilltop now occupied by Columbus School. Graves in the latter cemetery were moved to the new burying ground.

The original Chariton Cemetery was platted at the northern edge of the original tract, a narrow affair on either side of what now is the main east-west entrance drive. Potter's Field, at the time, was remote, known as the "South Cemetery," but as the years passed, the main cemetery expanded south to join it.

The earliest marked grave --- there are about two dozen marked graves here, all modest and most of them dating from the 20th century --- is that of William Hallensleben, a sign painter and decorator who died unexpectedly on Nov. 18, 1867, and was buried here at county expense. We think that sometime later sufficient funds were found in his belongings to purchase the tombstone or, alternatively, some of his children were located and they funded the purchase.

No original cemetery records prior to 1902 exist, but during that year the cemetery's sole owner, Dr. James Eddington Stanton, stated that 76 souls had been interred in Potter's Field since 1864. Cemetery records identify 97 burials here since 1902. The city of Chariton purchased the cemetery from the Stanton family during May of 1924.

Potter's Field, as the area always has been known, is an ancient designation, taken from the 27th chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew. In vs. 3-8, the writer describes Judas returning the 30 pieces of silver --- blood money. Uncertain about what to do with the coins, the chief priests "took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in."

This year's Chariton Cemetery Heritage Tour will be held on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 23, in a section of the cemetery just northeast of Potter's Field. We plan to dedicate the marker during that program.