A tribute to the cemetery superintendent

You never quite know what's going to turn up online and I was happy the other day to discover this brief tribute to Dr. John Henry Stanton, who owned and supervised operations of the Chariton Cemetery when he died unexpectedly of a heart attack during 1922. It was published in the "Park & Cemetery and Landscape Gardening" magazine during June of 1922.

I've written quite a bit about the Stantons and their relationship to the cemetery --- J.H. Stanton's father, Dr. James Eddington Stanton (middle name incorrectly given as "Edward" on the tombstone above), was among the original 1864 investors and gradually bought others out so that it became a family enterprise. He managed it until his death during 1908, when those responsibilities passed to Dr. John Henry.

John Henry's widow, Gertrude, attempted to run the cemetery but had all sorts of problems with it leading to unrest in the city that resulted in Chariton's purchase of its burial ground during 1924.

This branch of the Stanton family was buried in the Stanton Vault, a public mausoleum that was the pride and joy of Dr. James E. Stanton. Not well maintained, it was demolished during the mid-20th Century and the Stantons and others interred there reburied in its footprint. The tombstone at the top was erected after that operation. Small funeral home markers embedded in concrete mark the final resting places of other occupants of what once was the cemetery's most prestigious address.

Here's the text of the tribute to Dr. Stanton:

"Dr. J.H. Stanton, superintendent of Chariton Cemetery, Chariton, Iowa, and a leading physician of the state, died May 25. Dr. Stanton was 60 years old. He grew to manhood in Chariton, and received his medical education at Rush Medical college in Chicago, graduating in 1892. Dr. Stanton was a man of strong convictions and firmness of character and had a host of firm friends. To those in distress and trouble he always had a word of cheer and encouragement that came from a kind fatherly heart. He was a member of the American Medical Association and also the Iowa State Medical Society. He was an active member of the American Association of Cemetery Superintendents and has attended the annual meetings for the past several years in his effort to obtain knowledge that would assist him in beautifying and improving the Chariton Cemetery to which he devoted a great deal of care and attention and of which he was superintendent. For many years he had been a member of the Masonic order, being a Knight Templar, a Thirty Second Degree Mason and a member of the Za Ga Zig Shrine."