Tales the Tombstones Tell - Republican Observer November 10, 1955

  About Cemeteries Here and There

 In the Rockbridge cemetery, located on a hill which overlooks the little village, many of the pioneers of that area have found a last resting place.

 There are many familiar names upon the monuments which brings back memories o other days. The cemetery is well kept, a credit to the community.

 In a  visit to the cemetery not too long ago, we were accompanied by Charles Ray and P. L. Lincoln of this city and were joined at Rockbridge by Joseph Beran and Edward Huffman of the village. They knew the majority of those sleeping away the years there.

 In the silent city stands a stone for M. H. B. Cunningham, who was one of the best known residents of the little hamlet. Mike, as he was known far and wide, was born in Huntingtown county, Penn., April 11, 1842, moved with his parents to Illinois, then to Iowa county, Wisconsin, and when 19 years of age enlisted in the 18th Wisconsin Infantry. At the battle of Shiloh he was taken prisoner and after over six months was paroled from Libby prison. He rejoined his regiment in April 1863, and served until mustered out In March, 1865. In 1867 he came to Rockbridge where he conducted a store, later operated a saw mill, engaging in the lumber business and then moved to Richland Center where he made his home for a number of years until his death which took place in 1918. On his monument is a line which reads "I tried to do my duty." A son Kenneth with the U. S. Navy in World War I, died in 1918,    the same year as his father and the two now sleep away the years side by side.

 Also upon the stone a note of sadness creeps in for inscribed thereon is this "Myra E., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. H. B. Cunningham, Died December 25, 1877, aged 3 years, 11 months, 25 days."

 Note the date, December 25th, Christmas day and the date of death was just five days before her fourth birthday. No doubt but that she was looking for the coming of Santa and her birthday. Her mother died in October of the same year.

 On another stone in the cemetery is engraved this "Dying is but going home." That surely is a cheering way to look upon death.

 Alden Haseltine, we were told, donated the land upon which the cemetery is located but he overlooked one important thing: he did not provide a road leading to it and this oversight has been more or less of a bother. However now a nice road leads to the sacred plot of land.

 The Woodstock cemetery is another well kept burying ground and it is, like other cemeteries, the resting place of the pioneers of that section. Fred Neefe was our guide. He is well versed in the history of the area and knew of a majority of the folks buried on the little knoll. Would that we had space to mention each and every pioneer whose names we noted upon the stones. One we did note was that for J. B. Holloway who came with his parents to Richland county away back in 1845 when a few months old. He lived in Rockbridge for years and years, moved to Richland Center, and passed away on February 28, 1939, at the age of over 93 years. 

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 In the old burying ground are 35 soldiers resting, one L B. Madding, a Mexican War veteran. Buried also in the cemetery are four members of the Neefe family, all soldiers, who include a father, a son, a grandson and a great grandson. They are Charles A. Neefe, veteran of the Civil War, who died October 2, 1906; his son Frank R.,  Spanish-American war veteran, killed in an explosion in Colorado, November 12, 1912; Dale, a grandson of Charles A., veteran of World War I, who died in September, 1923; and the last to die was Willard Neefe, veteran of World War II. his death being on October 17, 1944. Quite a record for one family but a consoling thought is that they all are resting in the little country cemetery close to the old home; and as the Rockbridge monument said "Dying is but going home."

 Charles A. Neefe, Civil War veteran, was born in Germany on January 1, 1834, came with his parents to America when he was two years old. They first settled in Missouri, moved from there to Grant county and to Richland county in 1846, settling in the town of Orion, and from there Mr. Neefe moved to near Woodstock. There he farmed and in 1879 purchased a saw mill. It was first owned by James and Z. Jones, built in 1857, an up and down saw did the work. Mr. Neefe rebuilt the mill and equipped it with more modern machinery, water power being derived from a dam and mill race. This dam and mill race are still in evidence close to the Woodstock cemetery.

 On another stone it read "Parents good night, my work is done, I go to rest with the setting sun, But not to wake with the morning light, So dearest parents a long good night."

 It was on the grave of Johnnie Weeden, son of A. and G. Weeden, who died in 1885, aged one year, six months, eleven days.

 This is another well kept old time cemetery. It is on highway 60 in the town of Richwood, and Richwood by the way, has more cemeteries located within its borders than any other township. There are, as in other old time graveyards, many pioneers buried therein. One stone is of special interest. It stands near the grave of Mrs. Clara Burns, whose maiden name was Clara Washburn. She was born March 7, 1861, and died April 9, 1908. The stone says she weighed 450 pounds.

 Sand Prairie is one of the oldest towns in Richwood, in fact the Sand Prairie post office was the first one established in the county and its location was not far from the present cemetery.

 Odd inscriptions appear upon many stones throughout the county; things that are interesting, so interesting in fact that they have them engraved upon grave markers. For instance there is the one in the Sabin cemetery which reads: "Elizabeth Twaddle, born in Jefferson county, Ohio, Nov. 6, 1800, moved to Richland County, Wisconsin, in 1857, Died September 17, 1883. She and five brothers born blind."

 That tells a tragic story or at least an affliction to six members of one family who went through life without eyesight, having been without an optic nerve, which was tragic indeed.     

 A well kept cemetery is the one at Bloom City and it contains the remains of many of the old timers who made this county what it is today. It took rugged work to hew the fine farms from heavily timbered tracts and the town of Bloom furnished many of these sturdy citizens. We noted many familiar names upon the stones, one of these whom we heard about was Isaac McMahan, who became noted far and wide through an apple tree developed upon his farm which later on was one of the standard varieties. It was developed as a seedling, excellent for eating or cooking. It was an early variety and was known throughout the land as the McMahan apple. The older portion of the Bloom City cemetery contains many stones which have become so weather beaten that only the deeper cut letters can be made out.

 A marker for Almira Peckman, who died January 14, 1872, at the age of five years reads: Though so still her dimpled hands, Dimpled cheeks so pale, Though our bud of promise proved For the earth too frail;  Near her grave no chilling breath Whispers to our hearts of death.

 On another stone is this line: "Our days on this earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding."

 And there you have a brief visit to a number of cemeteries. When the shadows begin to lengthen for you be of good cheer and keep in mind that simple but true inscription on a stone in the Rockbridge cemetery:

"Dying in but going home."

S. F. 

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Tales The Tombstone Tell - Republican Observer November 17, 1956

 Along the highways, out in the woods over in a field back from the road, are a number of cemeteries wherein are buried some of the pioneers of Richland county. Some of these burying places you never heard about and do not know.

 Perhaps the one over on highway 14, a bit over a mile west of the Boaz corner is one which most Richland county people pass and do not know it there. No tombstones are to be seen yet one is there and a little iron fence to enclose a grave is now hidden among the bushes and weeds. A cedar tree can be noticed but you must drive slow if you want to see the iron fence or the cedar tree. Leaning against a butternut tree is the tombstone of a lad, who died away back when. His name was Sheafor and his illness, so his obituary says, was "water on the brain." The cemetery has as a name as all cemeteries do, it is the Parcell cemetery, named after John Parcell, an early settler of the town of Dayton. This cemetery, if you wish to know, is located a mile and 3/10 northwest of the Boaz corner on highway 14. It is on a bank on the left side of the road as you go northwest.

 Another cemetery of which but few people know the location, is out in the town of Sylvan, on the ridge north of where St. Peter's Catholic church once stood. It is near the Frawley farm. St. Peter's church has been torn down and some of the bodies in the church yard have been removed to other cemeteries. However the burying ground of which we speak is perhaps close to a mile north. It is out in the woods on the left hand side of the highway. We have, for lack of a regular name, called it the Frawley cemetery. That is not the name however and we do not know what it is. Can some one help us out? It has not been used for years and years, but dates back to close to 100 years ago.

 In it is buried Zenas W. Bevier, one of the pioneers of the town of Akan. His stone, one of those old fashioned kind. has a hand on it pointing upward, and above the hand are the words: "Meet Me in Heaven." Mr. Bevier died October 24, 1861, aged 57 years. There are other words upon the stone but winds and rains over a period of 94 years have all but wiped them out.

 Another stone in the old burying ground is for "Infant Henthorn who died March 16, 1865, aged two days. The stone has a lamb adorning its top. There is a stone for Sarah J. Lawrence, who died October 12, 1856, aged three years, one month and fifteen days.

 A double stone for Mary C. Taylor and Margaret Taylor are in this spot. Mary died December 29, 1859, and Margaret on January 6, 1860, a week apart. There may have been bitter cold winter days when they were laid to rest in what is now an unused cemetery off the regular traveled highway. They rest there undisturbed in quiet peace of the long, long ago.

 Of most of the folks buried in this cemetery we know but little but Zenas W. Bevier was a pioneer who had much to do with the early day settlement of the town of Akan. He is surely a neglected pioneer. His last resting place is covered with bushes, vines and trees so thick that but little sunshine penetrates the spot and moonbeams would have difficulty in shining upon his grave. 

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 Mr. Bevier, a native of New York, came in 1855 to Richland county and settled in the town of Akan where he engaged in blacksmithing and farming until his death. It was through his influence that the first post office to be established in Akan township, set up for business in 1856 with Mr. Bevier as postmaster. The office was kept at his home on the northeast corner of section 2. This location was on the west branch of Mill Creek, now on highway 14, near the West Branch school, a bit north of the J. G. Sheafor farm.

 Mr. Bevier must have been well liked by his neighbors and the people in general, for when the township of Akan was first organized at a town meeting held at the home of Martin Munson, April 1, 1856, he was present and elected chairman of the town and thus became a member of the county board. There were 28 votes cast at this election.

 The first school in district No. 1 was taught in 1856 by Martha
Funston, at the residence of Mr. Bevier. He took a prominent part in the early development of this township. He continued as postmaster at Akan until the time of his death in 1861. D. D. Woodruff was appointed in his place and the office moved a short distance to the town of Sylvan. It was discontinued in 1877 and long since forgotten except by a few.

 And when the curtain went down upon the life of Mr. Bevier, relatives and friends attended his services and they buried his remains up in the little cemetery and laid him to rest. A simple stone marks the spot of a pioneer, the first chairman of the town of Akan.  Peace be to his ashes.

 Many other little known burying grounds are here and there in a number of townships about the county. They contain the remains of some pioneer and there may be a story of the early days. We will take a look into them some day.

S. F.