HIGHLAND CEMETERY RECORDS
1908 TO 1993
WITH ADDED ADDENDEUM
1985 TO 1993
This
work was compiled by Wauneta McDerneit and Cleo Staley
and
SOUTHEAST KANSAS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
Iola,
Kansas
Thanks toWauneta McDerneit and the SEK Genealogical
Society, its current president Richard Canfield, and the members of the group
for allowing me to begin work on these records
A note about why I chose to do this particular
material.
As a little girl growing up in Iola - going to
the cemetery was a natural occurance.
My grandmother, Ethel Gantt Childress, did as many others of the time
did, she observed the tradition of what we now call Memorial Day, only then it
was called Decoration Day. Her home was
about a mile from the cemetery and we walked, carrying the flowers from her
yard (roses, lilies, peonies, honeysuckle, probably sweet peas and others) in
cans, which had water in them because there wasn’t water at the cemetery
then. And then we carried the empty
cans back home to be reused another time.
I remember one of her cousins, Carrie Howard Mogul usually stopping by
to visit Grandma when they came to Iola to the cemetery. I was taught that going to the cemetery was
an act of respect and remembrance. And
because my grandmother was such a stickler for respect, I was not allowed to
walk immediately across the gravesites.
I was taught to walk the “undesignated” paths between gravesite rows.
And I also remember the Veterans decorating the graves of those soldiers who
had served in the Civil War, WW 1 and WW 11.
Small neat rows of American flags lined the gravesites. It was always a beautiful site, and I still
am moved when I see cemeteries all decorated with flowers and flags.
After my grandmother’s death in 1950 my mother
continued her mother-in-law’s tradition to decorate the gravesites with flowers
from my grandmother’s yard, as we had moved into her home. But in 1955 all that tradition ended when we
moved away from Iola. And though I’ve
only been back to Highland Cemetery four or five times since then, when
Memorial Day comes around, I still visit that lovely cemetery, in my mind, and
place flowers on the graves of my dad, my grandparents and great-grandparents.
Last Memorial Day (2000) we were back in Kansas and I got to visit
Highland Cemetery as well as several other cemeteries in Allen and Linn
Counties, as my husband and I were looking for the headstones of my ancestors,
some of which I had not seen since I was in my twenties. Then we went up to Lyon County to find his
grandmother’s gravesite. It was a fun
(and hot and windy) trip, but being a detective was fun. So that’s the story! If you can’t get back to Allen County to
find your ancestor, then perhaps this site is the best way for you to find
them.
All entries from the book have been made. There is still some editing to do and work to make the entries all appear the same. If you note any errors please let me know. Entries were made as true to the book as possible.
If you have any questions? Please contact me – Lonna Nevil at kscoallen@usgennet.org
I also would like to note that I don’t know if
the date given is for the person’s death date or the date lots were
purchased. As an example, they have the
date listed as 4 September 1970 for my father.
He died 2 September 1970. These
records will give the researcher a general idea of the time their ancestor
died. In compiling these records the
researchers struggled with hand written records done by many different
employees of the cemetery and consequently some of the names were hard to
decipher. A personal note here
too: My grandfather’s last name was
Childress. The record shows his name to
be Childers. My grandmother’s however
was written correctly. As with all
research we must look to family personal records of our ancestor to see how the
name was written, and then who knows it may be wrong too. Good luck in your search.
Look At Names Beginning With:
Return to Allen
County Cemetery page
Return to Allen
County ALHN main page
