Cemeteries of Brown County, Kansas

Powhattan Township

COMET CEMETERY (CMT)

            On 4 February 1885 Albert and Esther Lynch sold for One Dollar ($1) the following land to the Trustees of the Plum Creek Congregational Church for use of the church and cemetery.  Commencing at the corner stone of the southeast corner of the southeast quarter of section 28, township 3, range 15, one acre.

            On 15 March 1887 the Comet Cemetery Association incorporated with C.B. Blaney, J.A. Davidson, I.C. Morey, M. Foster and F.W. Harper as trustees.

            From Hiawatha go East on Highway 36 about 12 miles to Fairview, turn left onto Highway 75 and go 6 miles to 170^th Street, turn right and the cemetery is about ¼ mile.  This Cemetery is in the Powhattan Cemetery District #13 and is well taken care of.
 

GRASSHOPPER CEMETERY (GRH)

            This Cemetery is located in Section 25, Township 2, Range 15.  This is an all Black Cemetery.  There are no tombstones and the burials are along the fence line about a quarter mile North of 170^th Street on Dewberry Road.

            We know of two burials in that cemetery, but have been told that there is probably 6or 7 people buried there.  The two that we know of are:

AKERS, Lewis who died in February 1897.
FRAME, Veldy Ture Wheeler who died in September 1889 and was the wife of Thomas Frane.

PLEASANT DALE CEMETERY (PLD)

            This Cemetery is located in Section 14, Township, Township 3, range 15.  The Pleasant Dale School was across the road and about ¼ mile east of this Cemetery.  As far as is known there is no record of who is buried here.  This cemetery  was destroyed (bulldozed in) before anyone could copy the names and dates from the tombstones.  There is no trace of this cemetery at all.

            The Pleasant Dale Cemetery Association was formed on 28 February 1873, with the following trustees:  H. P. Whitmarsh, Thomas H. Brown, Jacob Hinkle Junr., Peter Troxel, E. M. Turner.

            Through family members and obituaries it has been determined that the below named individuals were buried in this Cemetery.  It is also known that people by the surname of GEIGER and MEYER are also buried in this cemetery.

NELSON, Eunice, wife of J.D. Nelson died 15 MAR 1874 at age 23 years.  She was the daughter of A.& M. Owens.
OWENS, Benjamin J., son of A.& M. Owens died 1 OCT 1875, age 20 years 6 months 24 days.
            , Amassa, b. 12 SEP 1819 – d. 31 DEC 1890.
            , Maria L., b. 1827 – death date unknown.

POWHATTAN CEMETERY (POW)

            This Cemetery was originally the Grand Prairie Cemetery.  This Cemetery was located on the northeast corner of a quarter section of land owned by William Bird Ranshaw.  He had purchased this land from the government for $3.50 per acre in 1871.  This land was situated at the northeast edge of the present town of Powhattan.  Mr. Ranshaw gave the land for a cemetery.  On this corner of land was also the Grand Prairie Schoolhouse, District #40, and was a central place for many gatherings.

            The beginning of the Powhattan Methodist Episcopal Church was in 1871 when J.K. McGinnis, a local preacher, held services in the Grand Prairie Schoolhouse.  On May 20, 1874 a charter was granted by the Secretary of the State of Kansas to the Grand Prairie Methodist Episcopal Church.  A deed is on record in the Brown County Courthouse at Hiawatha where William Ranshaw sold to the Grand Prairie Cemetery Association 3 acres of the original NE quarater of Section 28, Township 3, Range 16 for $50.00 on March 20, 1880.  The deed was not recorded until December 6, 1884.  This is the present cemetery location which now includes some additional land bordering on the south side of the cemetery.

            When the Church was built in 1884, on the three acres purchased, a new cemetery was started near the Church.  The few who had been buried in the first cemetery on the Northeast corner of the quarter section, were transferred to the new cemetery still known as Grand Prairie Cemetery.  Among those those transferred were Mary Green, Gear Ranshaw, wife of William Bird Ranshaw, and their infant daughter, Mollie.

            The Church was moved into the town of Powhattan in March 1901, and since that time the cemetery has been known as the Powhattan Cemetery.  The first person to be buried in the new cemetery, still known as the Grand Prairie Cemetery, was Hannah Thomas, daughter of James V. Thomas Jr.

SOUTH  POWATTAN  CEMETERY (SPT)

           This Cemetery is located at the corner of 105^th Street and Barn Swallow Road.

            From Hiawatha go West for 9 miles on Highway 36.  At the junction with Highway 75, turn South and go 12 ½ miles to 105^th Street, turn West and go 1 ½ miles.  The Cemetery is on the Southeast corner.

            This Cemetery was at the site of the old town of Powhattan which was on the James Lane Trail, and the stage route West.  Once the railroads came this town slowly disappeared.  The new town of Powhattan came into being and is several miles to the Northeast.