Leavenworth County
KSGenWeb

Mount Sdney Cemetery

Golden Rd., Linwood, Sherman Twp, Leavenworth County

About the Cemetery

Mt. Sidney Cemetery is Named for Only Son of 'Blind Bob' Elder

by L. Candy Ruff, Times Lifestyles Editor
Leavenworth Times, August 21, 1988

From the collections at the Leavenworth County Historical Society and Museum. Reprinted with permission from The Leavenworth County Historical Society and Museum and the Leavenworth Times. Donated by Debra Graden.

Sidney Elder was skating on the frozen Stranger Creek, when he fell through the ice. His friends got him out of the water, built a fire and there he lay until his clothes dried.

He caught a chill that developed into pneumonia. Several days later on Jan. 20, 1895, the 16-year-old-boy died. Robert and Allie Ward Elder had lost their only child. They buried him on the highest elevation of their southern-Leavenworth County farm outside Linwood. They named the area Mount Sidney.

"They say that boy had a future," Robert Elder said Monday afternoon. "He was real responsible for a boy of 16 and his father trusted him to drive the wagon into Kansas City once a week."

Sidney's father was Robert Elder's uncle. The rural Linwood farmer lived with his uncle at one time. "Blind Bob," as the senior Elder was called, would often speak of his son and the monument he erected in his honor.

"That angel they put at Sidney's grave was brought all the way from Italy and it cost $1,100. Back in those days that was quite a lot of money," he said.

His uncle lost his eye sight sometime after the turn of the century. When the younger Elder was a boy, he, his parents and seven sisters lived with his uncle. He said the sightless man would walk to town from his home outside Linwood.

"He knew just how many steps it took to get into town and he carefully counted them when he walked by himself. They say he lost his eyesight by not taking care of his eyes. He just let it go thinking it would get better. It didn't."

Robert Elder's lack of eyesight didn't stop him from visiting his son's grave. Mount Sidney Cemetery overlooks the Kaw River on County Road 26 east of Linwood. Sidney's parents donated 2.32 acres to the Mount Sidney Cemetery Association a few short months after their son's death. The location soon became a popular burial ground, especially after the Linwood flood of 1903.

Lifetime Linwood resident, Ovid Snyder, says the cemetery sign that greets today's visitors was made and installed by his father, John, in 1935.

"My dad was a blacksmith and could work with metal of all kinds," Snyder said from his home Monday afternoon. "He made that sign and I can tell you it was heavy. It was all his idea to do something for the cemetery."

Snyder says during the past 70 years, the largest funeral to take place at Mount Sidney was for Glenn Curtiss.

"He was just about the nicest man you could ever know. He had been away to World War II and was home working at the Linwood bank. He was killed by two men trying to rob the bank."

His funeral was held in the high school auditorium and for miles the cars lined the dirt road leading to the cemetery, Snyder remembered.

The saddest funeral occured when Genevieve Menicke died in 1934.

"She died from that terrible pneumonia and left four little girls without their mother. People from all around here were sadden because of those little girls," he said.

Eurick and Lois Fern Schwartz donated additional land to the cemetery association in recent years. The Sherman Township took over the care of the cemetery several years ago. Percy and Dorothy Mosser donated about 2½ acres of land not long ago. A monument to Mrs. Mosser is located in the new section.

As of 1979, there were 575 graves in the old section and 32 in the newer part.

Article donated by Debra Graden, President, Leavenworth County Genealogical Society, 1998

Cemetery Index

Back to Cemeteries

Leavenworth County KSGenWeb Copyright

Design by Templates in Time