Cemeteries of Brown County, Kansas

BEMIS CEMETERY (BEM)

            This cemetery is located in Section One (1), Township three (3), Range sixteen (16).  From the west edge of Hiawatha it is about 1 ½ miles south on Kestrel Road and then about ¼ mile back in the field on West side of road.

            This cemetery was also known as the Poor Farm Cemetery as it set about ¼ miles south of the Poor Farm and slightly east in the field.  Because the Aller family owns the property the cemetery is on now (2005) it is sometimes referred to as the Aller Cemetery.

            It is a very small cemetery and several of the tombstones were vandalized and carried off.  It is not kept up and is overgrown with grass, weeds and brush.  Here are the people buried there that their tombstones are still in place.

BEMIS, Fanny, wife of J.W.
            , Martha E., died August 10, 1868, aged 2 years, daughter of G.F. & M.A. Bemis.
            , George H., died June 28, 1866, son of J.W. & F.C. Bemis.
GRISSOM, James, died January 20, 1880, aged 8 years, 11 months, 13 days, son of L. & N.E. Grissom.
            . Levi, died July 28, 1883, aged 13 years, 2 months, 18 days, son of L. & N. E. Grissom.
HEER, Ernest, died September 20, 1892, aged 9 months 11 days, son of R. & Edna Heer.
            , Robert H., died June 15, 1894, aged 11 months 26 days

One tombstone the surname could not be read or was missing, but the given name was Sarah and she died January 18, 1870, age 27 years, 3 months 23 days, wife of 

HIAWATHA CEMETERY (HIA)

            This cemetery is located off Highway 73 at the Northeast edge of Hiawatha.  The old part of the cemetery which is the Northern Section was began in 1858.  It was known as the Killey Cemetery.  Later when the city bought the land next to it on the South the Killey Cemetery was annexed to the new cemetery and it was then called the Hiawatha Cemetery.

            In this cemetery is a large cannon.  This cannon was secured by the G.A.R. Post in August, 1899.  It is 11 feet long, 7 inch caliber and weights 8,500 pounds.  It was cast in 1856 and rounded Cape Horn on its way to San Francisco during the Spanish American War.  It was intended, by the G.A.R. to be placed on a $500 pedestal or monument in the Courthouse Park, but the location was afterward changed.  (From A.N. Ruley’s “History of Brown County”.

            Another War Memorial in the Cemetery:  “They Sought No Glory But Their Country’s Good.”  “In Memory of those who made the Supreme Sacrifice in Defense of their Country.  Graves Unknown We Honor.”: 

H. J. Dandliker, Jr.
Leroy Hazlett
Howard L. Walters
Edward Wolf
Clyde M. Roush
Donald J. Higgins
Ross E. Rutland
Geo. Wm. Hixson
Emerson Cyphers
Roy Wayne Davis
Kermit Fahrmeyer
Jere H. Lanct
Thomas C. Jelly
Ross E. Torkelson

            An unusual grave marker in the cemetery is a meteorite.  It is kind of a triangular shape.  Only the surname is engraved on it, and it is said that was a very difficult job to do.

MOUNT HOPE CEMETERY (MTH)

            This cemetery is located one-half mile east of Hiawatha on Iowa Street.  At the corner of First Street/Highway 73 turn right and go one-half mile to the cemetery.

            The Cemetery Association was chartered in 1898, the grounds were purchased in 1899.  The first burial was in about 1903.

            Also in this Cemetery is the well-known Davis Memorial.  It is the burial place of John M. Davis, who died in 1947, and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth, who died in 1930.  After his wife’s death, John, through a local monument dealer, ordered marble statues made in Italy of him and his wife depicting their life together.  There are several statues, beginning with their marriage and going through their life until old age and death.  It is unique monument which draws many visitors every year.

            The Van Dalsem Directory was installed in 2002, a donation from the estate of Fern Van Dalsem.  It has about 4,000 names.  Infrared sensors turn the drums, which depicts the names.  The sensors are activated by motion.

NILES CEMETERY (NIL)

            This cemetery is located in Section 15, Township 2, Range 16.  From the west edge of Hiawatha, go 3 miles West, turn right (north), go 1 ½ miles north to 250^th Street, turn right (east) and go ½ mile.  The cemetery is located on the north side of road about ¼ miles back in field.  It has a white fence around it.

            This land was owned by E. H. Niles.  In  March of 1865 the military from Fort Leavenworth were on the Military Trail going to Nebraska.  They camped at Camp Ames, on Walnut Creek.  Several soldiers took sick and died.  Mr. Niles gave permission for them to be buried on his land, thus the Niles Cemetery came into being.

            Those buried in this cemetery that have tombstones are:
KINNA, John, Troop B, Company H, 19^th Kansas Cavalry. 16^th Kansas Calvary.  Born in Ireland in 1832, died March 1865, aged 33 years.
NILES, Edward H., born 1809, died 1872 (father).
            , Maria, born 1810, died 1873 (mother).
            , Clara R., born 1840, died 1859 (daughter).
            , Edward, born 1847, died 1920.

One marker only had the initials M. W. on it and no other details.  There were several soldiers buried here and through the years their stones have disappeared.