Dignity for the dead and finding a proper resting place

Dignity for the dead is an unwritten but long-honored tradition, in Greene County as it is across America and throughout most of the world. Final resting places are meant to be left undisturbed, and maintained in an appropriate manner.

The oldest cemeteries of early white settlers in Greene County are probably the 10 so-called “pioneer cemeteries” which contain the remains of some of the county’s first European-heritage residents. Native American burials here preceded those cemeteries, of course, probably by several centuries, and those locations are marked and honored as well when they are known.

Under Iowa law, counties have several options concerning the maintenance of pioneer cemeteries. Some counties choose to place that responsibility with their board of supervisors. Others leave it with the townships in which the pioneer cemeteries are located. Still, others grant a county pioneer cemetery commission that authority.

Greene County in the year 2000 created an official pioneer cemetery commission, but that group, while active, holds advisory status. It seeks to help townships encourage the maintenance of pioneer cemeteries therein. Townships in Greene County are officially responsible for them.

The county’s 10 pioneer cemeteries, generally an acre in size, are located roughly along the path of the Raccoon River, from southeast to northwest through the county. That’s not surprising, since the earliest settler farmers often built their homes near the river, where timber and water were readily available. 

Some of the old cemeteries are admirably maintained, well marked or fenced, with access granted by obvious easements. Others remain pretty much inaccessible, with maintenance of varying quality.

One of the county’s pioneer cemeteries was the subject of discussion at last week’s county supervisor meeting, and again at this past Monday’s session. It was reported that the cemetery has shrunk over the years since cultivation of the adjacent farmland has encroached into its acre-sized plot. Some grave markers have been removed to unknown locations.

The Greene County supervisors, while taking no official action since the township containing the cemetery is responsible for it, this week facilitated a meeting of the township trustees governing the cemetery and the pioneer cemetery commission to determine what should be done to protect and restore the burial area. (The meeting was to take place after this week’s Herald deadline.)

The supervisors and other county officials who discussed the situation on Monday all shared the opinion that the cemetery and its occupants must be protected from further encroachment, and the boundaries of the cemetery must be legally delineated. 

In that regard they express what their constituents no doubt also believe: that the earliest predecessors of today’s Greene County residents deserve the dignity that all of us expect for ourselves and our loved ones when that time comes. 

A salute to the supervisors and the pioneer cemetery commission for acting to protect our forebears’ resting places.