HISTORY
by Janet Ehrhart Wright
jmwx1@hotmail.com
Originally, the entrance was on the east, up from the small valley beginning almost at the foot of the hill. It is the second valley on the right or north from Cherokee Avenue.
There are over 4000 persons interred as of May, 2003, counting standing gravestones and a few without markers. The first burial, in the Missouri portion of course, was Bessie Raitt, daughter of G. M. and B. A. Raitt. The child was born May 24, 1875 and died October 21, 1877. She is buried in Area E-South. This first burial is confirmed by a letter dictated by Mr. James Sherer to his daughter, Maude Sherer Henderson, Portland, Oregon, published in the Seneca News Dispatch February 2, 1943, the week of the death of Mr. Sherer, almost 90 years old when he died. Quoting from this letter:
We are indebted to Mrs. Hazel Hansen for a copy of this letter. James Sherer was one of her ancestors. Apparently the oldest person interred was Bertha Cornelius Atkins, born April, 1869 and died July, 1975, which made her a few months past 105. She is buried in area E-South, and is also a relative of Mrs. Hazel Hansen. Two of the earliest birth dates are Sarah Payne and Grandmother Krokroska, both born in 1804, just thirty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The marker for the seven members of the Schmidt family drowned in the flood May 30, 1896 is in area B-South. And the Floyd family close to the catholic entrance.
INTERESTING FACTS:
A grave site is 5x10. A lot is 20x10. All stones before 1950 are hand chisled. All veterans from the civil war up, are honored with flags on Memorial Day. We do this in memory of the brave soldiers who gave their lives, to protect the freedom we enjoy today.