Humboldt County
Historical Association
PO Box 162
Humboldt, Iowa
50548
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OAKWOOD CEMETERY
This cemetery was formed in 1869 and abandoned in 1885. Thirty to forty people were buried there. The stone was found and brought to the museum. It was placed on the site of the cemetery and engraved in 2006.
History of Kossuth and Humboldt Counties, Iowa, 1884,
pp. 804-805
Oakwood Cemetery lies one mile southeast of Humboldt, and is situated
upon a beautiful wooded bluff, overlooking the town and the silvery
river.
Springvale Cemetery
Association was organized on the 24th of March, 1869, and on the
5th of April, following, these members were chosen officers of the same:
John Dickey, President' B. H. Harkness, treasurer; Rev. E. C. Miles,
secretary; S. H. Taft, H. Lane, John Johnston, D. R. Russell and D.
Harvey, trustees.
The membership was at
first composed of those persons who contributed $10 each toward the
purchase of the grounds, but on the 17th of September, 1883, the
constitution was so amended as to make all owners of lots living in the
township members of the association.
The grounds embraces
eleven acres, mostly covered over with young oak trees, and is known as
Oakwood. Its location and the conformation of the ground is such as to
make it a place of great beauty when properly improved. The present
officers are: B. H. Harkness, president; Hugh McKinstry, treasurer; J.
M. Snyder, secretary; George M. Snyder, trustee.
The Empire
Builder of the Middle West,
by Fred Taft, 1929, p. 93
Following the collapse of the normal school effort he [Stephen H. Taft] dedicated a portion of the land to cemetery purposes, partly convincing a portion of the community and thoroughly convincing himself that it was far and away preferable to the then existing burial ground; as in fact it was, being more sightly, timbered where the other was bare prairie, and in other ways a better location. But this movement, too, proved too much one of impulse. Ultimately it meant removal of all the graves to the old cemetery before the land of the new became available for other and permanent use.
The Story of a Tombstone
This small stone represents a once active cemetery that was begun by
the founder of Humboldt, Stephen Taft. The stone also tells the story of
the westward migration of a family hopeful for a better life in a new
land.
Schuyler Brown and his
family left Cook County, Illinois in 1868 to live and farm in Humboldt
County, Iowa. They settled in Section 27 of Avery Township. The family
included Schuyler and his wife Mary, their married son Charles, and
their other sons William, Horace, Lewis, Peter and Alexander.
Their son George and his
wife Margaret were married in October 1869 in Illinois; they soon
followed the rest of the family and moved to Humboldt County. Their
first child, Charley E. was born in September 1870; he died January 18,
1871 at the age of 4 months of unknown causes. His family buried him in
Oakwood Cemetery. George and his wife soon returned to Illinois where
the remained for the rest of their lives. They had five more children.
There is at least one
other Brown also buried in Oakwood Cemetery--Schuyler's Horace son died
in 1870 or early 1871; his tombstone was still visible in the 1970s. It
is possible that three other members of the Brown family could be buried
there. Mother Mary Brown died in 1869; son William died in 1870; son
Peter died in 1877. There are no sexton records for Oakwood Cemetery.
Schuyler's oldest son
Charles remained in Humboldt. Although he purchased a lot at Oakwood, he
and his family were buried at Union Cemetery. Schuyler's son Lewis also
remained in Humboldt. He and his son Lewis were buried at Union
Cemetery. Schuyler and his youngest son Alexander returned to Illinois
some time after 1855.