Last week, I shared some stories about my visit to Central City Cemetery. A kind reader, Nancy Johnson, left a comment that filled in some of the gaps about the history and people I mentioned. She said the cemetery (established in 1877) was originally located on south Highway 14 on the west side of the street. Graves were moved from that location and from other small and private cemeteries.

If you want to learn more about Anna Holtorf and the Rev. Wesley Wilson (not Willson as inscribed on his monument), I’ve added Nancy’s information to the original blog post.

Jessie Baker’s monument has a little crown on it. I see many lambs, flowers and crosses on monuments but not crowns. Especially on a younger person’s marker. It made me curious to find out more.

Daughter of Ruben and Lurancy Baker, Jessie and her two brothers were born in Pennsylvania before coming to Central City. Eldest brother Burton was a school teacher while Mark taught music, according to the 1880 U.S. Census. Jessie was a bit younger than her brothers, who were both in their 20s. She was only 13 when she died.

I don’t know what Jessie died of but her obituary indicates she was ill for several weeks. Fortunately, the person who created her Find a Grave memorial posted her obituary. I’ve read many similar to hers of young people who died in their teens:

Possessed of an active, cheerful, and affectionate nature, she was a great favorite with her schoolmates, while her earnest and studious disposition gained her the love and esteem of her teachers. Her courage and cheerfulness never flagged during her sickness, and this fact gave hope of her recovery almost to the end.

On the 1885 Nebraska Census, Ruben Baker’s profession is listed as “tombstone agent.” This was not always a full-time job but was combined with others and he was primarily a farmer.

In reading the obituaries of others buried at Central City, fall 1882 through 1883 was a year in which many children in Central City died of diphtheria. It’s a disease you don’t hear about in the U.S. now because it’s so incredibly rare. Between 2004 and 2015, 2 cases of diphtheria were recorded in the U.S.

Immunization against diphtheria began in the 1920s but before then, it killed thousands. The U.S. recorded 206,000 cases of diphtheria in 1921, resulting in 15,520 deaths.

One family that truly suffered during that 1882-1883 diphtheria outbreak was the Persons family. The photo below of the Harrison E. Persons family plot was taken by Ann Berry for Find a Grave. I tried to piece together the timeline of children and birth/death dates, but if I have made an error, please let me know.

In 1871, Harrison W. and Mary Fish Persons moved from their native Vermont to Central City with their large family (some already adults). Three of their sons were Fred, Harry V. and Harrison E. Harrison (the elder) built a small general merchandise store in Central City that he later expanded.

In 1876, Harrison E. married Chrissie Jane Burk, who came from Ohio to Central City with her parents Henry and Lucinda Burk. By 1880, Harrison E. and Chrissie had two children, Jessie, 2, and Franklin “Frankie”, 1. In November 1880, a daughter, Hattie was born. She died on January 15, 1881 from unknown causes.

Frankie died of diphtheria on Dec. 26, 1882. On Jan. 6, little Percy (who was only 10 months old) died of diphtheria as well. Finally, on Jan. 9, Jessie died at the age of five years, 2 months and 22 days. All of Harrison E. and Chrissie’s children were gone.

The Central City Courier noted the Persons’ overwhelming loss:

Of the many who have been lately bereaved by that dread scourge, none more richly deserve the sympathy of the community than the family of H.E. Persons upon whom the hand of affliction has fallen with rapid strokes, until their home has been left utterly childless. The father and mother have watched and hoped…that their household might pass unscathed by the destroyer. The entire community, many of whom have lately stood agonized and helpless at the bedside of their own little ones, sympathize deeply with Mr. and Mrs. Persons in their affliction.

Amid their sadness, the couple adopted a baby named Charlie who would die a few months later in September 1883 (not of diphtheria). Chrissie gave birth to a boy, Willie, in 1887, but he died in 1891 for unknown reasons.

Brother Fred and his wife, Jennie, were also hit by tragedy during the “dread scourge”. Their children, Bertha and George, died within days of each other in October 1882.

Brother Harry and his wife, also named Jennie, lost children as well. According to the Central City Nonpareil, the first child who died on Nov. 26 was not named. The item read: “A two-year-old child of Harry Persons died of diphtheria Sunday evening, was buried Monday. Two other members of the family are sick with the same disease.”

Their daughter, Lizzie, died on Dec. 1 at the age of four of diphtheria.

Harrison E. died only a year after Willie in 1892. I could only find one other mention of Chrissie, who was living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1917 according to a city directory. She died in 1929. She is buried with her husband and their children. Harry V. died in 1906 and Fred died in 1926. All of them are buried at Central City Cemetery.

There are countless others who died during that tragic period that are buried at Central City Cemetery. Some of their graves are marked but I’m certain there are even more that are unmarked.

Near the end of our visit, I caught sight of a monument that I wanted to look at more closely. I’ve written about these “baby on a half shell” monuments in the past. They fascinate me because they were popular during the later Victorian era and some of them are intricately carved.

Looking through my pictures, I could not find any specific markers for individual children near this monument. But that isn’t unusual. Many times, a family simply purchased one monument to represent all of their children who died. I don’t know if these children died during the 1882 diphtheria outbreak, but it’s possible.

As we left Central City Cemetery, I thought of how I could have spent several more hours there. I also thought about the Persons family, the children who died of an illness that is now easily prevented by a vaccine. How I take for granted that I don’t have to worry about my own son falling prey to it.

It’s a blessing I thank the Lord for as he grows up.

When doing research for this post, I again concluded that in those pioneer days you had to be realistic about death. Sometimes it left you alone for several decades. Maybe you could make it to middle age. But more often, it stole little children or young adults just entering their prime.

With over 5,400 marked graves and room for another 1,500, Central City Cemetery is located on Highway 14, just north of town amid wide fields. I was initially unable to find out what year it was established but it’s definitely old. After I published this post, kind reader Nancy Johnson contacted me to say that the cemetery was originally located on south Highway 14 on the west side of the street. Graves were moved from that location and from other small and private cemeteries.

With a current population a little under 3,000, Central City is the county seat of Merrick County. Before settlers arrived, the land was home to the Pawnee. Rival Pawnee tribes, the Chaui and the Skidi, frequently skirmished over the territory.

Organized in 1864, the county was named for Elvira Merrick, maiden name of the wife of territorial legislator Henry W. DePuy, who introduced the bill that created it. Naming places after the maiden names of the wives of prominent pioneers seems to be a trend in Nebraska, I am finding.

Central City was originally called Lone Tree. The first pioneers passed through the area via the Mormon Trail in 1847, and later on the Oregon Trail and the California Trail. This location was close to a huge cottonwood tree, called Lone Tree, that the pioneers used as a landmark.

The lone tree died in 1863 and was blown over due to a storm in 1865. Part of the trunk was taken to Lone Tree train station and placed on the depot platform. Over time, fragments were carried away by tourists until it disappeared. In 1911, they erected a granite monument to honor the original tree. About 30 years later, another cottonwood tree was planted at the original tree’s location next to the granite monument.

In 1875, some residents petitioned to have the town’s name changed from Lone Tree to Central City. Those in favor argued that the name Lone Tree gave the impression that the area was desolate and inhabitants were poor and uncivilized, limiting the growth of the area. Opponents thought Lone Tree portrayed a “beautiful spot and is a name dear to the pioneers.”

On July 1, 1875, the name was officially changed to from Lone Tree to Central City. People have been calling it that ever since.

One of the first graves I noticed was that of Anna Holtorf, who died at the age of 21. She’s one of 13 recorded Holtofs buried at Central City Cemetery. Initially, I could find no information about Anna because I didn’t know her maiden name.

Nancy let me know that she was originally Anna Barta, the daughter of immigrants John and Anna LaPour Barta. She married Ludwig Carsten Holtorf and they had a son, Henry, in October 1922. Anna died only a few months later in July 1923. Her sister Sophie and brother Edward, who lived much longer lives, are buried beside her.

I don’t see many portraits on older markers in Nebraska. This one was from Dedo, the respected Chicago firm that’s over 100 years old and still in operation. Nancy told me that until recent years, Anna’s was the only monument at Central City that had such a portrait on it.

I especially liked the McCollister monument for its rustic simplicity. Nancy informed me that the stones were from Colorado. A monument much like it is at Bureau Cemetery, also in Merrick County.

I’ve featured many children’s graves in my blog posts and this one is no exception. So it’s especially interesting to find a marker for someone who lived quite a long life. Mercy Martindale Nicholson Thorn qualifies.

Mercy was born in 1798 in Vermont and spent the first 30 years of her life there. She married Henry Nicholson in 1819 (she was 21) and together they had seven children. Five of them lived long lives like she did. By 1828, the Nicholsons had moved to Pennsylvania.

Henry died in 1837. Mercy married Richard Thorn, a veteran of the Mexican War, in 1843. By 1860, they were living in Iowa with Mercy’s daughter Mary Conner and her family. At this point, Richard was 74 and Mercy was 62. By 1880, they had moved with the Conners to Santa Barbara, Calif. Richard died in 1884 and is buried in California.

Mercy and the Connors moved to Central City in March 1889. She died only a few days later.  Her obituary states: “Mrs. Thorn came to this city from California five days before her death with her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Conner, with the intention of making her home with them in this county.”

It must had been quite sad for the Conners to bury Mary’s mother only a few days after reaching their new home.

When I saw the white bronze (which is actually zinc) monument for the two Holden girls, I knew there had to be a story behind it. Such a grand marker for two children is not common.

A native of Canada, James G. Holden moved to Wisconsin after his father died. At 17, he joined the Wisconsin 13th Infantry, Company K, and fought for the Union for most of the Civil War. He married Mary Josephine “Josie” Bradt in 1870. Soon after, they moved to Nebraska and started a family. By 1880, he was serving as the county clerk of Merrick County. Sadly, death would visit them three times during the 1880s.

In May 1882, scarlet fever invaded the Holden home. On May 21, four-year-old Chloe Holden died. According to a newspaper article: “The family of Treasurer Holden is sorely afflicted. The remaining five children are all down with scarlet fever, and two, Josie and Hattie, are quite dangerously sick. It is to be devoutly hoped that this scourge may pass over without further loss of life.”

Hattie survived but six-year-old Josie did not, dying on May 27. A different newspaper article stated: “Thus twice within a week has death entered this household and carried from it two precious gems. Certainly it is a deep and sad affliction and calls forth unbounded sympathy.”

Mother Josie gave birth to a final child, Raymond, in February 1889. But he died a little over a year later. I don’t know the cause of his death.

Not far away is another white bronze marker for the Rev. Wesley Wilson and his twin sons, William and Edward. Nancy, who has transcribed some of Rev. Wilson’s journals, told me that the spelling of “Willson” on the monument was an error.

A native of Illinois, Wesley Wilson was the oldest son of Henry Wilson and Harriet Breckon Willson. Born in 1854, he was an ordained Methodist minister. He married Julia Ann Russell in 1880. According to the Nebraska Census, they had two children, Walter and Charles, by 1885. His parents had moved to Nebraska to be with them.

There were many traveling ministers in these pioneer days, evidenced by the “United Methodist Minister” seal on the Willson marker. He is listed as having served as a pastor at Loup City Methodist Church from 1882 to 1883, which is about an hour west of Central City. Nancy told me he was also one of the first pastor’s of Central City’s Fairview Methodist church.

Nancy also told me Wesley’s health was poor from the time he was a child. I found a short biography of him in a United Methodist annual conference book:

“He entered upon the year’s work with great zeal, laboring beyond his strength, riding and preaching while enduring great suffering. The last part of the year he was compelled to cease almost wholly from labor He continued to steadily decline, but did not give up the hope of recovery until very near the last. When convinced that he must die, he calmly submitted to the will of God, saying ‘It is alright.'”

Before Wesley died, Julia had given birth to twin sons William and Edward on Jan. 29, 1886. William died a few days later on Feb. 2 ,1886. Wesley died on April 2, 1886. Little Edward died on May 14, 1886.

A small news item remarked:

“Last week the remains of the late Rev. Wesley Willson and the two twins were taken up from the Henry Willson farm and taken to the cemetery at Central City were the graves could be appropriately decorated and marked as the sacred resting place of the loved ones.”

Julia married George Gagle (Nancy’s grandfather) a year later and they had at least five children together. George died in 1907. The 1920 Census lists Julia as a widow living with her son, William, and her daughter, Nellie (who was a teacher). Julia died in 1940 and is buried beside the monument shared by her first husband, Wesley, and their twin sons. George is buried with his first wife, Martha, in Burke Cemetery.

There are more stories to share from Central City Cemetery. I hope you’ll come back to read them in Part II.

My Nebraska posts usually focus on cemeteries established by communities. Today I’m going to share about my visit to St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery in Kronborg, Neb. The cemetery may be located beside a church, but it’s been at the heart of the community since it began.

Kronborg is a tiny settlement in Hamilton County, about three miles from the nearest town of Marquette.  St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery is also referred to as Kronborg Cemetery because the church and the community are so intertwined.

More than 300,000 Danes came to America in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a small fraction of the total European emigration. At the same time, that number was about 10 percent of the population of Denmark in 1900. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

When you wander through Kronborg Cemetery, you can see Danish words on several of the monuments. The Danish name for the church is actually St. Johannes Danske Lutherske Kirke. Until the 1960s, St. John’s pastors were all native to Denmark.

Thanks to information in the church’s National Register of Historic Places application, I learned more about Kronborg’s history. These documents are great for finding out not only architectural facts but the events that took place there.

The first Danes to arrive in the early 1870s established homesteads along Lincoln Creek, north of the present town of Hampton. Soon, Danish immigrants began settling in the Marquette and Kronborg area.

Kronborg didn’t actually get its name until 1909 when it was named after Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, Sjaeland, Denmark. Shakespeare enthusiasts know that Kronborg Castle served as Elsinore in the British playwright’s famous Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Elsinore is the anglicized name of the surrounding town of Helsingør.

Kronborg’s residents had a great admiration for famous Danish religious leader, poet and historian Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig. Born in 1783, Grundtvig was the son of a Lutheran pastor. He developed an educational philosophy that served as the foundation for Denmark’s folk schools and he favored more inclusive religious themes  (called Grundtvigianism).

While the community wanted to embrace all the aspects of their new home, it was clear they would never forget their Danish roots and wanted to keep them alive.

Kronborg’s first church was completely destroyed on May 27, 1899 when a tornado swept through the area. You might remember my previous post on Plainfield Cemetery in Bradshaw, Neb., a town destroyed by a tornado in June 1890.

St. John’s congregation quickly rebuilt. The present church, designed in the High Victorian Gothic style, and some of its outbuildings were completed in August 1900. Details include pointed arched windows and door openings, with decorative border trim along the eaves. Colored and stained glass windows are featured inside.

Unfortunately, workmen were making repairs to the roof of the church during our visit and we couldn’t go inside. My pictures of the outside were taken at more of a distance than I would have liked but I didn’t want to get hit by a stray shingle by getting too close.

One key group that formed at the church was the Ladies Aid Society, formed in 1883. It was headed by Jensine Bodholdt, wife of St. John’s first pastor, Knud Clausen Bodholdt, who served from 1882 to 1887. Her grave is surrounded by an iron railing with a stone noting her leadership.

As I mentioned earlier, many of the markers in St. John’s Cemetery have Danish inscriptions. You can see this in the Jensen family marker.

Lauritz Jensen became an American citizen in 1872, having come from Denmark to Wisconsin. He married Maren “Minnie” the same year. She also came from Denmark and became a citizen in 1867. They had their first two children, Lauritz Jr. and Tekla, in Wisconsin before moving to Nebraska.

Also, on either side of it, are the Danish equivalents of “mother” and “father” (“moder” and “fader”).

You can also see the names of the Danish towns where many of Kronborg’s residents were originally born on their markers. An example of this is the Eriksen family.

Morten Eriksen was born in 1839 in Bjorup, Denmark. He married Maren Kirstine Born in the 1860s. She was from Falster, Denmark, a town only 10 miles away. They didn’t emigrate to America until 1882. By that time, they already had three children.

Morten died in 1917 and Maren went to live with her daughter, Emma, who lived with her husband in Omaha and had four children. Maren died in Omaha in 1921 but is buried at St. John’s with Morten. Son Carl is also buried there.

Upon first glance, the Larsen monument has some of the motifs you’d see in an older marker. The cross within the crown above the gates of Heaven is a common one, as is the log on top (a life cut short). But if you look closer, the condition would indicate it is fairly recent. My thought is that the original may have been damaged and they had a replacement made.

Born in 1827 in Guldager, Denmark, Anders Christian Larsen and his wife, Dorothe Kirstine Larsen, didn’t emigrate to America until 1879. Their four children had already been born.

The inscription on the front of the monument is in Danish so I couldn’t make out what it said. I tried Google translate but some of the words didn’t translate well. I welcome anyone who knows Danish to to share their thoughts with me about it.

Amid the older Danish inscripted monuments were also many modern ones, sharing the affiliations and pursuits of those they represent.

Raymond Steven Kelso was a lifelong Navy man. According to his obituary, he entered the U.S. Navy in December 1941. He served in the Pacific Theater during World War II and also served in Korea and Vietnam. He retired from the military in 1968.

It’s on the back of his marker that you can see his Navy ties. I don’t know the name of this ship. But by going on Ancestry.com, I found out he did serve on the U.S.S. Chandeleur during World War II, a seaplane tender.

The marker for Patty Jo “Pat” Williamsen caught my eye as we were leaving because of the unique picture on her marker. I did not get a very good picture of it, but you can see she is sitting with two turkeys she bagged while hunting. Her obituary shared that fishing, hunting and kayaking were her hobbies.

Kronborg was not on my original itinerary so we had to make some extra time to get there and return to our original route. But the effort to visit was well worth it. This small Danish enclave has a rich history that is far from over, as its church and cemetery clearly show.