This week, I’m going to spend some time sharing the lovely white bronze (zinc) monuments at Oak Hill Cemetery.
One of the reasons I always looked forward to our trips to Iowa was that I knew we’d encounter at least a few white bronze monuments/markers. Since the Western White Bronze Company had a factory in Des Moines, there are tons of their markers scattered throughout the state. I don’t see them that often here in the South.
At OHC, white bronze monuments come in all shapes and sizes. But the largest one I could find was for the Bever family. There is one large monument for to represent all the Bevers, with individual markers for family members made of stone and white bronze. Find a Grave shows there are 23 Bever memorials listed at OHC.
The Bever Family
If you’re driving around Cedar Rapids, you can still find the name “Bever” on a handful of streets. There’s a Bever Woods historic district and a Bever Park. At one time in the early 1900s, there was even a Bever Park Zoo.
Born in 1808 in Ohio, Sampson Cicero Bever was already a wealthy man when he and his wife, Mary, moved with their family to Cedar Rapids in 1852. He opened the city’s first bank and was involved in bringing the first railroad to Cedar Rapids.
At some point, Sampson had the remains of his parents John Bever and Euphemia “Effie” Imbrie Bever Flack moved from Ohio to Cedar Rapids. John Bever died young at 32 in 1811. Effie remarried to Frances Flack in 1815 and died in 1869.
Sampson and Mary had a large family over the years. At least, Mary and Mirtilla, died in their teens in 1860. Their mother, Mary, died in 1885 at age 72. Five of her adult children were still living at the time.
When Sampson died in 1892 at age 84, the local newspaper published a lengthy obituary about him that included this tribute:
Mr. Bever was a man of exceptional if not extraordinary business sagacity and acumen. His judgment seemed to be unerring and every business enterprise that enlisted his personal co-operation, attention and encouragement succeeded. In this long career of continuous commercial and financial success he acquired vast wealth and was rated as a millionaire. He was intimately known by all the old settlers of central and eastern Iowa, many of whom have had business transactions with him for the past forty years. Financially he was one of the most important and potential factors in the city.
Bever Park was established in 1893 on wooded land owned by the Bever family to honor Sampson Bever.
“Whisky Killed Him”
Henry Bever was one of Sampson and Mary’s sons. I did not photograph all of the Bever markers but I did get a photo of his. It is made of stone, not white bronze.
Born in 1846, Henry lived at home with his parents until he served in the 46th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Co. E, during the Civil War. He came home and worked as a dry good merchant for a time, then as a coal dealer, and later in his father’s bank.
Henry died at the age of 36 on Christmas Day 1882, which must have been quite a blow to the family. I found a few brief death notices but this one from the Dec. 29, 1882 Muscatine (Iowa) Weekly Journal got my attention.
This kind of thing always gets to me because frankly, it wasn’t necessary. No other funeral notice about Henry Bever said anything about whiskey. Even he did have a problem with alcohol, printing it in the newspaper did nothing but bring his family pain. Part of me wonders if someone at the Muscatine Weekly Journal had a beef with the Bever family to include it.
When a Husband Dies
I was only partially successful at solving the mystery behind the Downing white bronze marker. But it’s rather typical of the kind of thing that may happen when a women loses her husband at a fairly young age.
Born in Ireland around 1831, Margaret Cooper married Robert Downing in 1854. I don’t know if they wed in America or in Ireland. They had at least four children together.
By 1870, Robert was out of the picture. There is no record of his burial at OHC. Margaret and the children (Anna, Caroline, Addah, and Emma) were living in Grinnell, Iowa. That’s about 80 miles west of Cedar Rapids.
On June 18, 1873, Anna died at age 18. I don’t know her cause of death. On June 1, 1878, Addah died at age 16. Again, I don’t know the cause of death. They were both buried at OHC.
According to the 1885 Iowa Census, Margaret and youngest daughter Emma were still living in Grinnell. Daughter Carrie had married a Mr. Smyth and moved to Tacoma, Wash. Margaret and Emma would move there sometime before 1892. Emma would marry a Mr. Merritt. Eventually, Margaret moved in with Carrie and her family.
Margaret died on March 30, 1909 in Tacoma. Her body was taken back to Cedar Rapids for burial with Anna and Addah at OHC. I am wondering if the monument for all three of them was made when she died because white bronze markers were not being made in Des Moines until 1886. The factory closed around 1908 so it was likely one of the last ones made.
Died from a Cut on His Knee
I couldn’t find out a great deal about the Stein family but what I did discover made me sad.
German immigrant John Stein married Irish native Sarah Jane Johnson at some point before settling in Pennsylvania. The couple would have eight children together, eventually moving to Cedar Rapids.
Born in 1861, William Robert Stein was their fourth child. He died on March 15, 1885 at age 23. I was curious to know how he died so young and found the following obituary (below). A cut evidently turned septic and it caused his death. Something that could have been easily treated today with antibiotics, mostly likely.
He was buried at OHC with a large white bronze monument.
Sarah Jane, his mother, died on Dec. 5, 1905 at age 78. Her death certificate notes that she died from “a broken leg and shock”. Her obituary had no further details. William’s father, John, died four years later on May 27, 1909 at age 82. Sarah Jane and John are buried in the plot with William but don’t have markers.
Mystery of the Mills
The white bronze marker for Marie Mills Dickerson, Bessie Mills, and Jimmie Mills left me with more questions than answers.
James “Jimmie” Mills, born sometime in March 1887, and Bessie Mills, born in 1888, were the children of Robert D. Mills and Cornelia “Cora” Dickinson (or Dickerson). Finding information on them was tricky because Cora’s last name was spelled different ways. But I did learn the two were married in Cedar Rapids in 1883.
Jimmie died on Jan. 4, 1890 and Bessie died on Jan. 12. 1890, both from “diphtheritic croup” or rather, diphtheria.
On the other side of the marker is a plate for Marie Mills Dickerson, wife of G.A. Dickerson. Born in 1842, Marie died of “anasarca dropsy” which is another term for edema. According to burial records, she had suffered from it for 8 years. Interesting to note is that her marker says she died on April 5, 1890 but death records indicate it was actually April 5, 1889. She was 47.
I could only find one mention of a G.A. Dickerson in the newspapers and it was that he had a watch repair business in Cedar Rapids. That was it. I have no record of his burial at OHC or elsewhere. My guess is that he was Cora’s brother, and the uncle of little Jimmie and Bessie.
Fatal Accident
Then you find one of those stories that just break your heart.
Born around 1845 in Maryland, John J. Mathias enlisted in the Union Army. He was assigned to the Third Maryland Volunteer Infantry, Company E, which was known as the Potomac Home Brigade. He married Nannie “Nancy” Stone (also of Maryland) in Ogle, Illinois in 1869. By 1860, they were living in Lisbon, Iowa with their infant son, John. That’s about 19 miles from Cedar Rapids.
By the 1880s, the Mathias family had moved to Cedar Rapids and John had gotten a job working in the fertilizer department of a packing house. On Feb. 17, 1887, John was killed in an accident that is detailed in the article below.
Nancy was left with their son, John, to fend for herself. A note published in the local newspaper a few days later expressed her thanks. This was a common practice back then. It sounds like John’s employer may have assisted her and John financially. They may have even provided his white bronze marker.
Sadly, Nancy died almost a year to the day of her husband’s death. There was no newspaper notice I could find but death records note she died on Feb. 17, 1888 of “disease of the liver and bowels”. Perhaps she also died of a broken heart.
I could not find any trace of John W. Mathias, John and Nancy’s son, after she died. He would have been around 18 at the time, so hopefully he managed alright on his own. There is no record of him being buried at OHC.
I’ll wrap things up next week in Part IV.