Stories of Relocated Cemeteries in the State of Missouri
Missouri
On July 22, 1975, The Mexico Ledger (Mexico, Missouri, p. 3) published a list of cemeteries in Paris, Missouri—along with names of the interred—to be relocated due to the construction of Cannon Dam and the creation of the lake.
Set plainly in print, this list reads less like a report and more like a record of many small histories, each carried from one resting place to another.
• Scobee Cemetery — All graves to be relocated to Walnut Grove Cemetery, Paris.
• Whelan Cemetery — 14 graves of unknown persons, with no name markers, to be transferred to Stoutsville Cemetery.
• Soldier Cemetery — One unknown Union Civil War soldier to be transferred to New Oakland Cemetery.
• James Bryant Cemetery — James Bryant, Sarah F. Bryant, and Robert George to be moved to Florida Cemetery.
• Moyer Cemetery — John Moyer, Mary E. Moyer, and an infant to be moved to New Oakland Cemetery, northwest of the dam site in Ralls County.
• Lawson Cemetery — Ten family members to be moved to Stoutsville Cemetery.
• Bybee Cemetery — Mary A. Bybee and William Bybee to be moved to Florida Cemetery.
• Damrell–Violette Cemetery — 17 individuals to be moved to Florida Cemetery.
• Pollard Cemetery — 12 graves to be moved to Florida Cemetery.
• Lillis Cemetery — One unknown burial to be transferred to Stoutsville Cemetery.
• Stribling Cemetery — 24 graves to be moved to Stoutsville Cemetery.
• Yeakey Cemetery — 11 burials to be moved to Florida Cemetery.
• West of Heavenridge — 11 unknown graves to be relocated to Florida Cemetery.
• Stetson Cemetery — Susan F. Stetson, Harvey M. Stetson, and eight unknown graves to be moved to Paris.
• Calhoun Cemetery — William A. Long, Robert E. Long, and John Moody to be moved to Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
• Dooley Cemetery — Three unknown graves (one with a marker base, stone missing) to be moved to Stoutsville Cemetery.
• Willis Cemetery — More than 25 individuals to be reinterred at Walnut Grove Cemetery.
• Poage–Powers Cemetery — Approximately 53 graves to be relocated to South Fork Cemetery, except for John Martin, who, at the request of his grandchildren, was to be moved to Pleasant Hill near the Lillie Bright Martin monument.
• Lefevre Cemetery — Fifteen fieldstone-marked graves, names unknown, to be moved to New Oakland Cemetery.
• Barlow Cemetery — George B. Rouse and Elizabeth Zimmerman Rouse to be moved to New Oakland Cemetery.
• Oakland Church Cemetery — Some remains to be moved to Lick Creek Cemetery (Perry), St. Jude’s Cemetery (Monroe City), Olivet Cemetery (Hannibal), Walnut Grove Cemetery (Paris), and Ruby Joys Thomas to St. Paul Cemetery.
• Oakland Cemetery — Many to be moved to New Oakland Church Cemetery, northwest of the present location.
On August 13, 1922, The Kansas City Star of Kansas City, Missouri, reported that as many as 1,500 bodies were to be removed from the Saints Peter and Paul Burial Grounds following All Souls Day of that year. The cemetery, situated at 24th and 25th Streets and Brooklyn Avenue, served the congregation of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, located at 9th and McGee Streets.
At the time of its establishment in 1877, the burial ground lay beyond the city limits, in an area not yet reached by streetcar lines. Funeral processions, therefore, made their way on foot from the church to the cemetery—a solemn journey marking each final farewell.
In later years, several factors led to the decision to abandon the grounds. Increased taxation, together with a parish no longer sufficient in number to maintain the cemetery, made its continued operation impractical. In addition, state law required that burial grounds be closed once interments could no longer be accommodated.
Records pertaining to priests of the former Saints Peter and Paul Church are preserved at Mount Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery in Kansas City.