OLD OAK HILL CEMETERY
Lansing Township, Allamakee co. Iowa

Soldier burials & historical information

~compiled by S.Ferrall for Allamakee co. IAGenWeb

Soldier burials w/notes

1877
In 1877, a Decoration Day procession to the old cemetery decorated the graves of Thomas McGarrity, Jacob Beisel, Geo. Nye and Thomas Healy. "There are two or three other soldiers buried in the old cemetery but their graves could not be identifed." ~North Iowa Journal, Wednesday, May 30, 1877; pg 3

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1882
.. the following graves were decorated in the old cemetery:
Jacob Beisel, Co. B, 12th Iowa
Henry Strong, Co. B, 27th Iowa
D.C. Mather, regiment unknown
Geo. F. Nye, Co. B, 12th Iowa
Thos. McGarrity, 16th Regulars
T.F. Healy, Confederate service
James Lynch, U.S. Navy
Wm. Dubay, Co. B, 27th Iowa

The graves of Hemenway, Beisel, Nye, Dubay, Strong, Mather and Lynch are without tombstones, and by request of the veterans who did the decorating we call attention to the fact that the Government is willing and anxious to erect tasty monuments over the graves of its defenders, when notified that such is the wish of relatives and friends.
~Lansing Journal, May 31, 1882; pg 4 (extracted from full text)

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1894
A list of soldiers buried in the Old Cemetery published in the Allamakee Journal, 6/6/1894 included the following, several of whom in 1941 appeared as Oak Hill cemetery burials.

Elias Swan, Co. E, 132nd N.Y Inf.

Note: Elias Andrew Swan, 2/14/1818-7/15/1888, has a gravestone in Oak Hill but his remains likely remain in Old Oak Hill

H. Strong, Co. B, 27th Iowa Inf.

Henry Horace Strong, 1837-01/29/1864, has a gravestone in Oak Hill. Unknown if his remains were actually moved from Old Oak Hill

Fredrick Schulz, Co. B, 27th Ia. Inf.

Note: 1809-1882, Woodmansee shows in Old Oak Hill. Not other information found.

D.H. Volkert, Co. B., 12th Iowa Inf.

Note: Daniel H. Volkert, 1815-1864

F. Van Amberg, Co. G, 1st IA Cav.

Note: James Frank Van Emberg, 1827-1892. He has a gravestone in Oak Hill. Unknown if his remains were actually moved from Old Oak Hill

Geo. F. Nye, Co. B, 12th Iowa

Note: George F. Nye died 11/16/1863

William Dubay, Co. B, 27th Iowa

D.H. Wolcott, Co. B, 12th Iowa

Note: D.H. Wolcott died 6/30/1865 at Taladega, Alabama

James Lynch, U.S. Navy

Jacob Biesel, Co. B, 12th Iowa

Note: He died 6/25/1865. Now has a military stone in Oak Hill

Thomas McGarrity, 16th U.S.

James Melvin, Co. E, 2nd Minn. Inf

Squire Mather, Co. I, 9th Iowa Inf.

Note: Mather has a cenotaph in the Postville cemetery w/inscripton "A soldier in Co I, 9th Iowa Vol Infantry, died and buried at Lansing, Iowa 9/26/1863, aged 24 y 8m 2d" He also has a gravestone in Oak Hill.

Thomas F. Healy, Confederate States of America

Note: Died 1879. His remains were removed from Old Oak Hill, likely after his wife died in 1894, and reburied in Gethsemane with her and their son.

1893

Those who visited the old cemetery on Tuesday were shocked at the condition in which it was found. The fece has fallen down, graves are unmarked and weeds and grass almost hide from view the resting places of the dead. Many of the graves are sunken, and need attention at once.

Cattle roam through the yard at will, destroying what little there remains to destroy. As this is a free burying ground, the land having been donated by Mr. John Haney, we suggest that an effort be made by our citizens and those having loved ones buried there to at least fence the grounds and prevent them being totally destroyed. Money might easily be raised the purpose of building a fence there.

~Lansing Mirror, Friday, June 2, 1893; pg 5

1926

George W. Albert is engaged in the laudable work of cleaning up the old cemetery and expects to have it in presentable shape by Decoration Day. It had grown into a perfect wilderness, but he is having all the under-brush, vines and small trees cut and grubbed out and the refuse will be burned so that the grass will have a chance to grow again.

Mr. Albert wishes all having graves there to clean up and mark them at once so that the place may no longer be the eyesore that it has been for years. He says there are possibly a hundred graves there, among them several old soldiers.

~Allamakee Journal, Wednesday, April 21, 1926; pg 5

1976

Restoration [of the old cemetery] is Lansing's official heritage project for the Bicentennial. It is thought that from 500 to 600 persons are interred in the Old Lansing Cemetery.

~The Allamakee Journal & Lansing Mirror, September 15, 1976, page 1

1990 - Lansing's Forgotten Cemetery

Les Steiber was a long-time advocate for the Old Oak Hill cemetery and lead a major clean-up of the cemetery in the 1970's.

Extracted from a longer news article titled "Lansings Forgotten Cemetery" in The Allamakee Journal, May 30, 1990 (the full article is on pages 1 & 16; the extracted portion appears on page 16) is the following:

Most upsetting to Steiber is the fact that 14 known Civil War veterans are buried on the site. Many years ago their tombstones were moved to the new Oakhill Cemetery, leaving the bodies in unmarked graves at the old cemetery site, Steiber said.

According to his research, those veterans are:
E.W. Schulze
J. Geo. Bliss
Wm. Dubay
Jos. Melvin
Elias Swan
J.B. Van Emberg
Job Blanghard
H. Strong
James Parker
J.B. Nye
Squire Mather
James Lynch
Albert E. Lytle
D.H. Walgott

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Leslie Joseph Steiber died 3/14/1998. He's buried in Oak Hill cemetery with his 1st wife Ethel (Sandry) Steiber.
Myrna (Schultze) Donohue Steiber, Les' 2nd wife, was at one time the president of the Allamakee County Historical Society. Myrna died in 1992.