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A brief history of Sixteen cemetery
Extracted from a story written by Burgette Cahoon Hart (undated)High on a hill in NE Iowa sits a little country cemetery. It is bounded on the east by a dusty gravel road and sheltered on the north by a tall row of white pine trees. Just west of the cemetery the land slopes steeply down to the rippling waters of Yellow River, a tributary of the Mississippi. It was here, along the wooded banks and near the limestone cliffs overlooking this little river, that three generations of Cahoons lived and died. The house where my father lived in his youth is no longer there -- it burned down in 1920. The sawmill that was the cause of Uncle Len's death is also gone. So is the grist mill -- it was carried away in the Flood of 1916. Only a few crumpled foundations, all camouflaged with undergrowth and weeds, remain of the early valley settlement, but the cemetery, well-maintained by the families of those who are buried there, still overlooks the placidly flowing river.
The first man to settle this river valley was not a Cahoon. The valley was part of a government grant of over 1000 acres that was awarded to a Mr. Sutton. He, with the help of two other men named Young and McGoon, enlisted the aid of a friendly tribe of local Indians (Dad thought McGoon was married to one), and they cleared the bottomland of timber and built the first settlement, which later was to be named Buckland.
The Buckland blacksmith, John Bray, had a young daughter with consumption (tuberculosis). When she was able, and the weather was nice, she would walk to the top of the hill overlooking the river from the east. Here, in the shade of a tall maple tree, she would sit and read. As her condition grew worse, she told her father she would like to be buried under the tree. She died soon after Joseph and Leonard had acquired the land – Dad thought this to be in the spring or summer of 1877 . When Leonard and Joseph learned of her request, they not only granted permission for her burial on their property, but they also deeded several acres of the surrounding land on the hill to Linton Township with the stipulation that it should become a public cemetery. Since there were no fences at that time to keep livestock and other animals out, the blacksmith welded an iron grill enclosure and erected it around his daughter's grave. The maple is gone today, but part of the iron fence still remains.
The second grave in the "Cahoon Cemetery," as it was known for over half a century, was Joseph Titus' little son. The inscription on the tombstone reads:
"Elbert C., son of J.M. and E.P. Titus
Oct. 22, 1877, aged 10 months"
I believe the third grave may have been young Jim (Wentzel) Jermier, my Grandmother Van Cura's half-brother. If he had a marker, it was probably wood, which disintegrated with the years. He died of typhoid fever in October of 1879.
This peaceful little rural cemetery on the flat area of the hill overlooking the river valley is now fenced and covered with grass. Families have planted lilacs, peonies and other perennials. Its more modern name is the "Sixteen Cemetery" because it lies in Section l6 of Linton Township in Allamakee County. However, many of the old-timers still refer to it as the “Cahoon Cemetery". It is the last resting place for my Grandma Cahoon, Aunt Pearl, Aunt Sue, Aunt May, Uncle Len, and many of my cousins. The Cahoon family (including my father and brothers and Aunt Pearl and her children) cared for it for over 70 years. At one time Dad kept a diagram or schematic of the gravesites, and up until the time that Dad became too ill to handle it, the families of anyone who wished to be interred there usually checked with Dad. This was more of a courtesy than a requirement, because the cemetery was, and still is, public, with free plots to those who lived in the township.
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~Transcription of the history by Burgette Cahoon Hart was contributed by Mike Peterson
~Photo taken by S. Ferrall~*~*~
