McCleland Family Cemetery - burial place of James
A. McCleland & Juliet G. (Oliphant) McCleland
~compiled by Nancy English Bleil, great-great
granddaughter of James A. & Juliet G. McClelland,
August 2016
(Note: the comments in parentheses are by Nancy English
Bleil)
April 20, 1851 - death of James A. McCleland
January 28, 1855 - death of Juliet G. (Oliphant)
McCleland
They are buried in the McCleland Cemetery, a private
family cemetery on the eighty acres that James purchased
on January 1, 1846.
The gravestones prior to
restoration. Left: James Right: Juliet
©2016 Julia Coughlin
During the 1930’s, the Works Progress Administration
(WPA) workers compiled an Iowa Graves Survey. Notes
written by the WPA worker indicate the graves were in a
field near the road on the Oscar Pufahl farm in
Garnavillo twp., section 33.
“The book Garnavillo, Iowa, Gem of The Prairie, by
Roggman, 1988 gives the cemetery location: ‘....on a
farm presently owned by Valmah Brandt. The land was for
many years known as the Pufahl Farm.’ and that it is
approximately two blocks west of Hwy 52, with the large
trees marking the cemetery ‘readily seen from the
road.’ Roggman also indicates that stones form a
wall around the cemetery.” (transcription by S.
Ferrall in the General History of the cemetery)
In 1957 Marion Nancy English of Chillicothe, Ohio (James
and Juliet’s great-granddaughter) wrote:
“I found a letter today written to my grandmother
Quigley (Anna Woodbridge McClelland Quigley was one of
James and Juliet’s daughters) from a kind neighbor
friend of her mothers telling her about the sudden death
(January 28, 1855) and burial of Great-Grandmother Juliet
McCleland. What I would think was pneumonia. It is a
beautiful letter and beautifully written. Only one
daughter could attend the funeral.” (Marion does not
name the daughter.)
“When the farm was later sold, my grandmother went
there and had a stone wall built around these graves with
an iron fence on top of it.” (This wall is most
likely what is referenced in the1988 book, Garnavillo,
Iowa, Gem of The Prairie.) “Roggman also indicates
that stones form a wall around the cemetery.”
(Marion’s grandmother Anna Woodbridge McClelland
married George Washington Quigley in Clayton County, Iowa
on October 25, 1854. After the wedding, they traveled to
Amherst, Ohio to George’s family home to make their
home.)
Marion’s letter continues:
“The owner of the farm at that time was a great big
kindly man named John C. Bierbaum. Both Unk (Robert Burns
Quigley - born in 1871) and Mom (Emily Elizabeth Quigley-
born in 1865) as young kids accompanied their mother
(Anna) to visit the spot after the wall and fence were in
place. Both remembered well the great kindness of the big
man. (John C. Bierbaum)
This biography of Bierbaum from an 1882 book about
Clayton County notes:
“John C. Bierbaum, farmer, section 33, Garnavillo
Township, was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1828. He left
his native country for America in 1845, and located in
the State of Ohio, where he resided until 1846, when he
became a resident of Clayton County. (source: History
of Clayton County, Iowa. Chicago: Inter-State
Publishing Co., 1882, p. 803 - transcribed by Sally
Scarff and Marlene Chaney) (Note: the 1882 bio states he
purchased the 80 acres from McClelland in Oct. 1851, but
the land records (below) have a date in Mar. 1862, it's
possible there was another transaction of some sort
during that decade)
The land records at the Clayton County Recorder’s
office show that on March 29, 1862* (see Note in above
paragraph), James and Elizabeth McClelland Davis sold the
eighty acres in Section 33 to John Bierbaum. He also
purchased the forty acres in Section 27.
(source: Book T, Page 494, 27-93-3, 33-93-3)
When James and Elizabeth McClelland Davis sold the land
in Section 33 where the McCleland Cemetery is located,
they made sure that the gravesite of James A McClelland
was protected and accessible. It is curious that no
mention is made of Juliet’s gravesite.
The following selections from the official document
describe the land transfer:
“Know all Men by these Presents that James
Davis and Elizabeth his wife of Clayton County and
State of Iowa in consideration of the sum of Two
Thousand Six Hundred Dollars in hand paid by John
Christopher Bierbaum of the County and State
aforesaid, do herby sell and convey in to said Johan
Christopher Bierbaum and to his heirs and assigns the
following described premises…of Section
twenty–seven…and of Section
thirty–three… Reserving from the last
described piece (Section thirty-three), one eighth of
an acre of land in square form, the headstone of the
grave of James A. McClelland being the center,
together with right of agress and egress to and from
the same at all times….”
Signed 20th day of March 1862
James Davis Elizabeth Davis
Filed for record June 26, 1862
(source = Book T, Page 494, 27-93- 3, 33-93-3)
2016 - The McCleland
Cemetery – Commentary
In March 2016, I contacted June Wolter, Assistant
Librarian at the Garnavillo Public Library and inquired
if there was a McCleland Cemetery. She suggested that I
contact Julia Coughlin who lives next to the cemetery.
Julia described how over the years the cemetery had gone
into disrepair – the tombstones had fallen over, the
wall had begun to crumble and the tree roots were causing
the earth to buckle.
Remnants of the stone wall surrounding the cemetery
©2016 Julia Coughlin
Remnants of the stone wall surrounding the cemetery
©2016 Julia Coughlin
Julia arranged for the tombstones to be set upright in
concrete.
James A McCleland is visible on his tombstone but much of
the rest of the inscription has worn away. I calculated
his birth year (1790) from his 1851 application for a
Bounty Land Warrant. The application states that he was
sixty-years old on February 4, 1851. Juliet recorded his
date of death (April 20, 1851) at the Office of the
District Court in Garnavillo on May 3, 1851. (source: McClelland
documents)
Juliet’s tombstone is not as worn. It reads:
JULIET Wife of James A. McCleland.
DIED Jan. 28, 1855. Aged 56 Y
Thus, she was born in 1799.
Myra Voss of the Clayton County Pioneer Cemetery
Commission said that they had installed the McCleland
Cemetery sign in about 2004.
Julia sent me photos of the remnants of the stone wall
that Anna Woodbridge Quigley had had built sometime after
her mother’s death in 1855. She also sent photos of
the tombstones; the large tree; and, most impressive of
all, the tall entry gate with the name McCleland spelled
out.
Julia Coughlin runs a Bed and Breakfast – The Red
Brick Inn in Garnavillo, Iowa.
|
