In 1860 Jehu Hodgson and wife had a tract of land surveyed and platted for cemetery purposes, James B. Ingersoll and assistants doing the work. This tract as finally platted consisted of eighty burial lots, each twelve by forty feet in size, ample for eight graves. The tract was deeded in trust to the County Commissioners of Wabaunsee County, and their successors in office, for a free cemetery. Eight conditions were named; the first provided that the cemetery should be under the care of a superintendent who might be appointed by the county commissioners, or by friends of the deceased.
A record of burials was kept by Jehu Hodgson previous to the time he entered the army, in June ,1864. October 30, 1864, Mrs. Hodgson began keeping the record, but continued it only a short time, as she moved to Americus, Lyon county, the next spring. No record of burials was kept from that time until 1866, when a returned soldier – Stephen J. Spear – procured the original list from Mrs. Hodgson, had it copied into a record book, and from that time kept an accurate list of interments until his successor was appointed in 1873.
In 1867 a movement was started for the improvement of the cemetery. A petition asking for subscriptions to place a substantial board fence around the cemetery was circulated, and the necessary means were procured. J. Q. and M. E. Cowee, who owned a small sawmill in the timber, sawed the lumber needed for this purpose at a price fifty cents a hundred less than their regular price for such work. This material was furnished by the spring of 1868 and the fence was immediately built.
In the spring of 1876 stone corners for the four corners of each of the eighty lots were quarried, hauled and set in place of the wooden corners originally used. The northwest corner stones were then numbered from one to eighty for permanent identification. A new fence was built at this time.
It became evident as the years passed by that a larger cemetery was needed, and between 1888 and 1891 a corporation was organized and chartered under the laws of the state. A board of trustees was elected, and they purchased a tract of land from F. L. Hodgson adjoining the original cemetery on the south and east. This new cemetery was surveyed into lots, driveways and alleys, and the whole tract inclosed with a woven-wire fence strung on hedge posts. In the summer of 1892 F. L. Hodgson was appointed superintendent of the original cemetery and superintendent by proxy by the trustees of the new cemetery. No salary attaches to the position, still the place is nicely cared for. A fund was donated for the future improvement of the cemetery, and C. L. Davis was chosen treasurer.
Following are the names of some of those buried in this cemetery: Wm. Probasco, killed by lightning, July 25, 1858. Sarah Kester, wife of John Kester, died October 26, 1858. Lois T. Spear, wife of Nathaniel S. Spear, died November 15, 1858, aged 58 years, 1 month, and 4 days. Anna Harvey, wife of Henry Harvey, sr., died July 8, 1858. Elizabeth Easter, daughter of Henry Easter, died September 8, 1860. Hannah McCoy, wife of John McCoy, died April 9, 1862. George Brain, died August 5, 1863. Jehu Hodgson, died October 30, 1864, aged about 36 years. Andrew W. Harris, died July 30, 1865, aged 23 years. Andrew Johnson, died May 7, 1867, aged about 70 years. Merrill E. Cowee, died March 21, 1872. Pluma C. Woods, died February 25, 1873, aged 18 years. John Kester, died August 5, 1872. Morris Walton, died September 27, 1872, aged about 58 years. Cyrus P. Easter, died August 17, 1874, aged 21 years. Elva Walton, wife of A. C. Walton, died November 21, 1878. Riley R. Woods, died June 8, 1886, aged about 35 years. Charlotte Johnson, widow of Andrew Johnson, died March 6, 1887, aged about 81 years. Joanna Hodgson, wife of Allen Hodgson, died February 12, 1888. John Garinger, died February 16, 1888. Isaiah Harris, died September 25, 1890, aged 71 years. James E. Johnson, died December 31, 1890, aged 82 years. Abigail Walton, died January 22, 1892, aged about 77 years. Dency R. Woods, died February 1, 1893, aged about 68 years. Samuel Woods, died October 10, 1893, aged 70 years. Allen Hodgson, died July 26, 1894. Henry Easter, died January 11, 1896. Charlotte Garinger, died March 11, 1899. David Carter, died November 27, 1899. Sarah Easter, died August 23, 1904. Caroline Walton, died May 8, 1905, Joseph Fields, died February 19, 1907. William Carter, died February 25, 1908. Emeline Barlow, died August 15, 1908, aged 68 years. Eli Trueblood, died January 3, 1909. Samuel B. Easter, died October 31, 1910, aged 66 years. John N. Barlow, died November 10, 1912, aged 72 years.
With the burial of John N. Barlow there were just 400 interments in the Harveyville cemetery. Some of the early settlers have moved away, and it has not been possible to secure data regarding all of them.
Henry Harvey, sr., went to Ohio in 1860, and died there between 1862 and 1865.
John McCoy went to Leavenworth and died there.
George M. Harvey and family and Samuel B. Harvey, in 1867, went to a farm on the Cottonwood river, about three miles southwest of Emporia. George Harvey died there in the fall of 1869, and his widow, Abigail Harvey, died a few years later.
Nathaniel S. Spear moved to Burlington, Coffey county, Kansas, and died there March 22, 1876.
James L. Thomson died in the spring of 1882, and is buried on his farm in a family burial lot.
Samuel B. Harvey died at Emporia March 13, 1904.
Edward B. Murrell and family moved to Neodesha, Kan., where he died in September, 1905.
Of the sixty-three persons living in the vicinity of the Dragoon creek or Harvey settlement prior to September 21, 1857, there were living in May, 1914, the following: Mrs. Isaiah Harris, Harveyville; Joseph Johnson, on a farm near his original preemption, Harveyville; Mrs. Mary A. [Hodgson] Thomas, Emporia; Mr. and Mrs. J. Q. Cowee, on the farm they pre-empted; Emma [Brain] Chase, El Dorado; Samuel C. Harvey, Emporia, grandson of Henry Harvey; Mrs. Mary J. [Harris] Murrell, Neodesha; Mrs. Martha N. [Harris] Glasscock, San Bernardino, Calif.; Mrs. Margaret A. [Harris] Carter, Harveyville; James Harris, Topeka, sons and daughters of Isaiah Harris; Mrs. Mary E. [Hodgson] Perkins, Topeka, and Ira Hodgson, Doxey, Okla., daughter and son of Allen Hodgson; John and Charles Hodgson, Plaza, Wash., sons of Jehu Hodgson; Matt Thomson, Henderson, Ark., son of James L. Thomson; Mrs. Emeline [Woods] Crumb, near Harveyville, and Geo. A. Woods in California, daughter and son of Samuel Woods. Stephen J. Spear, Topeka, Kan.
