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Cemeteries in Brookfield Rose Hill In August of 1862, the Third Iowa Infantry camped on the southeast part of town. Several men died that winter from pneumonia and were buried in that area. In 1867 the town council resolved to have the bodies removed and re-interred in the Public Cemetery, now known as Rose Hill Cemetery. A mass grave was used in the south part of the original cemetery in the 1880’s. There are about 100 known Civil War Veterans buried there. A monument to the unknown dead of the Civil War was erected in 1888. A list of the Civil War burials can he found in the library. Street signs were installed and blocks are designated. The first sexton was Richard Packham, an Englishman who turned out on Sunday with a high silk hat. Following Mr. Packham was Adam Kettering, Homer Ross, George Coram, Francis Moseley, Al Chappel, Rich Williams and Kermit Curry who is the present sexton.
Park Lawn Memory Gardens Park Lawn Memory Gardens Cemetery was established in 1955 west of Brookfield on Highway 36. It has three gardens, the Apostles, the Masonic Garden and the Garden of the Cross which features a lighted cross. The first burial was Elmer L. Foltz, a Brookfield resident, who was killed by a train and interred Jan. 25, 1956. The present owners are Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence lzard of Brookfield. Saint Michael's The railroad crew laying out the Hannibal-St. Joseph Railroad were mostly of the Catholic faith and the land for St. Michael’s Cemetery was donated by Michael McGowan. He was among the first to he buried there. When the town of Thayer was ordered vacated by the Linn County Court, the two acre cemetery there was all but abandoned by 1860, as the railroad located their shops in Brookfield. Many of the graves were removed to St. Michael’s. A small burial ground at the Sisters of St. Joseph Convent grounds were also removed to St. Michael’s. |