Sadness

Thirty miles north of Canton, Missouri, is the town of Keokuk, Iowa.  The Keokuk National Cemetery is located on J street in Keokuk, where we went to see the grave of Donna's great-grandfather, Thomas.

Thousands of Civil War soldiers of both sides, as well as civilians injured in the fighting were transported on the Mississippi River to Keokuk, the location of the Estes Home, which was turned into a hospital.  The home is gone, but the location, on Fifth and Main, is marked by a plaque.

The cornerstone of the house was saved and placed in a location of honor at the National Cemetery.

As so many people, both combatants and civilians died at the hospital, if became necessary to find a place to bury them.  Pressure on the federal government resulted in the acquisition of land near Keokuk and began a national crusade to provide burial plots for veterans.  Keokuk is one to the original 12 national cemeteries provided for by the US Government, and currently serves as the final resting place for some 4000 veterans.

The National Cemetery is located immediately adjacent to a civilian cemetery named Oakland Cemetery, which contains hundreds of graves from the 19th century, as well as later graves.  Oddly, the  cemetery appears to have been neglected, as monuments are askew, and ornate burial crypts are overgrown with vines and weeds.

There are thousands of gravesides in the Keokuk National Cemetery,

but in Section A, the oldest section in the cemetery, at location number 405, we found Mr. Thomas Marshall.

This was a sad moment for Donna, as she has wanted for years to have a connection with her family, now mostly passed away.  Thank you, Bill, for doing the research that allowed Donna to have this time.

Not much is known about Mr. Marshall, other than his connection with Donna's paternal family, but it has been verified that his date of death was November 1, 1862.

In the center of Section A, there is a monument to the unknown soldiers of the Civil War.

As you can see, the rain was starting again, so we left the cemetery with heavy hearts for all those who gave their lives for their convictions, but with satisfaction that we had come as close as possible to a family member long gone.

Our plans for Keokuk also involved visiting Lock 19, which is said to have a good place to view barges plying the Mississippi, but as the rain turned to a gale, with winds rocking the car and rain so heavy that we couldn't see the street, we decided that a walk in the park was not in the cards!  We actually drove behind a building with another group of motorists to try to get out of the wind.  A half hour later, the worst was over, but a steady rain had settled in.  Deciding that we could see the lock another day, we headed home.