Fayette County Pioneer Cemetery Commission
Dedicated to locating, documenting, and preserving our county history.
Commision Meetings - Join us!
The Fayette County Pioneer Cemetery Commision meets quarterly; the 1st Wednesday of January, April, July, and October beginning at 1:30 pm. Meetings are open to the public and held at the Fayette County Historical Center in West Union.
What the Commission does....
Locate Pioneer Cemeteries
Identify cemetery ownership
Identify access to cemetery
Search for burial records
Survey condition of cemetery & monuments
Make accurate record of the monuments
Search for burial sites
Start repair of broken monuments, locating any that have fallen and are under the earth
Develop a burial map
Repair, remove and/or install new fencing as needed
Arrange for cemetery maintenance, including mowing and reporting any new damage
Erect cemetery identification signs
Cooperate with adjacent landowners
What you can do....
Respect the fact that cemeteries honor our ancestors
Appreciate the history of the area that can be found in a cemetery
Volunteer to help restore cemeteries in your area
Encourage your county to form a Pioneer Cemetery Commission
Be aware that the original Iowa pioneer soil can be found in cemeteries
NEVER vandalize any cemetery or allow someone else to vandalize any cemetery
Fayette County Pioneer Cemeteries
Boale Restored 1999
Dover Public Restored 1999
S. Windsor & Center Restored 1999
Eden Restored 2000
George Restored 2000
Mount Pleasant Restored 2001
Pitts Restored 2001
Groat Signage 2001
Prairie View Signage 2001
Corbin Restored 2001
Old Pioneer Restored 2001
Peters Restored 2002
Buter-Barnhouse Restored 2002
Sawyer Restored 2002
Brooks-Hendrickson Restored 2003
Lippincott* Located 2004
Nutting Restored 2006
Center Grove Restored 2008
Hoyer Family* Located 2009
Otsego Restored 2012
McAlavey Signage 2018
Old St. Peters* Burials Relocated 1853
*No Stones
Commission Members
Donald Bright, Chair
Jamie Hackley, Vice Chair
Alice Miller, Secretary
Niles Boehmler, Treasurer
Bill Moellering
Doug Alysworth
Joe Schott
Linda Voshell
Rolley Miller
Tom Roys
Advisory Members
Brad Boleyn
Carl Steinlage
Duane Pleggenkuhle
Mark Fedeler
Neal VanHorn
Ronald Schute
Terry Seedorff
State of Iowa Law
(portions of Iowa Code 5231.102)
331.325 Control and maintenance of pioneer cemeteries - cemetery commission
"Pioneer Cemetery" means a cemetery where there have been twelve or fewer burials in the preceding fifty years
Each county board of supervisors may adopt an ordinance assuming jurisdiction and control of pioneer cemeteries in the county
a. In lieu of management of the cemeteries, the board of supervisors may create, by ordinance, a cemetery commission to assume jurisdiction and maganagment of the pioneer cemeteries in the county.
359.33 Tax for nonowned cemetery
Township trustees may levy a tax not to exceed six and three-fourths cents per thousand dollars of assessed value of taxable property to improve and maintain any cemetery not owned by the township, provided the cemetery is devoted to general public use.
Gravestone Care:
After years of accumulating carbon from burning coal and wood, plus dirt from plowed fields, grave stones become dark and hard to read. Lichens grown and "eat" away the stone
NEVER use a wire brush to clean a grave stone.
There are approved products and methods that will clean a gravestone. ASK a pioneer cemetery grave stone restorer before you pu anything on a stone.