So many small communities in Iowa, present and past, maintain cemeteries that collectively hold a lot of history of Iowa in Siouxland and elsewhere. But many times those histories of former residents or pioneers are not accessible to more than the few remaining residents or folk who live in the immediate area.
At most sometimes one can find a listing of those buried within these various resting places like Fairview Cemetery in Albaton, but beyond that or knowing descendants or local residents, not much else can be discerned about the history of the place or its former residents.
Judging by the dates some of these folk buried here as elsewhere were pioneers to the area. Traveling by wagon train or walking to find a new life west of the Mississippi at the time. A reference to the former community I found online also showed photographs but nothing definitive about the place itself.
So a cursory understanding who settled into the area, and if they prospered will never be known outside of descendants if any exist. History is a continuum of life, but sometimes that life and history can be very fleeting on that long road.
Visiting Council Bluffs a few times while roaming about Siouxland I have stopped by Bayliss Park a few times. An oasis in the downtown area. I often wondered why the name but never gave it much thought, until stopping by Fairview Cemetery recently to view the Black Angel, and there found a grave site of one S.S. (Samuel) Bayliss.
A story in the local newspaper explains a bit of the history about Bayliss and a donation of land he had hoped might become the then territory’s courthouse. On his journey to California in the 1850’s Bayliss stopped in the then fledgling Council Bluffs, not yet the city it would become but situated near Kaneville, a Mormon settlement that earlier came into being when Brigham Young set out west to discover his faith’s future settlement, and in the meantime had become a stopover for those headed to California for a new life either in business or for the goldrush.
Bayliss’s generosity didn’t benefit the city at the time, but later became the jewel it now is, realizing its destiny as a park. And in reading the newspaper’s article the community’s first park commissioner set about commemorating Bayliss’s gift.
Reading the article, a sad end became Bayliss’ life achievement, but his generosity then has benefited many souls since, and one might like to think he takes a stroll from the not to distant resting place to come and sit and enjoy the beauty his generosity allowed as people over the decades visit this place.
Ruth Anne Dodge was the wife of General Genville M. Dodge, who settled in the Council Bluffs area of Siouxland after the Civil War in which he played an important part, not to be outdone with his work for furthering the expansion of the railroad system throughout the United States after the war. I learned about this statue by reading a story from a newspaper in Omaha that recounted the history of the statue and Mrs. Dodge’s part in its creation.
Mrs. Dodge had a vision or dream that included an angel which appeared to her prior to her death. And from an account of that dream a memorial statue and place was created in Fairview Cemetery In Council Bluffs, which overlooks downtown Omaha in the distance.
The article and account detail the dream and subsequent occurrences in a better story telling fashion. Again, I always find it fascinating to find history so close at hand and then be able to visit it after reading about it. To many an inconsequential footnote in history, yet part of the history of Siouxland of just one resident of many who passed this way and made a home in the then wilderness and western frontier of the time.
I live in the Siouxland area that encompasses a wide swatch of land in northwest Iowa, northeastern Nebraska and southeastern South Dakota. The people that inhabit this area are generous folk and your basic honest, Midwestern people you like to have as neighbors. I explore the area and share observations, mostly photographic, sometimes through video, and and short text. All images and video are copyrighted material of the author.
Jerry Mennenga, Sioux City, Iowa
jerrylmennenga@yahoo.com
lostinsiouxland 