Cemetery Walk

Historic Cemetery Walk – Old Linn Creek & Erie

By Norine Albers

Sources: Linn Creek & Erie Cemetery records, Reveille obits

Old Erie-Roberts Cemetery: Margaret Roberts, died 1855. And Monument dedicated to the Cherokee by Union Electric when they built Bagnell Dam.

When the “silver thread” of the Osage River became Lake of Ozarks Bagnell Dam, countless cemeteries were moved. The valley, with its soft dirt base was a choice area for burials. The ridges were rocky and hard to dig through. Two old and existing cemeteries from days gone by are the Old Erie (Roberts Family) Cemetery and the Old Linn Creek Memorial Cemetery on Y-Road in (the now) Linn Creek area.

Walking through the cemeteries in the cool of the year makes for easy exploring. Grass is at a low level and varmints are dormant (for the most part). Summer makes for more of a challenge. Taller grasses and lively varmints invade your exploration. Among the oldest readable graves in the Erie Cemetery are the graves of Catherine Farmer (1840-1870) and Andrew T. Bayly (1822-1870). Some partial readable stones are marked as death in 1855 of Margarete, the daughter of William and Mary Roberts. In 1854 refugees, who had arrived by flatboat, brought a cholera outbreak to Erie. Two local men donated land to provide a cemetery. Union Electric placed a monument in honor of the “Casualties of the Cherokee Trail of Tears 1838” in the Erie Cemetery when they were moving cemeteries for the creation of Bagnell Dam.

Walking through the Old Linn Creek Memorial Cemetery that was founded in 1843, you will find many important people that pioneered and developed early Camden County. Most are found on the backside of the sloping hill leading down to the old river valley area. Entering the present entrance to the cemetery you need to keep in mind that, historically, this would have been the backside of the cemetery. Old Linn Creekers walked up the hill to the cemetery (to what we see as the backside of the cemetery). 1855 is the earliest tombstone found thus far. It is the resting place of Susan Kelly, the one-year-old daughter of Thompson J. and Sarah Kelly. Other family members resting here are two daughters. One aged one year, and a girl at age twenty-eight. Sons at one-year of age, nine years of age, ten years of age, twenty-one years of age, and an infant son.

The stone marker of Lewis Brey (1834-1899) reads: “One Who Lived for Others”. Lewis and his mother emigrated from Germany. They arrived in Old Linn Creek by flatboat. He was the long-time owner of a general merchandise store. He “lived among his wares”, “the epitome of jumbled disorder”. His stone includes these words “Founder Methodist Episcopal Church and Sunday School in Linn Creek”

Joshua Williams Vincent (1859-1933) was the owner of the Reveille Newspaper. Inscribed on his tombstone are the words “Editor of the Reveille for fifty years”. J. W. purchased the newspaper from his father in 1880. He represented Camden County in the state legislature for three terms and served as mayor of Old Linn Creek. He loved his garden and (if not working) could often be found tending his flora.

Thomas Hart Benton Moulder (1844-1922) was the sixth son of George Moulder. T. H. B. Moulder was a farmer and owner of the Moulder Hotel in Old Linn Creek. Meals were served “family style”. When pancakes were on the breakfast menu, Aunt Lizzie made plate-sized pancakes (piled high) for each order. Lizzie churned buttermilk in her large churn in the kitchen. The butter and sorghum molasses were included with the pancakes at a cost of twenty-five cents for the meal. T. H. B. Moulder was mustered into Company D, 29^th Missouri Volunteer Infantry about 1862. He was in battle at Vicksburg, Arkansas Post, and was then captured at Greenville, Mississippi by the Confederate army. He was held prisoner at Pine Bluff and Little Rock, Arkansas. He was an exchange prisoner and, thereafter, returned to active duty. He spent three months in the hospital recovering from wounds received at Look Out Mountain. He was one of the soldiers appointed to guard the body of President Lincoln. Moulder was mustered out in July 1865. T. H. B. Moulder was elected to the Missouri Senate in 1882.

Squire John Perry Jeffries (1848-1917) served as Justice of the Peace and united over two hundred couples in marriage. He served with Company D, Osage Regiment Home Guards, during the Civil War. He passed away at the Camden Hotel in Old Linn Creek in 1917.

Andrew J. Watson (1857-1911) worked for fifty cents a day in his early years. He later became the owner of Watson’s General Mercantile store in Old Linn Creek and the president of the First National Bank. He was the father of twelve children.

He was considered to be a “generous, farsighted, positive, committed and spirited man”. This could have been rightfully said of many of our Camden County citizens.

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