Grave concerns

George Riemann has had a deep interest in the cemeteries of Gage County for what he describes jokingly as “312 years.”

“It’s not that long, but seems like forever,” Riemann said.

Riemann, a lifelong Gage County resident, lived in Wymore until moving to Beatrice a few years ago. The former truck driver, clothing store operator and tavern manager said his interest in the cemeteries of Gage County began after hearing of the location of several gravesites from “the old timers in coffee shops.”

Finally, after his interest had peaked, Riemann and his wife Karolyn began the grueling task of looking through hundreds upon hundreds of obituaries from small newspapers around the area while serving as volunteers at the Wymore Library.  The duo began cataloguing the deceased by what cemetery they were laid to rest.

“The Wymore Library has newspapers from Barneston, Liberty, Wymore and Odell on microfilm,” Riemann said, “so I was able to look through all of them.”

Any obituaries that claimed the deceased as buried in Gage County were flagged by Riemann and catalogued by cemetery.

Once enough records had been catalogued, Riemann began looking for the gravesites. The “old timers” taught Riemann how to locate the graves using a technique called dowsing.

After they were able to double-check their records with the names found on gravemarkers, the Riemanns went to work putting their research in a place where it could be accessed by everyone quickly and easily.

“In the last five or six years, we have begun putting our records onto computers and have created a Web site so people can search for their relatives,” Riemann said, “people don’t come around looking for the cemetery as much as they used to when we lived in Wymore.”

One cemetery of particular interest to Riemann is Kinney Cemetery which lies in the Island Grove township between Wymore and Liberty. The cemetery served the town of Kinney, a small population that formed during the Oregon Trail, which has since disappeared.

When Riemann located the cemetery after hearing fables about the location, he could only find two grave markers with two names each -- a total of four people buried there.

A year later, Riemann said someone contacted him saying they had found a few more gravemarkers in a creek a half mile away, bringing the total up to four.

“Someone had just thrown them away,” Riemann said, “and luckily someone else had found them again.”

The growing number of gravemarkers was confirmed by records found in the microfilm, leading Riemann to believe that more unmarked graves existed on the land.

“After we were able to put our records on the Internet, a family contacted me from California saying they had records that six of their relatives were buried there,” Riemann said.

Riemann believes up to 17 graves are located on the site.

In 2002, a sign was erected to mark the location of Kinney Cemetery and the span of years found in records and on the gravemarkers. A fence was put around the small tract of land and Boy Scouts from a local troop went to efforts to keep the cemetery under repair.

In early November of this year, however, Riemann took the Gage County Cemeteries Web designer out to the site to find the sign missing. The sight shocked Riemann, who was disappointed the area had fallen into such disrepair.

“I was very angry to see the sign had been stolen after all the hard work that had gone into preserving history,” Riemann said, “I bet a few of those gentlemen that knew about this place would be disappointed.”

Riemann contacted the sheriff’s office to investigate the situation, but said the deputy was unable to make it to the cemetery to investigate after rains had left the access road too muddy for a car.

A week later, a deputy investigated the area and found the sign to be missing.

The cemetery, which lies in the deed for Dan Singleton’s property, borders a pasture where Singleton keeps several bulls. Singleton said he was aware the sign had fallen over due to high winds earlier in the summer, but was unaware that the sign had been stolen.

“I didn’t know the sign had been taken out of the ditch,” Singleton said, “but if they find it they can put it back up.”

Riemann admits there isn’t much he can do about the situation except hope that someone returns the sign.

“I’m in hopes that someone will know who has done this and help put it back,” Riemann said.

If that doesn’t happen soon, Boy Scouts from Troop 221 in Beatrice have offered to make a new sign for Kinney Cemetery, according to Riemann.

The history of the Gage County and its cemeteries still holds interest for lifelong residents of the area like Riemann.

“I read one time if there was a grave for everyone that died on the Oregon Trail, there would be a grave every 70 yards,” Riemann said. That notion has kept Riemann on his quest to provide accurate information for people searching for past ancestors who may have lived and died in the Gage County.

“We have a lot of history around here in the little towns that used to be there but is being lost,” Riemann said, “it’s sad.”