Lindenwood - Winter 2017 - Connecting to Alumni and Friends

Many have pondered who is buried in the Lindenwood cemetery above the small lake behind Sibley Hall. A perusal of the stones reveals the familiar names of campus founders Mary and George Sibley, but what about the others? Initially, the campus was the property of the Sibley family, and at that time, it was common for families to establish their own graveyards on their estates. After the Sibleys deeded the school to the Presbyterian Church in the 1850s, the cemetery continued to gain new burials, some from the family and some associated with Lindenwood in other ways. According to Lindenwood’s records, 28 burials are associated with Lindenwood’s cemetery, three of which are dogs belonging to John Roemer, who served as president from 1914 to 1940: Bobbie (1937), Kurn von Lindenholz (1934), and Lin (1925). Rufus Easton, an American attorney, politician, and postmaster, was father to Mary Easton Sibley, who founded Lindenwood with her husband, George Champlin Sibley. Easton ended his career as the attorney general of Missouri and later died on July 5, 1834. He was the first of many Eastons to be buried on Lindenwood’s campus. Other family members interred there include Rusella Easton Anderson (1840), daughter of Rufus Easton; Thomas L. Anderson (1840), son of Rusella Easton Anderson; Abial Alby Easton (1849), wife of Rufus Easton; Elizabeth L. Easton (1850); Louisa Gamble Easton (1851); and Rufus Easton (1880), son of Mary B. and Henry Clay Easton, along with Lindenwood founders George (1863) and Mary Sibley (1875). John W. Watson was the first to be buried on Lindenwood’s campus in 1821 at the age of 15. His parents, Martha Watson (1824) and Archibald Watson (1826), are also buried in the cemetery. The Watson and Easton families were connected by marriage, and family patriarch Samuel Watson was the first significant benefactor to Lindenwood. Lucy Harrington (1853), teacher at Lindenwood, is buried in the cemetery, as well as Betsy Ann Dick (1855), who also taught at the school and was married to Isaac A. Dick, a Lindenwood board member. Rev. Addison Van Court Schenck, served as Lindenwood’s second president from 1856 to 1862. He buried his stepson, Willie Schenck, in the campus cemetery. According to Reminiscences of Lindenwood College: A Souvenir for the Home Coming, Schenck visited the grave every evening. Josiah Cary, Schneck’s father-in-law, was buried there on March 8, 1861. Several members of the Walton family, also connected to the Sibley family by marriage, were buried in the cemetery from 1858 to 1868. The following members of the Walton family are interred on campus: Everett Walton (1858), Nannie Fleming Walton (1859), Elmer Walton (1864), Robert A. Walton (1867), and James S. Walker (1868). Fredrick Bates, an associate of George Sibley and the second governor of Missouri, had a son, Woodville Bates, who died on Feb. 12, 1840, at the age of 17 and is buried on campus. Student Neville Christy was laid to rest in the cemetery in 1857. There is no known grave marker, but the burial is mentioned in Reminiscences of Lindenwood College . The last burial in the cemetery was of Norma Jean Fields, an English and communications professor who taught at Lindenwood for 34 years. She died on April 2, 1998, and had such a strong connection to the campus that arrangements were made to inter her there. To learn more about Lindenwood’s cemetery, visit the Mary Ambler Archives from the library section of Lindenwood’s website: www.lindenwood.edu . Lindenwood University CAMPUS NEWS WHO IS BURIED IN THE LINDENWOOD CEMETERY? Initially, the campus was the property of the Sibley family, and at that time, it was common for families to establish their own graveyards on their estates. 14