The Empty Chair, Part 3: Death and Burial in Burlington, Iowa

 It is not possible to determine exactly when Partrick Lewis arrived in Burlington, Iowa in the spring of 1837. He may have been there for a few weeks before he became and ill and died around June 5. He travelled by coach from Connecticut through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, before reaching either Gulfport, Illinois, (across from Burlington) where he could have taken a ferry across the Mississippi River, or to St. Louis, Missouri, where he could have reached Burlington via steamship. The trip would have taken several weeks and would have been arduous at best. Much has been written about the condition of roads on that route, and the ever-present possibility of a breakdown or accident along the way. It would not have been a smooth ride, either. A passenger would have been exhausted by the time he or she arrived at their destination.

In addition to an uncomfortable ride and the possibility of accidents, disease was a constant threat. In Lewis’ case, if he didn’t catch smallpox on the trip, in close proximity to total strangers, he could easily have gotten it in Burlington. A smallpox epidemic was raging at the time, presumably brought by infected passengers aboard the SS St. Peter, a steamboat owned by the American Fur Company of John Jacob Astor. The ship left St. Louis up the Missouri River with infected passengers, leaving infected people along the way. Burlington is not near the Missouri River but it’s not much of a stretch to think of the epidemic racing up the Mississippi River valley. The American Fur Company later denied any culpability in the matter, denying knowledge of sick passengers. Regardless of who was responsible, the epidemic raged among the tribes of the region, killing at least 17,000 people. There were also periodic outbreaks of cholera.  The Smith Cemetery referred to below was often the final destination for those who were passing through and got sick.  It seems as though Burlington, along with the rest of the Wisconsin Territory, was an excellent place to get really sick if that was your plan. 

Perhaps in an effort to assure readers that Burlington was past the epidemic, the Wisconsin Territorial Gazett published an article on August 31, 1837:

Health—It is exceedingly gratifying to us to state that health generally prevails in this section of country. There is no such thing, so far as we have learned, and we have made frequent enquiry as an epidemic prevailing either in this Territory, or on the Illinois side of the river.  Heretofore, it must [ ] be admitted, the towns generally on the Mississippi, have been more or less affected in the summer and fall months with ague and fever, and intermittent fevers but this season, thus far, and the season is now far advanced, there has been no such thing. That there has been isolated cases of ague and fever, remittent fevers, and dysentery, we do not pretend to conceal; but there has been no prevalent disease, no epidemic of any sort.

It seems likely that smallpox probably killed Lewis, but there is no record of his death save a brief obituary in the Alton Telegraph of Alton, Illinois on June 21:

DIED A few days on at Burlington, Wisconsin Territory PATRICK LEWIS Esq Formerly of Meriden Conn

An obituary also appears in the Columbian Register, a New Haven, Connecticut newspaper, on July 15:

In Wisconsin Territory, about the 5th of June last, Patrick Lewis Esq. of Meriden, Ct. aged about 35.

 
In the family plot in the East Main Street Cemetery in Meriden there are two family plots for the Lewis family in two generations. There is a memorial stone for Partrick and the grave of his wife Mary, who died in 1861 along with a son and daughter. The other stone is for their son, George Hallam Lewis and his family. George died in the Civil War in 1863. The stones were set up in the 1860's, decades after Partrick's death.

Note that the cenotaph for Partrick notes his death date as June 13. It is impossible to say why there is a discrepancy. It may be that the exact date is not known and the family settled on June 13 to give some finality to his death. The two newspaper obituaries quoted above are vague, presumably because they did not know the exact date. This adds to the probability that Partrick died alone and his death date either was not known or was not recorded.

The story doesn't end with Partrick's death. Even in death he still moved around some. For this part of my search I am indebted to Julie at the Des Moines County Heritage Center in Burlington and to Paul French, a lifelong resident of Burlington and a local historian. Paul in particular was extremely helpful in tracking down information about the earliest cemetery in Burlington.

In 1833 a Jeremiah Smith established a private cemetery on the western edge of Burlington on Boundary Street, now Central Street. Families had to pay to have their loved ones buried there. The burials accumulated rather quickly. Major Smith's grandson. C. E. Smith, wrote in the September 16, 1908 issue of the Burlington Evening Gazette about his grandfather's cemetery:

In a more recent issue of your paper, reference was made to the discovery of eight skeletons where excavations are now in progress for the new High school building. The facts you give are correct, but here is the earliest history of that plat of ground. That entire block where the Burlington university stood and where the old High school stands to-day, was given to the city of Burlington in the 40’s by my grandfather, the late Major Jeremiah Smith, Jr., “the ground to be used for a burying ground and no other purpose.” At this time, Fourth street was about the western limit of the town. In a few years it was noticed that the little cemetery would soon be inadequate for the growing town, and Aspen Grove and other cemeteries were established.

In 1852, Rev. G.J. Johnson, pastor of the Baptist church, succeeded in gaining, very reluctantly, the consent of my grandfather (who was at the time on his death bed) to remove the dead and build on the spot the Burlington university, or Baptist college, as it was sometimes called.

Many of the old settlers were highly indignant over the disturbing of the bones of the pioneers and others laid to rest there. One old settler named Chas. Cloutman published a pamphlet expressing his indignation over the matter, and he saw to it that one of his pamphlets found its way to every door in Burlington.

The removal of the dead to other cemeteries continued for some time. Many were past being removed, while others were the remains of emigrants who were on their way to the Far West, their relatives stopping long enough to inter them, and then abandoning them to their fate of disinterment over a half century later.

image courtesy of Paul French

In the image to the left, taken from an 1846 plat of Burlington, is shown the Smith cemetery after it had been turned over to the town. If you look closely you can see horizontal lines, some dark and some lighter, that probably represent burials. The cemetery quickly absorbed the burials of people who were passing through and died for various reasons. Aspen Grove Cemetery was established in 1844 to provide more room out of the center of town. The City of Burlington declared the Smith cemetery a nuisance in 1852 and passed an ordinance requiring families to remove their loved ones' remains to Aspen Grove or another cemetery of their choice, giving them a year to do so. The city was hoping to attract a Baptist college to town and felt that the cemetery site would be a good place for it. Some removed their loved ones' remains, and the earliest gravestones in Aspen Grove originally came from the Smith cemetery. But, many were not moved, suggesting a rather hasty removal of anything above ground with little regard to who or what was buried below ground. Evidence of this is found in periodic reports of human remains turning up in construction. The site of the cemetery, since the cemetery's removal, has been host to three successive large school buildings and some homes. On December 3, 1872 the Burlington Hawk Eye Gazette reported that forty-six skeletons had been discovered on the site and were reburied in the Potter's Field in Aspen Grove.

I visited Aspen Grove and the Potter's Field which is presumably the current burial place of Partrick Lewis. The Potter's Field is a section of the cemetery set aside for those families who did not have the means to pay for a burial.  Many of the graves are for small children whose families could not afford a burial. A number of adults are buried there as well. The photograph to the right is of several rows of gravestones from the Smith Cemetery. Considering the close proximity of the stones to one another it doesn't seem likely that the bodies are with the stones as placed. These gravestones are believed to be the oldest gravestones in the state of Iowa.

I stayed in the cemetery for quite awhile. In a sense I didn't want to leave him behind after taking so long to find him. I left something behind, though--a small sliver of chestnut from a beam from the 1830 house, that imposing mansion that was their home for only four years, and a chip of Connecticut brownstone, so ubiquitous here.

So that's the end of the story. My family and I now know what happened to Partrick Lewis and where he is buried. Those were my two goals in the lifelong search for my gr. gr. gr. grandfather.  We don't have to accept the cover story created to cover up the pain of a bankruptcy and a tragic death. I promised my father I'd find him. The chair isn't empty any more.

I found him, Dad. For you.