Burch Cemetery - Hickory Grove Township, Scott County, Iowa

Burch Cemetery is a small family cemetery located about 15 miles to the NW of Davenport, Iowa. It is the final resting place of Iowa pioneer James Burch, and his wife, Aurelia (Stearns) Burch, along with some of their immediate family members, as well as some extended family members. Interested parties can follow the map below to its location:

The following is a numbered list, corresponding to those found on the map directly above, of the people buried in Burch Cemetery. Anything found on the gravestone is written here. Note that each person who has been linked to the family of James and Aurelia (Stearns) Burch are highlighted by links to more information about them in our World Connect database:

SURNAME	NAME	DETAILS
1. Burch	James Aurelia	Died 20 October 1869. Aged 71 yrs., 10 mos., 2 days. Died 7 December 1868. Aged 69 yrs., 3 mos., 12 days.
2. Buckley	David	Died 8 April 1872. Aged 72 yrs.
3. Osler	Fenton B.	Died 8 October 1878. Aged 2 yrs., 10 mos. Son of T. E. and E. Osler
4. Burch	Catharine L.	Died 1 October 1868. Aged 42 yrs., 6 mos., 3 days. Wife of Ira Burch
5. Burch	Ira	Born 28 January 1820. Died 10 February 1889.
6. ?		Stone broken and illegible.
7. Burch	Mary. M.	Died 14 July 1864. Aged 8 yrs., 11 mos., 6 days. Dau. of I. & C. Burch. Suffer little children to come unto me.
8. ?		Broken stone.
9. Burch	Robert S.	Born 31 October 1880. Died 27 July 1881. Son of I. & C. Burch. Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.
10. ?		Stone base only.
11. Cavendish	Alice L.	Aged 14 yrs. Dau. of J. G. G. & M. A. Cavendish. Rest illegible.
12. ?		Broken stones - footstones.
13. Hogle	Thankful S.	Died 19 June 1855. Aged 27 yrs., 2 mos., 16 days. Wife of Enoch F. Hogle. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. For their works follow them.
14. ?		Base of stone only.
15. Fitzsimmons	Felix D.	Died 20 August 1871. Aged 76 yrs. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me ... Rest illegible.
16. Fitzsimmons	Amanda A.	Died 21 September 1860. Aged 59 yrs. Wife of Felix D. Fitzsimmons. Poem illegible.
17. ?		Pile of broken stones.
18. Dempster	Josephine	Born 27 June 1845. Died 10 March 1889.

The oldest stone to be found in the cemetery appears to be that of Thankful Susan (Burch) Hogle, our ancestor. We cannot prove this, for as can be seen, some of the gravestones were already illegible and/or broken by 1974. However, we know from research that the Burch family had only recently arrived in the area, when Thankful passed away. It is believed this cemetery originated on ground owned by the Burch family and subsequent family burials were made in the same place, such as Thankful's parents, James and Aurelia Burch.

Fenton B. Osler and David Buckley have not been connected to the Burch family, although there is a good possibility David is the father of Leslie M. Buckley, husband of Eva K. Burch, daughter of James Gaylord and Eliza Jane (Fitzsimmons) Burch.

The cemetery condition today is not known. In 1974, the condition of the cemetery was "not maintained regularly and is over grown with weeds."

For a precise legal description of the land, we have found that Burch Cemetery lies in the SW 1/4 of Section 12, T. 79 N., R. 2 E., Hickory Grove Township. It is on County road Y52 [or possibly 115th Ave. S. of Donahue] on a small hill on the west side of the road. The author hopes future research will provide the exact legal description of ground owned by the Burch family and confirm this cemetery was on it.

The author is grateful for the canvassing efforts of Lorraine Duncan and Scharlott Blevins. The result of their efforts can be found on p. 70-71 in the following book, which was located years ago in the LDS Family History Center in Salt Lake City, Utah:

"Scott County, Iowa Cemetery Records, Volume 1"
by Scharlott Blevins
977.769
V3b
v. 1

If anyone reaches this page and would be interested in providing any pictures, an update to the condition of the cemetery, or anything else - please send a message with details.