Have you had the good fortune of having an older relative pass down family papers to you? If so, do you have a cemetery deed?

That’s one of the documents my grandmother passed down to me. As an in-law, my grandmother kept many documents and photos for her husband’s family. Thus, the 1893 deed for the purchase of a cemetery plot purchased by my grandfather’s grandmother still exists.

Lewis Post No. 294, G.A.R. Cemetery Association
A Corporation of Dodge City, Kansas, in consideration of $10.00
Ten Dollars
hereby conveys and warrants to Mrs Mary Crawford
for burial of human bodies only, the following real property in Lewis Post No. 294 G.A.R.
Cemetery, Ford County, Kansas, to-wit:
Lot No. Sixty (60)
as shown by the recorded plat thereof.
In Witness Whereof, the President of said Corporation has
hereunto set its corporate name and caused its corporate seal to
be attached, this 24 day of January 1893
By D. D. Rose
President
Attest: Sam [Gauagher] Jr
Secretary

State of Kansas,
Ford County, SS:
Be it remembered, that on this 24 day of January 1893
before me the undersigned Register of Deeds in and for the county and state
aforesaid, came D. D. Rose President of Leiws Post, G.A.R.
Cemetery Association, who is personally known to me to be the same person, who executed the foregoing instru-
ment of writing, and such person duly acknowledged the execution of the same.
In withness whereof, I hae hereunto set my hand and affixed my
official seal the day and year last above written
J A Arment
Register of Deeds
Ford Co Kan

Warranty Deed
Statutory Form
from Lewis Post, G.A.R. Cemetery
Association
to

While the deed seems pretty straightforward, the date of the deed raises questions. There are tombstones in the GAR section of the Dodge City cemetery for Mary Crawford and her husband, Washington Marion Crawford. However, the deed is dated 1893 while Washington Marion Crawford died in 1889.

Thus, there are questions.

• Does the date of the deed reflect when the final payment for the lot was made versus when the plot was first used?
• Was Washington Marion Crawford buried elsewhere and moved when the cemetery plot was purchased?

While I may never be able to answer those questions, further research about the G.A.R. cemetery is warranted.