VIRGINIA CEMETERY SOUTH CHERRY COUNTY

by Gussie Boyer Osborne

Entry T90 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

This cemetery is located on a rolling
hillside on the east part of the late Stephen
James' valley northeast of Mullen, Nebraska.
This ranch is now owned and operated by
Eugene James, grandson of Stephen.

On January 3, 1923, a County Surveyor A.J.
Antwerp of Broken Bow, Nebraska surveyed
and made plats and a blueprint for a tract
250' by 166'. A.G. Humphrey issued the deed.

April 9, 1925, Articles of Incorporation
were drawn for the Cemetery Association.
Members who signed the Articles were:
Virginia James, Loy R. James, Pearl James,
Fielden S. Boyer, Mary E. Boyer, C.N. Boyer,
Cora Boyer, and Fay B. James. By 1976 all
were deceased except Loy and Pearl James.

At this meeting, Virginia (Boyer) James
donated a parcel of land on the northwest
quarter of Section 18 in T.25 which was to
consist of not more than two acres for
cemetery purposes.

Loy James, C.N. Boyer and Fielden Boyer
were elected trustees and it was decided that
annual meetings would be held in April at the
Virginia Schoolhouse (District 176 Reeves
Precinct). At the present time there is no
school building in the district.

Article V reads: "Members of this associa-
tion shall consist of the persons signing these
articles, their heirs or assignees."

The cemetery was so named because most
of the residents of the community had
originally come from Grayson County, Vir-
ginia.

In a letter to C.N. Boyer, the surveyor
stated that he thought an appropriate name
for the cemetery should be "Blizzard Ceme-
tery" as it was the first he had attempted to
plat during a blizzard.

It had also been suggested to name it
"Tragic Cemetery" because many of the
burials were the result of a tragedy. James
Murray and his pregnant wife, Lee, were
killed in a tornado which struck a few miles
east of the cemetery on September 28, 1923.
The next morning, Lester Parsons rode to the
top of a hill and found the buildings demol-
ished and the bodies lying in a field. Lee was
still alive, but died shortly afterward while
the two little boys, still alive were huddled by
their mother's side. These may have been the
only deaths in Cherry County caused by a
tornado.

Another tragedy occurred December 1923
when Bill Smith, a good neighbor in the west
end of the valley was murdered at his home.
His wife, Lottie and a hired man, Clinton
Smith (no relation) were found guilty and
served time in the State Penitentiary.

Vera James, a sweet young school teacher
drowned in the Middle Loup River north of
Mullen in 1933 and was buried in the Virginia
Cemetery.

One will find graves of several infants who
died at birth, or in early childhood. There are
three sets of twins buried here also.

There are 60 lots in the cemetery.

Information gathered and written by Gus-
sie (Boyer) Osborne and submitted to Hooker
County Genealogical Society.