Edward Dean was active in establishing the cemetery as was I. Whipple. Whipple was a tavern keeper at a station one-half mile southwest of the cemetery on Walnut Creek and the Mormon Trail.
On February 26, 1878, at a meeting of the county trustees, William Schofield made a motion that C. C. Weaver, the township clerk, be authorized to make application to the Circuit Court for two acres ofland on the NE corner of the NW 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of Section 22, Township 75, Range 38, belonging to the Everly Estate.
M. C. Collver bought the first lot on December 27, 1879 and in April, 1889, Mr. and Mrs. William Inman buried a small daughter here. Tradition indicates “they drove to the cemetery, dug the grave, lowered the casket into it and before filling it, spread straw over the casket so they couldn’t hear the dirt falling on it.”
Sometime in January 1890, Frank McClue heard someone crying in the cemetery. The man said he couldn’t bury his beloved on top of the ground. The child had scarlet fever and the grave diggers fled when they saw him coming, for fear of contracting the dreaded disease. The grave was dug and the child put to rest. Mr. McClue assisted another family traveling west in a small wooden wagon in 1921. A lady and her daughter were buried in the southwest corner of the cemetery.
Along the west side was a small stone that was out in the driveway. It was badly weathered, but the inscription reflected the death of a small child of Mr. and Mrs. Kixmiler. The child was born in 1881 and died in 1889. Edwin Samuel Brunk, a World War II casualty, has a lovely memorial denoting his burial site. He is located on the Ford Brunk lots where two additional children are also buried.
In 1914, the trustees put up an arch over the entrance which reflected two dates, 1878 and 1914. The arch is no longer standing.
To reach Whipple Cemetery turn north from Highway 92 onto Highway M-47/500th Street (a few miles west of Griswold, Iowa). Travel north approximately 4 miles to Hackberry Road. Turn right (east) approximately 1-1/2 miles. You’ll see a grove of evergreen trees on your right. They form the borders of Whipple Cemetery.
See Iowa Gravestone Photo Project and Find A Grave to view headstones in Whipple Cemetery.