Aubry Pioneer Cemetery, ca.1859

Cemetery Index

Photographed and transcribed by: Linda K Lewis, 29 May 2005. This is a complete transcription by reading and photographing the gravestones as of the transcription date.

• [A-G]
• [H-O]
• [P-Z]
• [Unknown]

About the Cemetery

In the 1850s, some of the first land in Johnson County to open up for settlement was the land along the Missouri border on the outskirts of Black Bob Shawnee tribal common land in the southeastern part of Johnson County. The first land purchase in Aubry was to William H. Brady in Feb 1857, and many settlers quickly followed. The Town of Aubry was surveyed and a town company formed in March 1858, and the Township of Aubry was organized on May 11, 1858. The first school, the top priority of the new community, was built in the summer of 1858 and served as the school, church, and social center of Aubry. In May 1859 the Christian Church was formed and the first formal church building erected.

As no records survive, we don't know exactly when the Aubry Cemetery was officially established, but we can find clues to its beginnings. William G. Cutler's book "The History of Johnson County", published in 1912, tells us the first death to occur in Aubry was a son of A. Purley in Sept. 1859. Though we do not find a marker for this child, we do find a memorial for James B Franklin, d. 27 Feb 1862, aged 53 yrs, 11 mos, and 19 dys.

A cemetery district was formed onto the Aubry Township plan to support the maintenance of Aubry and Woodland cemeteries by taxation.