Memories of Days Long Ago

Brought by Memorial Time

The Lebanon Daily Record Wednesday, May 24, 1972

By Lois Roper Beard

Memorial time reminds us of loved ones who have finished their journey here and have gone to the Great Beyound.  We are also reminded of a few neglected graveyards that are found here and there throughout our Country.

One that has been called to my attention recently is the Honssinger cemetery, located on the homestead of the early day pioneer family.

Mr. and Mrs. John Honssinger came to Missouri in 1835; true pioneers searching for better things for their family.  With plenty of hard work and determination, their dream came real. 

Eleven years later, Mr. Honssinger finished his journey and the family selected the place where father should rest permanently.  A beautiful spot on the farm, close by the river.  Thus the Honssinger Cemetery had it's beginning in 1846.

A short time later, Mrs. Honssinger passed away and mother was laid to rest beside her companion.

Several of the family died young.  There are grave markers for Rebecca, wife of Eli Rippy, Nancy and James Rippy, Mary the wife of Ed Cook and Mrs. W. W. Thomas.  All are daughters of Mr. and Mrs. John Honssinger, and all were married and had families.  Several of their children died young and are buried in the family cemetery.

A number of other graves denote neighbors were also buried in the cemetery.  Some have had marble markers that are broken and unreadable, while many are only marked with a large field rock set at the head of the grave.

A few old fashioned flowers set out so long ago, now untended.  The Yuccas do their best to make the old cemetery a place of beauty each blooming season, with their tall spikes of pure white lily like blossoms.

The Honssingers were a close knit family as they left home to make homes of their own.  Daughter Mary and her husband, Ed Cook, moved to the eastern side of Laclede County near Winnipeg.

In 1857 when Mary died, it was a long, hard, full day's journey, but Mr. Cook brought her body home to be laid to rest with her parents and others of the family, whom she loved.

Approximately 50 graves can be counted in the little cemetery.  The last one was made in 1874, (98 years ago) was Mrs. W. W. Thomas, another daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Honssinger. 

THE SMALL MONUMENT marks the spot of the last resting place of Mary Honssinger Cook, who died at Winnipeg and her body was returned to rest beside her loved ones.  The journey was a hard day's travel by team and wagon.  Both rivers, Osage Ford and Gasconade, were high and dangerous.  Neighbor men risked their own lives carrying the body across to meet a waiting wagon.  Mrs.  Cook's grave was made beside her two babies' graves.

PROTECTION -- What looks like only a pile of rock, was once the protection for a new made grave.  Large stones were neatly placed around and over the grave.  They have long since fallen apart.

THE LAST GRAVE made in the Honssinger cemetery was that of Matilda, wife of W. W. Thomas, born March 18, 1838 and died Dec. 23, 1874.

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