Robert Smith, Mike Mazzone and Noble Grand Humbug Jay ‘Banana Split’ Robinson anoint a historic marker with Pabst Blue Ribbon beer in the Garden Cemetery on Saturday.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
Shouts of “What say the brethren?” and “Recorded and duly noted!” rose from the usually quiet grounds of the Garden Cemetery as members of E. Clampus Vitus unveiled and anointed a marker.
Built around the turn of the century on five acres land purchased from Mathias and Mary Jepson for $280, the cemetery was once on the edge of Gardnerville.
Noble Grand Humbug Jay Robinson said that Herbert Bruns, who is interred in the cemetery was one of his early predecessors.
The Clampers conducted their usual ceremony as members of the Garden Cemetery Association looked on.
The club also donated $785 to the Association, which has overseen the cemetery that was once on the edge of Gardnerville.
According to the Genoa Weekly Courier, the cemetery was fenced in by April 1899.
In June 1899, the Courier observed that the association was selling lots for $15 each through H.C. Jepsen.
The first person buried on the property has long been reported as 44-year-old Caroline Ezelle, who died Aug. 21, 1896, and was buried Aug. 23, according to the Genoa Weekly Courier. That was three years before the Association was formed to manage the cemetery, Nov. 15, 1899.
A short time later, the Courier reported that the remains of Hans Anderson, who was shot to death by Adam Uber, and Mason Krummes child were moved from the Genoa Cemetery to Gardnerville. John Frantzen’s two children and several others buried at Genoa were anticipated to be moved in the near future, the newspaper reported on Dec. 8, 1899.
“The remains of children, vagabonds, farm hands, sheep herders unmarked graves small metal markers and fences surrounding only dirt are the only things that identify the graves of the nameless poor,” Robinson recited from the marker. “Not all families were able to afford a headstone to honor the life of a loved one. Often a wooden cross would be used to help the Holy Father find his children.”
Email gardencemeteryassociation@outlook.com to find out more about the cemetery.
Recorded and duly noted, indeed.
