Maple Grove Cemetery, Valley Center, Kansas

Maple Grove Cemetery sits in the shadow of Park City’s water tower, but this cemetery is in Valley Center, and it once served both Valley Center and the now vanished community of Sunnydale.

This is Valley Center’s oldest cemetery, and it is visible from I-135, just off the 85th Street exit.

The Park City water tower that looms in the background was built on annexed cemetery property. Around 2007, Grant Township agreed to give part of the cemetery’s easement to Park City for a water tower in exchange for a chain link fence around the cemetery.

A chain link fence surrounds the cemetery, but there are also graves outside the fence.

Maple Grove Cemetery is sometimes called Hoss Cemetery, perhaps to lessen confusion with the larger Maple Grove Cemetery in Wichita, but the cemetery signage displays the Maple Grove name.

Valley Center’s Maple Grove Cemetery was established before Wichita’s. The earliest burial here was probably in 1873, though there is one gravestone here for someone who died earlier, and there are also a lot of unknown burials that occurred at unknown times.

The cemetery was established on the property line that separated the homesteads of early settlers Thomas Orr Hoss and Henry Herbert Raymond. Each man donated a portion of his land for the cemetery, and based on the placement of their own graves, the cemetery entrance road likely represents the dividing line between their properties.

1882 map showing Maple Grove Cemetery between the homesteads of Thomas Hoss and buffalo hunter Henry Raymond. Henry’s brother Theodore or “The” owned land just south of Henry. Source

Thomas Hoss and Henry Raymond each owned 160 acres of adjacent farmland near what is now 85th North and I-135. They gave land for the cemetery to the Maple Grove Association on June 13, 1883. Source

Both Thomas Hoss and Henry Raymond are buried here, each resting on their side of the property line that ran through the middle of the cemetery. Most of the marked burials are in Section 2, on the Hoss (west) side of the cemetery, or the land that Thomas Hoss once owned.

Part of the Hoss side of the cemetery with I-135 in the background. A broken stone in the foreground has been flagged for repair.

There are likely an equal number of burials in Section 1, on the Raymond (east) side of the cemetery, or the land that Henry Raymond once owned, but there are fewer gravestones here.

Part of the Raymond side of the cemetery, including the Raymond family plot. There are numerous unmarked and unknown graves on this side, the east side of the cemetery. Henry Raymond planted the trees here.

Valley Center historian Vince Marshall said he has found unmarked graves “outside the fence, in the interstate right-of-way on the northwest, and in the area south of the Park City water tower on the northeast,” and he believes many of them are children.

The last burial at this cemetery is on the Raymond side, which occurred in 1993. There are no longer burials at Maple Grove Cemetery because there are no complete cemetery records documenting the existing unmarked burials. The cemetery appears to be routinely vandalized, and some stones are sinking or have fallen, but it is actively cared for by Grant Township, with maintenance and repairs occurring regularly.

The Raymond Family

Image shared by Shannon Maloney Scholler. Source

Henry Herbert Raymond was born in 1848 in Illinois and came to Kansas in 1872 to hunt buffalo with his brother Theodore and the famous Masterson brothers, Bat, Ed, and James. Henry documented his experiences hunting buffalo with the Mastersons in his journal.

“Monday, November 11, 1872. Started to Kansas, bought violin, in St. Louis, left there at 11 o’clock at night for Kansas City.” Source

Henry thought his diary was “no good,” but it ended up being “the only known source of information on three of the West’s most renowned gunfighters, Bat, Ed, and Jim Masterson.” Henry also documented the buffalo they killed on that trip, supplies he purchased, and people they interacted with.

Henry Raymond, image shared by Shannon Maloney Scholler. Source

After hunting buffalo with the Masterson brothers, Henry settled in Grant Township. He married Sarah “Sadie” Rebecca Armstrong in Wichita in 1874. Sadie was born in Pennsylvania in 1846 and came to Kansas with her father after her mother died in 1872. A true pioneer woman, she homesteaded her own land here before marrying Henry. She was also a teacher in Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas.

Image shared by Shannon Maloney Scholler. Source

Alongside Sadie, Henry “spent considerable time and money in building up his beautiful homestead … [and] a good orchard of thrifty trees, he has set out a number of maples, cottonwoods, catalpas, and others, which add materially to the beauty and enhance the value of his place. The farm is well stocked with good grades of cattle, and Poland-China hogs, and his stables contain some very fine specimens of farm horses. He has availed himself of all modern machinery, and the latest methods of carrying on agriculture and stock-raising, and takes a commendable pride in the result of his labor.”

The cemetery is not drawn here but is probably to the left of the house in this illustration. Source

Henry Raymond and family. Image shared by Shannon Maloney Scholler. Source

Sadie died at home in 1912 at age 66 after being violently ill for several days. She was said to be “thoughtful and self-sacrificing as a mother.” Henry died in 1936 at age 88 in Oklahoma and was returned to be buried here on his homesteaded land. Sadie and Henry share the gravestone with their son Walter who died in 1901 of tuberculosis.

Harry was another of Henry and Sadie’s sons who died before them in 1899 of appendicitis at age 19.

His gravestone is very difficult to read, but his footstone bears his initials.

Seth Leander Raymond was Henry’s brother. Henry exchanged letters with Seth while he was on the buffalo hunt with the Masterson brothers, and his letters must have enticed Seth to move to Kansas. He died at the veterans home in Leavenworth in 1898.

Henry’s parents, Charles and Harriet (née Nickerson), have a gravestone here but Charles died in Illinois and is probably not buried here. Harriet died of “old age” at age 78.

Sadie and Henry’s son Herbert never married and had no known children. He was born on this land and was buried here when he died at age 91 in 1968.

Daisy Margaret Raymond Cone was the youngest child of Henry and Sadie. She was born at the Raymond home, and she was the last of the Raymond family to be buried here in 1990 at age 99.

The Wichita Eagle, Wichita, KS, Jun 24, 1990

The Hoss Family

Thomas Orr Hoss was born on Christmas Eve 1833 in Ohio to Susanna Orr and James Hoss. Thomas attended law school as a teen, and later served as a probate judge and justice of the peace for Valley Center. He married Mary Jane McNeal in Ohio in 1855 and settled in Grant Township with his family in the early 1870’s. He died in 1914 at age 83.

Thomas was a Captain in the 61st U.S. Colored Infantry.

At least ten members of the Hoss family are buried here, including Thomas’ first wife Mary, who helped him homestead this land and bore eight of his children.

One of the orchards and the Hoss family residence would have been in the background when this gravestone was first placed, instead of a highway.

Mary shares this gravestone with her daughter Kate Hoss, and it was carved by Kimmerle & Adams of Wichita. Kate died of pneumonia in 1881 and was buried “at the family cemetery.”

Other Hoss children are buried here in unmarked or once marked graves, including Leota who died in 1896 when she was impaled by a pipe when she fell from a tree during a party.

The Wichita Eagle, Wichita, KS, Jun 10, 1896

Edward was an adult when he died from tuberculosis in Missouri in 1912. His body was sent here for burial.

Valley Center Index, Valley Center, KS, Mar 28, 1912

Helen Hoss never married, but became well known as a nurse in Dodge City and Wichita. She was just 52 when she died in 1926, and her body was shipped here for burial from Dodge City.

The Wichita Eagle, Wichita, KS, Jan 17, 1926

After the death of his first wife, Thomas married Mary E. Chase in Wichita in 1875, and then she died in 1878. She may be buried here, but I found no record of it, and she was forgotten in Thomas’ obituary.

The footstone for Thomas’ first wife, Mary J. Hoss. There are no signs of a gravestone for the second wife Mary E. Hoss.

Thomas married again and did have more children with his third wife, Laura Belle Somers, and at least one of them may be buried here. There is nothing on the death certificate for this infant of Thomas Hoss that indicates where the little boy was buried, but it can be presumed it was in the family cemetery with the rest of the Hoss children.

Infant of Thos. Hoss, died January 11, 1892 from “blood poison” at 11 months old. Source

At least one of Laura’s children is buried here. Edward Hoss took his step-fathers surname, and when he died in Colorado at age 63 in 1922, his body was shipped back here to be buried in his step-fathers cemetery. His obituary says he was buried in Parke Cemetery (presumably Sunnydale Park Cemetery), which is nearby.

Valley Center Index, Valley Center, KS, Oct 12, 1922

Thomas’ parents are also buried here. James and Susan (née Orr) both died before the turn of the century and share this gravestone with the epitaphs: “She was loyal to God, family & country” and “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”

Other Burials at Maple Grove Cemetery

Here are some of the stories behind some of the marked graves.

The Thompsons

Eliza Thompson was struck and killed by lightning in 1899 when she was doing the washing outside.

Eliza is buried next to her husband William who died in 1875.

The Johnstons

Elizabeth “Eliza” Ittner married Albert Elmer Johnston in 1857 and homesteaded here in Kansas with him in 1872. By 1876, the couple had 400 acres where they farmed corn, had an orchard, raised hogs and cattle, and had “one of the most desirable and beautiful locations in the community.”

Albert was the superintendent of the Hoss school house in 1879, the year that his wife Elizabeth died at age 43. Albert died at the veteran’s home in Leavenworth in 1915 and is not buried here, but his name is displayed twice on his wife’s gravestone.

This gravestone was carved by Brown and Walgamot of Wichita, Kansas and looks similar in shape an style to another Brown and Walgamot gravestone I’ve seen.

Hazel and Wayne Woodhouse

Hazel and Wayne Woodhouse were siblings who died just a few weeks apart.

The Wichita Eagle, Wichita, KS, Jan 11, 1908

The Mossmans

The gravestone for Mary and Sadie Mossman holds a much more tragic story than appears at first glance, and it gave me a bit of a mystery to unravel (though not the type of mystery that most find interesting).

Mary was connected to the wrong James A. Mossman on Find a Grave. I was able to solve the mystery; but first I had to find the right James A. Mossman by carefully researching census records and other documents.

It took a bit of sleuthing, but in the end I found him, and his pension records contained the answers I hoped for. I purchased them from Gopher Records, and you can view them for free here. I was also able to submit several edits to Find a Grave to reconnect Mary to all her children and the right husband.

Mary Evelyn Logan married James Anderson Mossman September 15, 1870. The couple had five children, four of whom died before reaching adulthood and before Mary died.

Three of Mary’s children died in 1882: Lauren (age 9) and Francis (age 6) died within days of each other, then Clarence (age 3) died a few months later. Shortly after the birth of Mary’s last child Wilbur in 1886 (who was born with a deformity and later had spinal meningitis), her eldest Sadie died in 1886 at age 14.

Mary struggled greatly with her unimaginable loss. She was adjudged insane at least twice in Wichita, once after Wilbur was born and once after Sadie died. Mary was in the asylum at Osawatomie for thirteen years until her husband brought her home in the fall of 1899. She was home for a little over a year before she died at age 52.

Wilbur, the only surviving child of James and Mary, grew up to be a successful photographer despite being “pitifully crippled” and “terribly deformed.” He married, but had no children of his own.