Pontiac Cemetery, Butler County, Kansas

Pontiac Cemetery, located about four miles south of El Dorado Lake and several miles east of the heart of El Dorado, was established in 1871, although there was no plat filed with the county until 1954.

Pontiac Cemetery is a very small cemetery containing just under 50 known burials with only around a dozen gravestones visible today. The cemetery is in rural Prospect Township but lies within El Dorado’s boundary line.

The scattered gravestones at Pontiac Cemetery are among the few visible reminders of a vanished settlement called Pontiac that was established in Butler County east of El Dorado the early 1870s.

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Pontiac was along the stagecoach line from El Dorado to Eureka and was well-positioned near the Butler county seat, but the settlement didn’t grow much beyond the basics: residents, a post office, a store, a schoolhouse, churches, a blacksmith, and this cemetery. By the time the post office closed in 1926, the population of Pontiac had dwindled to a single digit, and the cemetery was the only community space left.

Pontiac Cemetery, also historically known as Eckel Cemetery, was established on land once owned by Charles and Juliana Eckel after two of their children died in November of 1871. They would ultimately bury four of their children here and start a community cemetery.

Charles and Juliana Eckel

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Juliana Magdalena Zimplemann was born in Bavaria in 1839 and set foot on American soil with her family in 1854 at age 14. The Zimplemann’s settled in Wisconsin, where Juliana met Charles Eckel. Charles, whose parents were of German descent, was born in Pennsylvania in 1836 but ended up in Wisconsin sometime in the 1850s with his family. The couple married in Wisconsin in1858 when Charles was 22 and Juliana was 19.

Juliana Eckel. Source

Juliana and Charles lived in Wisconsin and Michigan before trekking to Kansas in 1870 with six of their children and claiming a quarter section of land. The couple paid less than $20 in 1870 to claim the 160 acres of land they homesteaded.

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As one of the founding families of Pontiac, the Eckels built themselves “a good farm and a nice home.” Their first home, a 14 x 20 frame house built by Charles, was later upgraded to a “handsome and commodious” 18 x 23 stone structure with a basement, more suitable for the bountiful farm they managed that included a well, a stable, and a half an acre of fruit trees near the cemetery where they buried four children.

The El Dorado Press, September 4, 1878

Charles was a farmer and a stock raiser, dabbling in hogs, cows, and turkeys, among other things. Pontiac’s first post office was in the Eckel home, probably because Charles served as the first postmaster of Pontiac, a position he held until 1875. He helped organize the construction of Pontiac’s schoolhouse, was a justice of the peace, and a member of El Dorado’s Old Settlers club and W.H.L. Wallace Post No. 66.

Charles Eckel. Source

Juliana carried and birthed at least thirteen children over a span of twenty years, but she was more than a celebrated mother and a loving wife. She was a teacher at the Pontiac schoolhouse and she also worked hard on the farm doing various chores that supported the family. At one point she was churning out cheese well enough that she could teach others to do so, and she processed approximately 100 pounds of butter in one week to sell in El Dorado.

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The Eckel family ultimately built a successful life in Butler county, but four of their young children died during their first decade on the prairie, two of them a week apart in November of 1871. Charles and Juliana buried them on the family farm, and all four children share a single gravestone.

Emma and Sarah died so closely together that it was probably a disease or illness like scarlet fever that took their lives.

Emma, aged 2 years, 8 months, 8 days, died November 6, 1871.

Sarah, aged 4 years and 2 days, died November 15, 1871. The base reads “Children of C & J Eckel.”

Their 10-year-old son William died a few months later in the spring of 1872.

William, aged 10 years, 9 months, 27 days, died March 15, 1872.

The family enjoyed eight years without any deaths in the home before burying their fourth child, a three-month-old girl whose name honors her 40-year-old mother, and the last child Juliana was known to have birthed.

Julianna, aged 3 months, 26 days, died April 3, 1880.

Charles and Juliana had eight other children that lived to adulthood and had successful, long lives, cementing their places as Butler county pioneers. Their son John married Hettie Cowley, the daughter of Matthew Dolphus Cowley, the namesake of Cowley county.

The couple eventually sold their homestead and moved to Douglass, Kansas, leaving the cemetery behind. Charles died in 1918 at age 82 and Juliana died two years later in 1920 at age 81 on what was their 62nd wedding anniversary. Both are buried at Douglass Cemetery in Douglass.

Other Burials at Pontiac Cemetery

The Cours

German immigrant Frank Cour was one of the original founders of Pontiac and was a friend and neighbor of the Eckels. Frank signed Charles Eckel’s homestead proof, certifying the improvements made on the land. He served as postmaster after Charles, and was Pontiac’s blacksmith, grocer, and collier at different times in the late 1800’s.

The family stone marks the grave of Frank, his wife Angeline, and their thirteen-year-old daughter Ida.

Frank married German immigrant Angeline Ramsthal in Michigan in 1868 shortly before the family moved to Kansas. Their daughter Ida, who was described as “unusually bright and winsome,” died while away at school in Emporia and was the first known member of their family to be buried here. Angeline is also buried here.

Frank Hernnamous Cour was one of Frank’s children, and he was just fifteen months old when the family moved to Butler County in 1870. He died of heart failure in 1908 at age 39 after a day of working in the field.

The granite gravestone that he shares with his daughter Myrtle bears a Modern Woodmen of America logo.

Myrtle also has her own marble marker with her name on it in the family plot, which was probably her original gravestone. She died from scarlet fever in 1907 at age 9.

Unknown Boyd (Charles?)

The top of this gravestone is broken off, and Find a Grave volunteers have determined it to mark the grave of Boyd Cour, but this is likely the gravestone of Charles Boyd, the 20-year-old son of Hannah (née Youngs) and Jacob Boyd.

Charles appeared on census records with his parents through 1885 and disappeared from record after that. In 1888, shortly after the death date on this gravestone, local undertaker J.T. Oldham was reimbursed by the county for “goods” related to Charles Boyd.

The Jones Children

Dora (née Reed) and Thomas Jones were married in Pontiac in 1886, and in 1890 they buried their first child here, a one-and-a-half year old boy named Benjamin Perry. I couldn’t find a reason for his death.

Then in 1904, their two-year-old daughter Claris died after eating six morphine tablets thinking they were candy. The family relocated to Oklahoma shortly after Claris died.

El Dorado Republican, February 16, 1904

Claris shares this gravestone with her brother.

Oliver Thomas

“Our Baby” Oliver Thomas was the fourth and final son born to Molly (née Reed) and Steve Thomas. He died as an infant on September 2, 1904.

This photo was taken on the 120 year anniversary of his death: September 2, 2024.

The Reeds

Nancy (née Brady) and Oliver Reed moved from Illinois to Kansas with their nine children in 1881, and soon their children began families of their own. Nancy and Oliver are the grandparents of the aforementioned Jones children and little Oliver Thomas.

Oliver’s gravestone has seen better days, and someone attempted a repair with concrete at some point that likely will cause more harm than good over time. He died in 1894, almost reaching the age of 72.

Grandma Nancy died in 1904 at age 70 after a battle with cancer. She lived with her daughter Mary and grandson Oliver, and she died just a few months after Oliver did.

Elizabeth Noble

Elizabeth Knight married George Noble in Iowa in 1864, and she and her husband George migrated to Kansas in the 1880’s with five girls in tow. After Elizabeth died, George remarried and relocated to Colorado. Elizabeth has no known family members here with her.

The Hansens/Jensens

The Hansens and Jensens that are found in this cemetery are closely related, despite the different surnames. Jacob and Karen Hansen were Danish immigrants who arrived to America in 1882 and settled in Kansas, probably because they already had some family here. Jacob’s surname was Hansen because he was the son of Hans (more on patronymic naming here).

Check out the interesting “S”

Thirty-four year old Anna (or Hannah) Jensen was Karen’s daughter with a previous husband, Peter Jensen, confirmed by baptism records from Denmark. Anna was at one point considered one of Butler County’s best teachers, then she got sick and began developing signs of what was described in the newspaper as dementia. In April 1905 she was adjudged insane and sent to the asylum in Osawatomie, Kansas where she died a few months later from “a complication of diseases.”

Johanne Marie was the wife of Jens Jensen. Jens was also the child of Karen and her first husband. Marie’s obituary said that she was sick for a while before she died in 1899, but that her death was a surprise, and that she left four little children and a grieving husband behind.

The couple also had a daughter named Lena who died from burn injuries in 1894 after her clothing caught fire from brush that her father was burning. A few years prior to Lena being “burned to a crisp,” Jens was accused of being careless with burning his fields. Lena is probably buried here, but there is no visible gravestone.

Walnut Valley Times, April 13, 1894

After Lena and Marie died, Jens made plans to sell his farm and move his family to Allen county, but then he died the following year in 1900 at age 30 and was buried here somewhere beside his wife, but his grave is either unmarked or hidden beneath the overgrowth.

In 1904, siblings Thomas (age 5) and Harriett “Hattie” (age 4) Hansen both ingested a large amount of whiskey and died from the effects of it. Not long after that, another sibling died from illness that was probably buried here too.

Walnut Valley Times, January 22, 1904

This stone appears to have been improperly cleaned, destroying it beyond repair and making it unreadable. It may not be for the Hansen children, but I see an “en” that makes me think it could be. It could also be for a member of the Jensen family, if you think you see a J.

Peter Johnson was a Butler county pioneer, and he was may have originally been a Jensen. He is buried at Pontiac Cemetery somewhere, but his actual burial spot isn’t marked. He has a gravestone on his wife’s grave marker at Sunset Lawns Cemetery that says he is buried at Pontiac Cemetery.

Johnson gravestone at Sunset Lawns Cemetery

The only recent gravestone at Pontiac Cemetery is a military grave marker from 1996 for veteran Harold Hansen, but his obituary says he was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Augusta.

Henry Wilkins

A lamb on a gravestone is usually a sign of a child’s grave, but German native Henry Wilkins was 76 years old when he died, at least according to census records (his gravestone says 66).

Henry was an early settler in Butler county, claiming his homestead as early as any other given the title of pioneer. He never married, but was a good neighbor to his friends: the 1875 census shows him sharing his home with a married couple and their five children, and in his final days, a friend cared for him and ensured he received a proper burial, and this gravestone.

Walnut Valley Times, September 11, 1896

The Hivelys

Florence Woodman married Solomon Hively at her parents home near Pontiac in 1901. The couple may have had trouble having children, as they had no known living children: their only known biological child, a girl named Viola, died at birth in 1906, and Florence died 10 days later. When Florence died, it was reported that she was buried in Blankinship Cemetery in Rosalia, but her gravestone is here.

Before the birth and death of their first known child, Florence and Solomon tried adoption. But in 1904, the boy in their care accused Solomon of abusing and beating him, and he had the injuries to prove it. Solomon pled guilty to extreme cruelty and had to pay a $25 fine. He died on Christmas Eve 1955 at age 89 and was said to have been buried in South Heights Cemetery in Oklahoma, though there is no record of him there on Find a Grave.

Baby Woolworth

Baby Woolworth was the son of Dora (née Liggett) and Orrin Woolworth. His gravestone says “grandson of Mr. & Mrs. J.M. Liggett,” but doesn’t mention his parents at all, even though they were still living nearby when he died.

This could be due to Dora and Orrin’s divorce, which came soon after the baby’s death. Orrin later remarried and had ten more children while Dora lived the rest of her life living with relatives and identifying herself as a widow or sometimes Mrs. Woolworth.

Albert Guenther

Albert Lewis Guenther, son of Minnie (née Jording) and Lewis Guenther, was four months shy of his second birthday when he died from scarlet fever in 1893. The Guenther family migrated to Kansas from Illinois in the late 1880s and went back to Illinois after Albert died.

Unmarked Burials

There are more unmarked graves than marked ones at Pontiac Cemetery, including multiple infants and children. There are also individuals who were reported to have been buried here, but have gravestones in other cemeteries. It can also be assumed that there were other burials here that are not known.

The Creeks

At least five members of the Creek family were reported to have been buried in Pontiac Cemetery, but most of their gravestones are in Blankinship Cemetery in nearby Rosalia, and none are identified as cenotaphs or indicate another burial location like Peter Johnson’s.

Gladys Creek was buried here in 1896, she was probably the daughter of Oda Creek, who was buried here along with an unidentified infant in 1899. Oda’s husband Theodore died in 1901 and was buried here, and then their son Theodore died from influenza while serving in 1919, and it was reported that he was laid to rest “beside his parents and two little sisters” at Pontiac Cemetery. Calvin Creek, grandfather to the children and Oda’s father-in-law, also died in 1919 and was reported to be buried here.

George Hollenbeck

When George Lewis Hollenbeck died in 1915 at age 75, it was reported that his funeral was held in Pontiac, and that afterwards he was buried at Pontiac Cemetery. We even know that his funeral was delayed for a few days due to impassable roads in Pontiac. But George’s name is carved on a shared gravestone with his wife at Sunset Lawns Cemetery, without any mention of Pontiac Cemetery.

George and his wife Betsy moved to Pontiac from New York sometime before 1875 with their four children, all of whom were under the age of 10 at the time. George and Betsy did lose one child in infancy prior to settling in Butler county, but the harsh Kansas prairie life did not take any more from them.

Back: Charles, Betsy Jane. Front: Morgan, Orlando, Bertha and George. Source

George and his wife lived on their homestead for over 40 years, constantly working the land and improving their home and surroundings, until his death.

Hollenbeck home in Pontiac, Kansas, built in 1900; torn down in 1987. Son Morgan, matriarch Betsy, and father George are standing in front of the home. Source