Pioneer Cemetery in Richmond, Missouri

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Get directions N. Thornton and Crispin St.
Richmond, Missouri, USA

Coordinates: 39.28498, -93.97622
Cemetery ID:

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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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This cemetery was a tract of land owned by O. A. McFarland, later sold to John Thornton. In 1845 John C. Richardson, bought an acre of this land for a family burying place. In 1846 it was sold to three trustees of the City of Richmond for $80.00, they in turn deeded it to the City of Richmond for a public burial ground. It was soon filled and a new city cemetery was established on West Main Street and the old one fell victim to vandalism, erosion and brush. In 1911, the Mormons dedicated a monument, unveiled by a great-great granddaughter of David Whitmer, to the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon: David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdrey and Martin Harris. Oliver Cowdrey is buried here. Seeing the neglect of the cemetery the Mormons, in 1948 negotiated for the rights and privileges of taking over the care of it by leasing it for ninety-nine years for $1.00. In 1949, they leveled the ground, remounted the stones that were still standing, and the ones that had been stacked against the trees were sorted and placed in a concrete form to preserve them. It is a beautiful well-kept cemetery. Each year busloads of pilgrims from Salt Lake City come to pay homage.