CEMETERY:  Nettleton Cemetery History, Butler Co., IA
 
This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:
Ken Kothe <kkenk@frontiernet.net>
January 2000

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NOTE:  For more information on Butler County, Iowa 
       Please visit the Butler County, IAGenWeb page  
       at http://iagenweb.org/butler/
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   NETTLETON CEMETERY

    The first Catholic to come to the Greene area was William Nettleton, who came from Davenport
in l855.  The following spring, James, Lawrence, Thomas and Patrick Hagarty (brothers-in-law of 
William Nettleton)  came also to the Greene area.  In l857, in the log cabin of Mr. and Mrs. 
Nettleton, a Mass service was offered by Father Durant.
    At the same time he baptized the oldest child of the Nettletons, which was the first 
Catholic baptism in the community. For some time, Masses were read in neighboring homes and 
there soon was talk of building a church.  Work began in l87l on the thirty acres of land 
donated by William Nettleton, which was across the road from the Nettleton homestead in the 
northeast corner of Section 25 of Coldwater Twp.	
    This church was the first church built in Butler County.  
    The first burial in the cemetery adjoining the church was Captain Charles Coffee, a 
veteran of both the Mexican and the Civil Wars, who was an engineer and the contractor of 
the church.  In the process of bringing a load of lumber from Clarksville to the church site, 
the horses became frightened and he lost control of the wagon which hit a stump and overturned 
on him. The injuries resulted in his death.  His funeral was held in the Nettleton home.
    The first burial from the church was that of Mathew Higgins, another Irishman, and the 
service was conducted before the interior of the church was finished.
    Services continued from the church until 1900, at which time the church was closed.  
It remained vacant until 1923 at which time the building was sold to W. M. Lovell and 
dismantled by him.  The cemetery, over the years, has been maintained by members of the 
parish of the Greene Church, although the last burial in the cemetery was that of 
Theresa Doyle, who died on December 31, 1937.  A tall wooden cross stand along the west 
side of the cemetery.  A plaque on it reads: "In Memory of the Pioneers who Kept the Faith". 
    Another plaque has been placed on the spot where the first Catholic Church once stood.  
It reads: "Site of St. Mary's Catholic Church Est. 1872  First Church in Butler County".
    The cemetery is located between Greene and Allison, east of Hwy 14 and just north of C23.

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The list of burials at Nettleton Cemtery can be reached from the Butler County Table of Contents.