Natrona County WY Archives Cemeteries.....Midwest Cemetery - Complete Survey ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wy/wyfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Linda J. Livingstone lliving@escapees.com August 22, 2005, 2:38 pm Abstracted By: Linda J. Livingstone Four miles northwest of Midwest and about one-half mile south of the highway. No road to the cemetery is visible in any direction, although access is possible by a private ranch road. (See newspaper article transcribed to 'other comments'. Last Name First Name Middle Name Birth Death Comment ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Albie LeRoy 23 Feb 1933 Stillborn Albie Wayne 8 Jan 1934 1 hour Shirley Ann Anderson 19 may 1932 Stillborn Lutrice Joy Ayres 9 Dec 1929 19 days Bahmer Jacob 28 Dec 1927 65 years Baker Male 14 Jun 1927 Stillborn Baker William Bart 16 Apr 1926 10 days Baxter Edmund Albert 3 Nov 1925 1 year Bedell William Vernice 27 Dec 1925 1 yr 11 mo Bennett Joseph 7 Jun 1930 Stillborn Bennett Patrick James 30 Sep 1929 Stillborn Blackmore John Wesley 15 Oct 1930 Stillborn Boren Vernon Orval 20 Nov 1927 Stillborn Boulter Francis O. 26 may 1928 71 years Buchanan Lyle Lavere 27 Nov 1929 Stillborn Burns Male 21 Feb 1926 Stillborn Burns Margaret Maud 1 Oct 1926 Stillborn Burris George William 14 Mar 1927 49 yr 6 mo 21 dy Cady Betty Jean 10 Jan 1930 Stillborn Cady George Glenn 30 May 1932 Stillborn Castlebury Male 15 Apr 1928 1 hour Dietz John Dorsey 27 Apr 1932 Stillborn Doss Robert William 7 Sep 1929 Stillborn Elly Ellsworth Lee 23 Nov 1932 Stillborn Feezer Clara Jane 30 Jan 1931 Stillborn Fullerton Ernestine Ruth 8 Feb 1927 9 days Fullerton Richard Roy 4 Apr 1929 5 mo 28 dy Gibbons Edgar Duane 23 Apr 1930 17 days Gibbons Merlin 29 Mar 1931 Stillborn Graves Jos Frederick 31 Dec 1929 2 days Hagan Jr. Orell James 21 Sep 1926 3 hours Halstead M/F Twins 13 Aug 1928 Stillborn Harrison Carolyn J. 4 Oct 1929 2 hours Jamieson Albert 30 Dec 1929 Stillborn Jandreau Mary Lou 10 Mar 1933 Stillborn Jensen Billie Irene 10 Feb 1926 10 days Jepson Robert Elmer 14 Apr 1933 7 hours Johnson Beatrice Susan 19 mar 1926 2 mo 17 dy Johnston Sheldon Leroy 20 Feb 1926 3 days Kirkpatrick Alice Evangeline 12 Jan 1928 18 yr 4 mo 20 dy Kennelly Female 5 Dec 1926 Stillborn Larson Floyd Edward 29 Dec 1927 1 3/4 days Lollar Gaby 1935 Long Betty Lou 30 Dec 1929 Stillborn Long David 6 May 1931 Stillborn Longnecker Carl Elmer 14 Jun 1930 Stillborn Lueck Arthur Daniel 17 Feb 1931 Stillborn Mann Robert6 23 Nov 1928 3 days Mapes Charles 28 Jan 1927 Stillborn Mashek Barbara Jean 8 May 1930 9 hours Maxwell Albert Vern 12 Dec 1927 12 hours Mcgill Geraldine 26 Nov 1928 12 days McIlnay Mary Jane 7 Feb 1927 Stillborn McLean Grace Darline 31 Jan 1929 9 mo 16 dy Milton Robert 23 Oct 1928 4 days Moore Dale 13 Jul 1927 5 mo 8 dy Mostead Wanda May 5 Sep 1926 13 days Muselman Frederic Foster 18 Nov 1928 5 days Nance Female 18 Jun 1928 Stillborn Oliver Ruth Sylvia 9 Aug 1929 Stillborn Petty Wyoma June 6 Jul 1926 Stillborn Pilant Roy 10 Jun 1931 Stillborn Potter Robert Engle 2 Dec 1928 2 months Rhodes Marjory Genevieve 5 Mar 1927 Stillborn Robertson Charles Howard 27 Jan 1928 1 1/2 hours Seabert Male 20 Jun 1927 10 days Sipe Charles Derland 6 Jan 1928 21 days Smith Duane Dickinson 16 Oct 1928 5 days Smith Frances Lee 7 Feb 1928 5 hours Smith Thomas Leo 4 Apr 1929 1 mo 12 dy Stalley Ralph Raymond 8 jan 1928 11 yr 5 mo Stauffer Male 1 Apr 1926 Stillborn Talmage James Allen 13 Nov 1924 4 yr 23 dy Thompson Donna Belle 27 Nov 1927 Stillborn Thompson Walter Mar 1934 1 day Tribble Arthur Graham 25 May 1926 21 days Tribble Delores 29 Jul 1932 1 month Wallace Wm. Robert 6 Oct 1931 Stillborn Warren Peggy Ruth 20 Aug 1928 Stillborn Weigt Martin Joan 29 Sep 1928 3 mo 29 dy Whitley Leo Eston 25 Dec 1928 4 mo Wilson Female 103 years Additional Comments: June 3, 1983 By Luilla Thompson (Paper unknown, perhaps Casper paper) Time Erodes Cemetery Windswept Prairie grasses threaten to engulf old company cemetery as they have the road which once was used for funeral processions. Located northwest of the town of Midwest, the cemetery was used largely from 1925 to 1937, but had its last burial in 1970. Four miles northwest of Midwest and about one-half mile south of the highway a stout sheep tight fence surrounds four acres of an almost forgotten cemetery. Meadow larks and field larks sing from the native bushes and a brave little patch of frost bitten purple iris blooms amidst the many varieties of wild spring flowers scattered among the grave markers. No road to the cemetery is visible in any direction, although Walter Schultz, who has lived here many years, says access is possible by a private ranch road. The original cemetery road is long over grown with the grass and the bridge across the gully has disappeared.* According to the 1925 Midwest Review, the Industrial County of the Midwest Refining Company secured title to the ground in Section 31-11-78 for the purpose of establishing a cemetery. As the Midwest Cemetery proprietor, the company maintained the fence, roads to and within the cemetery, assigned lots and issued burial permits. Burial plots were free to employees of the Midwest Oil Company and its associated companies, the members of their families, but outsiders including contractors and their employees were charged a fee of $10 for full sized plots and $5 for a half sized plot. The title to the ground would remain vested with the company and no deeds were issued to the plots. However, lot holders could reserve plots for exclusive use of their families. The Midwest Review said in 1925, “The spot chosen is the most attractive that can be selected for the purpose in the field…it’s a short distance over the well kept road and in the distance loom the snow capped peaks of the Big Horns. To the south, as far as the eye can reach, the great forest of derricks by day and the scintillation of thousands of lights at night, mark the Great Salt Creek Oilfield.” Ninety three company markers made of a 12 inch half circle of steel on an iron center rod, stand as lonely sentinels marking graves dating from 1925 to 1937. Several granite** headstones, the latest dated 1945, denote other burials. Several grave mounds have no marker at all. Each company marker carried the name of the deceased, birth date and death year in black painted on a white background. Many are now illegible and in a few years none will be readable.*** Apparently, the grave sexton’s records have been lost and when the paint has succumbed to the ravages of time, unless steps are taken soon to preserve the identity of those buried here, future generation will never know who lies in the over 100 plots.**** According to Pauline Schultz, local historian for the area, the last burial occurred in the late 1970’s, when a grave containing a small infant was exhumed from its resting place at the Chapman Construction Company yard and reburied in the old cemetery. The flag pole stands straight, empty without rope, a silent reminder of days past when horses and wagons carried the funeral procession to this particular spot. * 2005 - There is now a passable road (in good weather) and the gully is crossable. ** 2005 – Only two are seen now. *** 2005 – They are now painted all white can be read with close securitization. The names were etched as well as painted, but have been painted over. **** 2005 – In 1993 the original records were found and passed on to the museum curator. The chart is hanging on the museum wall. It includes the names, dates and parents of each person buried in the Midwest Cemetery. There is an additional small cemetery in Midwest where burials before 1925 were made. There are no 'real' records and there are unmarked graves. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wy/natrona/cemeteries/midwestc2gcm.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wyfiles/ File size: 11.5 Kb