Many of those that came to Colorado to explore or trap, as well as those that came in 1858 and 1859 in the early days of the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush, were buried in graves that had no permanent markings. Many were buried along the trails leading across the plains from Kansas that led to Denver. A branch of the Smoky Hill Trail was called the Starvation Trail.
Even after burial grounds were established many were interred that we cannot identify today. As the referenced publications are processed for the names of those buried in one cemetery or another, it is often noted that in some cemeteries there are more graves that cannot be identified than those that can be. Other authors have supplemented recordings with burial records or newspaper accounts to identify what the tombstones don’t show.
Many of the older burial sites are small and in rural areas, often known today by no name other than “Rural Cemetery” or “Unknown Grave.” Some have some readable tombstones, some do not and burial records exist only in the minds of some locals. Some have become so overgrown that they can no longer be located. Others have had the fences deteriorate so that cattle have virtually destroyed them, leaving pushed over and broken tombstones. Vandalism hasn’t helped the cause of keeping the occupants known.
This project attempts to record in the form of an index what is known and has been published over the past 50 or more years. There are 84,400 names listed and the cemeteries where they have been interred. These names come from individual graves to cemeteries of up to 2,700 recorded names. These are the burial sites scattered throughout Colorado, sites that would seem to be the hardest for researchers to locate family or ancestors. Most, especially the smallest of the sites, have no sexton or caretaker. Some of the larger of those indexed do have some records as do the very large and modern cemeteries of the day. When this project was completed, 1,104 of these burial sites had been indexed in this publication.
Many of the cemeteries have been “walked” or “recorded” by as many as six different authors. Rockland, Parker, Franktown, Hygiene, Sunshine, Superior (Old Louisville) and Wesley Chapel come to mind. Many, many others of the smaller, more rural cemeteries have never been recorded. If they have, the documentation may only exist in local collections. There is a great deal of interest in recent years recording cemeteries. Recently the Internet seems to have inspired more to record and publish. Those interested would be encouraged to review Cemeteries of Colorado by this same author and look for cemeteries that have no cataloged publications or periodicals shown in the reference column and make an effort to find and record the names. Cemeteries of Colorado is organized by county. Pick a county and get started. Make it a GPS (Geographical Positioning System) project. Although some burial sites seem to have been lost forever, the publication tells where many are and how they can be reached. Remember to make contact with the locals and get permission from the landowners.
My thanks goes to James K. Jeffrey at the Denver Public Library for his help and encouragement. In recent years he has aggressively acquired Colorado cemetery publications that proved vitally important for this undertaking.
Donald R. Elliott
