Rhinehart Cemetery

The Rhinehart Cemetery is located seven miles north and a little over three miles east of Cozad in Dawson County, Nebraska. This small community cemetery is situated in the middle of pasture land on a hill over looking the Platte River Valley. The name Rhinehart came into being as the cemetery was on land owned at one time by the Rhinehart family. An obituary written in 1890 refers to this cemetery as the Buffalo Table cemetery. A small cemetery, it has been enclosed by a wire fence to keep the cattle from trampling the few remaining gravemarkers. The cemetery dates back to the early 1880's and was used for about twenty years, when the Bethel Church and cemetery were started in 1894 some of the bodies were moved to Bethel (the Bethel cemetery is also known as Cottonwood cemetery and the Church is gone). In a copy of Mrs. Mary Darlings report to the Dawson County Historical Society, dated October 11, 1962, she stated "No records or plot of this cemetery can be found. There are only four gravestones intact. Some of the other burials are known but there is no way of telling which is which."

The four remaining gravestones in 1962 were:

Ola Harrison         born 29 May 1881     died 16 June 1885
Mary Shannon         died 4 Sept 1890     age 51 years 14 days
Mary Whaley Hawley   died 23 April 1899
John Hawley          died 19 Sept 1899    age 76 years 2 mo 2 days

The following are known burials either from the 1962 report or family genealogy records:

Alfred Pearson    born 8 Jan 1832       died December 4, 1882
                 -of gunshot wounds inflicted by John J. Cozad
                 (Alfred was the son of Henry and Abagail Bradway Pearson)

Rachel Harriet Agnes Leonard Pearson    
                  born  29 Sept 1829    died 15 Jan 1894
                 (wife of Alfred Pearson, daughter of John G. and
                  Saloma D. Ward Leonard)

William Alfred Pearson   born 20 Oct 1853  died 25 Dec 1886
                 (son of Alfred and Rachel Harriet Agnes Leonard Pearson)

Baby Pearson      date of death unknown     
                 (son of George Quency (Dick) and Frances Wright Pearson)

Three children of John Henry and Rose Ann "Dee" Berryman Borders:
     William McCarel Borders  born 3 July 1880        died in infancy
     Roy Theodore Borders     born  Dec 1881          died in infancy
     Claudy Borders           born 10 July 1883       died 1886 

Four children of James Hiram and Martha W. Borders Cover:
     Maud Cover               born 17 Sept 1882       died 9 August 1884
     Fredrick Cover           born 10 Jan 1889        died July 1890
     Orpha Cover              born 16 Sept 1892       died 1898
     Eugene Rover Cover       born 3 May 1894         died 1894

Alice Rebecca "Ellen" Buckley born 14 Sept 1885/6     died 27 May 1890
                 (daughter of Oliver and Mae Pearson Buckley)

Buckley          Two other Buckley children are noted on the 1962 report.

Curtis Berryman               infant brother of  Troy Berryman

_____ Berryman                infant brother of  Frank Berryman

Bolen Thomason                born 4 Dec 1830         died 12 March 1890 
                              - Father of Robert Thomason

Two bodies are known to have been moved to Cottonwood Cemetery (also known as Bethel Cemetery). They were:

Etta Rhinehart                died 1887, age 17
_____ Achison                 died 1884

Prepared by:

Beverly Scrutchfield Diefenderfer
September 1997