While visiting with Jon Fenwick, the then Ogallala Cemetery Manager, in June 2001, we were sitting in his office chatting, when he suddenly reached for a sheaf of legal size pages. "Do you have this?" he asked. I took the papers and after reading what they were, pretended to go out the door with then saying to him "No, but I do now!"

This incredible document that I have transcribed is a so-called "Resume of Deaths and Burials." What makes it even more amazing is that this "resume" is attributed to Keith County's own colorful C.C. "Doc" Arrowsmith, and was originally transcribed by Fae Christensen of Paxton. And last but not least, the original document was very nearly thrown away after a fire at the Keith County courthouse. I can assure you, it would have been a terrible loss.

There are six different links below that comprise this document, namely four pages with the actual documentation containing names, residences, death and burial dates, burial locations, cause of death, and in some cases, enough information to guesstimate a birthdate. These pages are ordered chronologically by death date.

If you are searching for a particular person, you are in luck. The fifth page is an alphabetical index (by surname) of people listed in the resume. You can scroll through this index, find the person's death date, and then jump to the appropriate page of the resume.

The sixth page is notes and background. I highly encourage you to read this before going through the index the first time. There are some notes and explanations that will clarify many items within the index that would otherwise seem odd.

Special thanks to Jon for bringing this document to my attention, and also to Toney Krajewski, the Ogallala City Works Manager for making sure I got out of his office with these copies the very same day.