St. Joseph Cemetery

Researched by: Tim Dormady © 2007

St. Joseph Cemetery

The St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery was established in the 1880. It was made for St. Joseph Parish in Shawnee. The 10 acre cemetery was given to the Catholic Cemeteries of Wyandotte & Johnson Counties, Inc. in 1961. The tombstones and the grounds are in excellent condition and the tombstones are easy to read. The St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery is located at 6300 Quivira Rd. in Shawnee, Kansas. It is located next to other cemeteries such as the Pleasant View Cemetery and the Shawnee Indian Cemetery.

Taylor made a chart to show how often names of local families appear in the St. Joseph Cemetery.  Many of these familiar names are local street names.

Linda Lewis shared this additional information about the St. Joseph Cemetery.

This cemetery is the southern-most of three adjoining cemeteries located on Quivira Rd in Shawnee. This cemetery originally served the St. Joseph parish and was established in the 1800s. The Catholic Cemeteries of Wyandotte and Johnson County, Inc. took over the care and maintenance of this cemetery in the 1960s.

The oldest marked interment is for S Uelauter Nunnink, 1840 - 1862. The next oldest is Frederick Henry, d. 29 Jun 1865, aged 65 years, and there is a total of five marked interments from the 1860s.

Based on its location next to Shawnee Cemetery and its appearance, it seems that these two cemeteries started about the same time, separated simply by a line or space.

The land where these cemeteries are situated was originally patented to M. P Randall, a Shawnee Indian. M P Randall sold a portion of his land to the Shawnee Town Company, however the land where Shawnee and St. Joseph's cemeteries are located was not part of the original Shawnee Town.

The Heirs of Randall, consisting of Eliza, wife of the deceased M P Randall, and their children William, Mary Jane, and Julia Ann, sold the portion of land where the two cemeteries are located to Thomas Douglas. On 14 Feb 1874, Thomas Douglas sold this land in part to L. M Frink, Catholic Bishop of Leavenworth, for St. Joseph Cemetery, and to the Trustees for Shawnee Cemetery Association. At the time of this sale, both cemeteries were already in existence.

Based in the index of gravestone inscriptions, this cemetery shows a steady growth from its beginnings in the 1860s through its peak in the 1960s. Since 1976, interments in this cemetery show a steady decline.

Citations

Lewis, Linda. "Antioch Pioneer Cemetery." www.interment.net. 12 November 2005. 6 Feb 2007
Lewis, Linda. "Antioch Pioneer Cemetery." skyways.lib. 29 May 2005. Antioch Cemetery Association. 6 Feb 2007
Lewis, Linda. "Saint Joseph Cemetery." www.interment.net. 03 October 2006. 6 Feb 2007 Rollins, Carol. "Saint Joseph Catholic Cemetery." skyways.lib. 16 April 2006. 6 Feb 2007 http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/johnson/cemetery/stjoseph.html>.
Lewis, Linda. "Saint Joseph Cemetery." www.ctholiccemeterieskc.org. 2004. Catholic Cemeteries. 6 Feb 2007

Related Links

Johnson County Digital Cemetery Project
Johnson County Cemetery Transcriptions
Kansas Genealogical Society
Interment.com