Humboldt County
Historical Association
PO Box 162
Humboldt, Iowa
50548
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INDIAN MOUND CEMETERY
From: History of
Kossuth and Humboldt Counties, Iowa, 1884,
p. 805
Indian Mound Cemetery is located on the southwest corner of section
13, township 91, range 29, and is so called from a large mound which is
one, if not the highest point in the county, and from which pieces of
human bones have been excavated, proving it to have been an ancient
burial ground.
It is owned by the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, which was
incorporated Jan. 12, 1881, and is now controlled by five trustees.
These at present are J. G. Lorbeer, president; C. A. Stoebe, A.
C.. Nopens, H. J. Ketman, F. W. Bowen.
It lies in a beautiful and sightly spot, and when ornamented as it is
intended to be, will be a pleasant place to carry the cherished dear
ones who drop from the busy world. It is well secured with a good five
barbed wire fence, enclosing two acres. There have been some twenty
interments already. Considerable has already been done to beautify the
grounds. The first burial was Mrs. Christian Lor4beer, or "Mother
Lorbeer" as she was more familiarly called, who died June 27, 1870.
From: Index to Humboldt County Cemeteries, Book 1; compiled by Humboldt County Genealogical Society
Indian Mound cemetery is located approximately two and one-half
miles south of Dakota City, Iowa on the Frank Gotch Park road.
In 1938 a Geodetic survey
showed the "Mound" was to be known as the highest point of natural earth
surface between the forks of the Des Moines River in Humboldt County.
The reason this was named
"Indian Mound," is that Indians used this high vantage point for an
observation point because there were few trees. The visibility was good
in all directions for great distances and many Indian battles were known
to be at or near the area where the two forks of the Des Moines River
merge. It is not known for sure if there are any Indians buried at the
Mound, but it is doubtful because the Mound is of very course gravel and
would have been very difficult to dig, according to older residents. The
area of the "Mound was probably used by the Indians as a possible
campsite or observation point only.
The land around and
including the cemetery was owned by early settlers, the Lorbeer family.
In those pioneer days the cemetery was laid out originally as a Lorbeer
family cemetery, and most of the elderly Lorbeers and some children and
in-laws of the family are buried there.
In approximately 1857 the
Lorbeer Cemetery, as it was then known, sold lots or burial places to
the Pioneer settlers, thus becoming a public cemetery. The name The
Indian Mound Cemetery, as a public cemetery, was not legally recorded at
the Humboldt County Court House in Dakota City until September 22, 1940.
In 1962 the law required registration with the office of the Secretary
of State of Iowa. It was then that the trustees had the cemetery
resurveyed and registered on September 1, 1963. The cemetery measures
580 feet East to West and 246 feet North to South, covering 142, 680
square feet or 3.28 acres, including roadways in the cemetery.