LOUP COUNTY NEBRASKA GENEALOGY TRAILS KENT CEMEMTERY

The Kent Cemetery has been in use since the very first settlers came to the Valley.  The north slope of the hill was chosen overlooking the North Loup River Valley, a very beautiful location, which is one mile west and south of the Kent Townsite.  Benjamin J. Harvey gave the first land on the corner of his homestead, his wife Mary being one of the first graves. On April 19, 1894, 79 maple and mountain ash trees were purchased from Boone County Nursery at a cost of $20.00 with a charge for trip to Burwell to get the trees and 2 1/2 days to set them out of $4.75 total.  The record state these trees were purchased and set out "on line".  None of these trees exist today.  When the cedar and pine trees were set in is not known. Uriah Bromwich acted as caretaker until his death October 28, 1916, but he had turned most of the work over to his son Will, after his health began to fail.  Will Bromwich was officially appointed in his place at that time.  A position he held for 50 years, until failing health forced his retirement.   This was a service he loved to give to the community. All of these earlier years the graves were dug by friends of the family of deceased, no matter what kind of weather.  Now the undertaker sees to having the grave dug. In the earlier years even lowering of the casket into the grave was done by friends, by means of two long leather straps 20 to 25 feet long.  I have even heard them tell of taking the ones from the harnesses and fastening them together and using them in some cases in place of the regular straps for lowering the casket into the grave. In the early pioneer days even the casket was made by friends and often lined with the material from someones best satin or taffeta dress skirt.  The body was laid-out in a cool room of the home and two to four friends came in and "sat-up" as it was called with body, during the night, with others taking the day shift and helping the family in any way they could at the time.  The funerals were often also held in the home or the community school house, the hearse was horse drawn and was black in color, or it might only be a neighbors lumber wagon, in early days.  All lady relatives wore black garments and black veils and the men wore black silk crepe hat bands and black crepe arm bands. Most widows wore black or dark grey colored dresses for from six months to a year after a close relative's death and attended no entertainment of any kind during that same period of time. The horse drawn hearse was dispensed with in about 1916, as the cars trying to follow could hardly go slow enough and there were no self-starters, so if a car quit running, they had to get out and crank it until it would go again and if you happened to flood it, it might take a while to get it going. Excerpt from the Loup County Centennial Book 1883-1983 Written by: Floy Fletcher Transcribed by: Melody Beery-

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