Description
Improvements have lately been made to the Mt. Gilead cemetery, at Port William. This cemetery is said to be the only one devoted exclusively to colored people in Kansas. There is only one white person buried in this graveyard—James Sains, who married a colored woman. James H. Johnson, the well-known colored citizen of Port William, afterwards married his widow. Mt. Gilead cemetery was laid out nearly 40 years ago. The first person buried there is said to have been a son of the late “Uncle Billy” Lewis of Atchison. “Uncle Billy” was one of the patriarchs of the Port William settlement. Several interesting characters are buried in the cemetery here. As stated in The Globe some time ago, there reposes in this graveyard the remains of the body servants of the two great contending generals of the Shenandoah valley campaign of the Civil war. John Halsey was Gen. Phil Sheridan’s servant during that memorable campaign, while John Taylor remained with Gen. Jubal A. Early throughout the war. Here sleeps “Aunt Liza” Porter, who died at the age of nearly 102 years. This venerable colored woman once worked for Gen. Andrew Jackson, and was acquainted with Henry Clay and other noted men of that period. She was born in Logan County, Kentucky, August 16, 1792. Her 100th birthday was celebrated by the white and colored people of Walnut township in 1892 (born ~1792). “Uncle Bob” Richardson, who is buried here, cleared the timber from the present site of the Soldiers’ Home, at Leavenworth. He was also a freighter on the plains, a gold digger in the far West, and had many interesting experiences. Washington Marks, another tenant of Mt. Gilead, was for many years doorkeeper of the Kansas State Senate. Mt. Gilead is a picturesque eminence overlooking the Owl Creek valley, and is situated in the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 9.Date(s) of Creation
11/22/1907
