Missouri Cemetery Records Research Guide
Accessing Missouri cemetery records is a great way to get a lot of the information you will need when you are trying to trace your family history.
Some of the information you can find in Missouri cemetery records cannot be found anywhere else.
Of course, these are not the only documents you are going to need for your research, but if you are just starting to compile information for research, this is a great place to start.
You can get pertinent information about people through Missouri cemetery records, and these records can lead you to more ancestors to do research on.
Missouri Cemetery and gravestone inscriptions are a rich source of information for family historians. For Definitions of all Cemetery Terms See Symbols on Gravestones and Their Interpretations
A Task that Can Take Years
It can take many years to complete a family tree, especially if you are really being thorough and taking the time to get all of the records you need for research, including Missouri cemetery records.
Even with all of the records you need, because you probably only have limited amounts of time to work with, it will take a long time to finish this type of project. Do not let this put you off.
Just because there is a lot of work involved, it does not mean that researching your family history is not fun and interesting.
In fact, when you are learning the things that documents such as Missouri cemetery records can tell you, you are going to want to learn more and more.
Of course, the more you learn, the more you are going to find out that you need to learn, and you will need to get even more Missouri cemetery records to make sure your research is thorough and complete.
Remember, the more you do now, the more information you will be leaving for future generations to learn from.
Missouri cemetery records can contain information about your ancestors that even your elderly relatives may not remember. These same Missouri cemetery records can also lead you to other ancestors, who you can also get records for.
You will learn things like how people died, how old they were when they died, where they died, and much more, just by requesting your own copies of Missouri cemetery records.
Research In Missouri Cemetery Records
Missouri cemeteries have no central registry. However, many cemetery inscriptions have been compiled by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The Family History Library has many of those records on microfilm.
The Ozarks Genealogical Society can provide an index to Missouri Ozarks cemetery locations. That listing covers more than 5,000 cemeteries across 41 counties.
The following national cemeteries are located in Missouri:
Springfield National Cemetery, 1702 E. Seminole St., Springfield, MO 65804. The names of all known soldiers buried there, including those transferred from towns throughout southwest Missouri, were published inOzar’kin, published by the Ozarks Genealogical Society in the four issues of volume 8 (1986). There is also an online index to burials.
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, 2900 Sheridan Rd., St. Louis, MO 63125 www.cem.va.gov/nchp/jeffersonbarracks.htm. A computerized grave locater kiosk is available at the cemetery’s Administration Building, and an to online index to burials.
Jefferson City National Cemetery, 1024 E. McCarty St., Jefferson City, MO 65101. The researcher may contact Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery for information, or access an online index to burials.
Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Higginsville, 20109 Business Hwy. 13, Higginsville, MO 64037. An incomplete index of burials can be found  online index to burials.
Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Springfield, 5201 S. Southwood Rd., Springfield, MO 65804. Researchers can find an incomplete  online index to burials.
St. James Missouri Veterans Home Cemetery, 620 N. Jefferson, St. James, MO 65559. This cemetery includes burials from the Civil War era forward.
Two new state veterans cemeteries at Bloomfield and Jacksonville are scheduled to open in late 2003 or early 2004.
Famous People Buried in Missouri Cemeteries
| County | Name / Date / Cemetery | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Boone | Jefferson, Thomas 4/13/1743 – 7/4/1826 University of Missouri Quadrangle Memorial | American Founding Father. Third President of the United States. |
| Clay | James, Jesse Woodson 9/5/1847 – 4/3/1882 Jesse James Farm | Western Outlaw. He was born Jesse Woodson James in Kearney, Missouri to Baptist minister Reverend Robert and Zerelda James and the younger brother of James. |
| Clay | James, Jesse Woodson 9/5/1847 – 4/3/1882 Mount Olivet Cemetery | Western Outlaw. He was born Jesse Woodson James in Kearney, Missouri to Baptist minister Reverend Robert and Zerelda James and the younger brother of James. |
| Greene | Pearl Harbor Memorial – Springfield National Cemetery | Erected in by the Missouri Pearl Harbor Surviours in 1992, the monument is dedicated to the memory of all the US Forces whom gave their lives on December 7, 1941. |
| Jackson | Cronkite Jr. , Walter Leland 11/4/1916 – 7/17/2009 Mount Moriah Cemetery | Television Broadcast JournaliSt. |
| Jackson | James, Frank (Alexander) 1/10/1843 – 2/18/1915 Hill Park Cemetery | Western Outlaw. He was born Alexander Franklin James in Kearney, Missouri to a Baptist minister. |
| Jackson | Paige, Satchel (Leroy Robert) 7/7/1906 – 6/8/1982 Forest Hill Cemetery | Hall of Fame Negro and Major League Baseball Player. Gaining his nickname as a railroad porter as a boy, he became a legendary right-handed pitcher. |
| Jackson | Truman (Wallace), Bess (Elizabeth Virginia) 2/13/1885 – 10/18/1982 Harry S. Truman Library and Museum | First Lady, wife of the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S Truman. She was born in Independence, Missouri the eldest child and only daughter of David Willock and Madge (Gates) Wallace. |
| Jackson | Truman, Harry S. May 8, 1884 – 12/26/1972 Harry S. Truman Library and Museum | 33rd United States President. He was the third vice president under Franklin Roosevelt and was in office but two months when the Presidency was thrust upon him by the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
| St. Louis city | Clark, William 8/1/1770 – 9/1/1838 Bellefontaine Cemetery | Explorer. Born in Caroline County Virginia, Clark moved with his family to Louisville, Kentucky in 1785. |
| St. Louis city | Hawken, Samuel 10/26/1792 – 5/9/1884 Bellefontaine Cemetery | Gunsmith. Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, he moved west to establish a gunsmithy in Xenia, Ohio. |
| St. Louis city | Kearny, Stephen Watts 8/30/1796 – 10/30/1848 Bellefontaine Cemetery | United States Army General. A veteran of the War of 1812, he later commanded Fort Leavenworth where he protected the wagon trains enroute to Oregon and Santa Fe. |
| St. Louis city | Knapp, John 6/30/1816 – 11/11/1888 Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum | Knapp’s military service began in 1840 when he enlisted as a private in a St. Louis militia company. |
| St. Louis city | Pontiac 9/15/1904 – 11/3/1904 Chief Pontiac Gravesite | Chief of the Ottawa Indians. In 1763 he led the “Pontiac Conspiracy,” it was an uprising against the British from the Great Lakes Region, to New York and then to Pennsylvania. |
| St. Louis city | Sherman, William Tecumseh 2/8/1820 – 2/14/1891 Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum | Civil War General, businessman, and author. General Sherman led an army of sixty-two thousand men with thirty-five thousand horses and twenty-five hundred wagons on an overland march to Savannah on a mission to punish the south for its secession from the union. |
| St. Louis city | Williams, Tennessee (Thomas Lanier) 3/26/1911 – 2/25/1983 Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum | Playwright, Novelist, Short-Story Writer. |
| St. Louis | 56th United States Colored Troops Monument – Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery | Monument to the 56th Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops. This obelisk honors the memory of the 175 soldiers of the 56th USCT who died of cholera in August 1866. In 1939 the monument and the remains were removed from “Quarantine Station, Missouri” by authority of the War Department. |
| St. Louis | Memorial to the Unknown Dead – Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery | Memorial to Unknown Dead 1861-1865. Dedicated by Annie Whittenmeyer Tent #3, Daughters of Veterans U.S.A. Monument reads: “On fame’s eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread While glory guards with solumn round The bivouac of the dead. “ |
| St. Louis | Merrifield, James K. 8/20/1844 – 9/7/1916 Valhalla Cemetery | Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. Born in Pennsylvania, he served as a Corporal in Company C, 88th Illinois Infantry, Union Army. |
| Taney | Trigger 4/15/1905 – 5/18/1905 Roy Rogers – Dale Evans Museum (Defunct) | Show Horse. The trusty golden palomino steed of Roy Rogers was already a trained horse sired by a thoroughbred that had raced at Caliente Racetrack in Mexico. |
| Wright | Kelley, Ova Arthur 3/27/1914 – 12/10/1944 Oak Grove Cemetery | World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. He was killed in action. |
| Wright | Wilder, Laura Elizabeth 2/7/1867 – 2/10/1957 Mansfield Cemetery | Pioneer, Author. Born Laura Elizabeth Ingalls in Pepin, Wisconsin, the second daughter ofCharles and Caroline Quiner Ingalls. The Ingalls family traveled by covered wagon to short residences in Iowa, Minnesota, and Kansas, before settling in DeSmet, South Dakota, one of two families who founded the town. |
Missouri Cemeteries
| Cemetery Name | Cemetery City |
|---|---|
| Alexander Cemetery | Carterville |
| Columbia Cemetery | Columbia |
| Jewell Cemetery State Historic Site | Columbia |
| Grand View Burial Park | Hannibal |
| Quinette Cemetery | Kirkwood |
| Bollinger County Memorial Park Cemetery | Marble Hill |
| Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries | St. Louis |
| Eddie Cemetery | St. Louis County |
Missouri Cemeteries & Graveyards Links
- Web: Missouri, Find A Grave Index, 1812-2011
- Find a Grave – Missouri Cemeteries
- The Missouri Political Graveyard
- Missouri Cemetery Inscription Sources
- Missouri Cemetery Books
