The Sibley Cemetery, located to the south of the Fort Osage Education Center, dates back to 1810 making it the oldest cemetery in Jackson County and the oldest Euro-American Cemetery in Western Missouri. There are 600 known graves in the cemetery, with the oldest graves being soldiers from Fort Osage and the Stephen Long Expedition. There are Veterans of the War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam buried in the Cemetery. Twenty percent of the graves are children and illustrate the high childhood mortality rate in the 19th Century. Life expectancy in 1800 was 30 and only 50 in 1900, this reflects the high toll that diseases such as pneumonia, flu, cholera and scurvy had on people.
Characteristics of the Cemetery
• The Cedar Trees in this cemetery and in other cemeteries are symbols of immortality.
• The cemetery is a “Potter’s Field”, which means there are no set plots for the graves.
• Most of the people buried in the Sibley Cemetery are grouped with their family.
The cemetery is maintained by Jackson County Parks + Rec. Since the Sibley Cemetery is filled beyond capacity, it is closed to all future burials.
To learn more about the Sibley Cemetery, please visit https://historicsibleymo.com/sibleycemetery/
