By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph’s past speaks volumes in the latest book on Mt. Mora Cemetery.
The cemetery, which officially opened in 1851, comes to life in the book entitled Voices of the Past Mount Mora Cemetery.
Author Suzanne Lehr says Mt. Mora is extraordinary and not just for St. Joseph.
“We’ve got more governors than any other cemetery in Missouri, except of course Bellefontaine over in St. Louis,” Lehr says. “And we have Pony (Express) riders and we have architects and inventors and musicians and gardeners and writers. But not just ordinary people doing those things, but people that became famous in those fields.”
Lehr’s writing is supplemented by the photographs of Megan Wyeth who says she has been photographing Mt. Mora since she was a teenager. Wyeth says taking photographs at the cemetery never gets old.
“It’s the landscape. It’s the hills. Between the trees and the tombstones and the way the roads turn, it’s the light, the light, it just changes. It can change in a couple of minutes,” Wyeth says. “And it just always intrigues me. It’s always different every time I go.”
In the book, Lehr tells the stories of those who found their final resting place at Mt. Mora. Some are quite fascinating, according to Lehr, such as the story behind the tombstone of David Heaton.
“And on the back, it lists David Heaton and a wife and how many children they had and then it lists another wife and their children and another wife and their children and he ended up having four boys and nine girls. That was fascinating,” Lehr says. “And then when I was researching for this book, I learned that David Heaton had four wives. The wife between the second and the fourth wife didn’t have children, so she didn’t make the tombstone.”
Mt. Mora Cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, because of those buried there, those known in St. Joseph as well as nationally.
The book sells for $25 with the proceeds going to Mt. Mora.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.