Shipley Cemetery

The cemetery itself lies in Section 32 of Fort Calhoun Township, on the line between Washington and Douglas counties, and a transcription from a June 2002 visit lists seventeen stones. Most mark children. James Shipley, the 1861 burial, lived nine months; Eva Shipley lived eleven days in 1874, and a William born in 1859 died in January 1865. The Johansens lost Catherine, 21, and Sophia, 12, eleven days apart in October 1897. William Shipley himself was born March 21, 1803 and died April 9, 1887. A cemetery association formed in 1979 to rescue the neglected ground.

What the plaque says

Shipley Cemetery The Shipley Cemetery, named for William Shipley, is located one-half mile north of this marker. In 1893 Shipley deeded part of his homestead for public use as a cemetery. The oldest known burial, dated 1861, is Shipley's grandson, James. In addition to William Shipley, more than half of the twenty-five known burials bear the Shipley name. Others include Richard Woolsey who, with William Shipley, served in the Nebraska Cavalry during the Civil War. The Shipley Cemetery Historical Association and Washington County have restored and maintained the cemetery. Shipley Cemetery Historical Association Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Winter Quarters and the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery — 2.9 mi
  The Latter-day Saint camp of 1846 to 1848 on Omaha land in what is now Florence, where hundreds died the first winter, and the cemetery and trail center beside it.
• Fort Atkinson State Historical Park — 5.9 mi
  The first U.S. Army post west of the Missouri, a garrison town of more than a thousand people on Council Bluff from 1820 to 1827, rebuilt on its own foundations.
• Malcolm X Birthsite — 5.9 mi
  The North Omaha lot where Malcolm Little was born in May 1925 and his family was driven out by the Klan, saved by Rowena Moore and now planned as a cultural center.
• Joslyn Art Museum — 8.1 mi
  Omaha's free art museum, a 1931 Art Deco memorial with two modern pavilions, and the keeper of Karl Bodmer's watercolors from the upper Missouri in 1833 and 1834.

More markers nearby

• The Bank of Florence — 2.8 mi
• Winter Quarters — 2.9 mi
• Potter's Field — 3.1 mi
• Fort Atkinson — 4.0 mi