County to explore ways to Poor Farm Cemetery

By NEIL O. NELSON
At last count there were 14 buried at the Poor Farm Cemetery near Caledonia.
Plotted in 1932 to accommodate a total of 96 graves, there’s little chance the cemetery will see any more burials on the property along the Red River three miles north and east of Caledonia.
Trouble is, access is not available to the forgotten cemetery.
Dallas Boeddeker wants to change that; rather, he would like the Traill County commissioners to alter the landscape leading to the burial plot in Caledonia Township, where in a span of 10 years (1933-1942) 14 people were buried.
The cemetery and its 14 grave sites today is surrounded by cropland. Much of the privately-owned land encompassing the 96 grave sites is being farmed.
Boeddeker, a Caledonia Township officer, has attempted to gain access to the old cemetery. He was told to stay off the property.
Meeting Tuesday with Traill’s five commissioners, Boeddeker didn’t suggest the board venture on the property. He simply submitted that the county should have the authority to open the cemetery to the public.
If that wasn’t possible, he would withdraw the suggestion.
But not without a certain degree of hesitancy.
He’s certain there must be family and friends of at least one or some of the 14 buried there who would someday wish to visit the forgotten cemetery.
The public should be allowed access to the cemetery, Boeddeker emphasized.
The county commission agrees with the retired farmer.
The county on different occasions has inquired as to the accessibility of the Poor Farm Cemetery. But a concentrated effort to gain access to the cemetery, or to provide a means for the public to have access to the burial site was never made.
The land is owned by the Jerry Kimbrell family. Steve Kimbrell has built a house on the land where the Traill County Poor Farm was located.
The commissioners on Tuesday directed states attorney Stuart Larson to explore avenues the county might take in providing access to the 76-year-old burial plot.
A makeshift road could be built along a section line to the cemetery, was suggested at this week’s commission meeting.
Larson said he would attempt to have a dialogue with the Kimbrell family. The Hillsboro attorney has talked before with Mike Kimbrell on the issue of the Poor Farm. Kimbrell, son of Gerald and Ruby Kimbrell and brother of Jerry Kimbrell, is a retired emergency room doctor living near Portland, Oregon. Steve Kimbrell is the son of Jerry Kimbrell, who died five years ago.
Ron Peterson, District 3 commissioner, appreciated Dallas Boeddeker’s interest in the Poor Farm cemetery.
“I’m disappointed in how we have neglected the cemetery there.”
The commission chairman added that he didn’t understand the Kimbrell family’s reluctance in allowing Boeddeker access to the cemetery.
“But how we deal with this, I don’t know,” admitted Peterson. However, your interest, Peterson told Boeddeker, has brought the issue back to the front burner.
State statutes give counties access to platted cemeteries, Larson assured the commissioners. A roadblock, however, might be the fact that the county sold the Poor Farm property and land to Gerald and Ruby Kimbrell in 1958.
This is a problem that has to be corrected after the fact, Larson noted. “We’ll see what we can do to correct it.”
Dallas Boeddeker also suggested that a sign post be erected on one of the adjacent county roads that lists the names of the persons buried in the Poor Farm cemetery.
But first, we should see if we can “get the public in there,” he said.
If not, and in time, he intimated, the Poor Farm Cemetery will be lost.