Memorial service planned for family buried at Old Morley Cemetery

~ The service is being organized by the Citizens for a Better Community of Morley.

MORLEY, Mo. -- When Morley Mayor Kerry Tidwell walks through the Old Morley Cemetery he hears voices.

Not literally, but the people buried there and the names on the headstones have stories to tell about the history of the small town, which was founded in 1869. Before the town was incorporated, the cemetery was there, providing a resting place for some of Morley's earliest settlers.

"That's the great thing about this place, all the stories that are here," Tidwell said Wednesday morning as he walked through the oldest section of the eight-acre cemetery. Tidwell and cemetery caretaker Jerry May said the first burials at the cemetery took place as far back as the 1820s and 1830s, though records documenting those burials have been lost, if they ever existed at all.

The history housed in the cemetery gives Tidwell "a very humbling feeling."

Today visitors can make out some of the dates on the old headstones dating back to the 1860s and 1870s. On Saturday some of those headstones will be replaced with new ones at a memorial service honoring some of the town's oldest residents buried in the cemetery -- the Boutwells.

The service is being organized by the Citizens for a Better Community of Morley, celebrating Morley's history by focusing on one of its first families. New stones will be placed on the grave sites of James, Stephen and Alexander Boutwell, all of whom served in the Confederate army during the Civil War.

A Boutwell descendant living in Oklahoma, Steve Harris, came up with the idea for the event and will be on hand Saturday to unveil the new headstones, which will be put in place today, Tidwell said.

Tidwell, members of the Morley Board of Aldermen, Scott County Commissioner Ron McCormick and Scott County Developer Joel Evans all plan to attend the ceremony, while Darren Steelman of Sikeston will perform Civil War-era music on the trumpet.

Wade Amelung, president of the Citizens for a Better Community of Morley, said donations will be taken for a Civil War memorial being planned for installation in Morley.

Tidwell and others hope this event will help highlight the rich history of this railroad town that used to be a thriving community with abundant commerce but, like so many small towns, has transformed into a bedroom community.

The cemetery is a centerpiece of that historical heritage, one that fell into disrepair for many years but is now cared for by the city government and a team of volunteers. Now visitors come from out of state every Memorial Day to visit the Old Morley Cemetery, reconnecting to their roots, Tidwell and May said.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182