History of Olive Branch Cemetery

The following article is from Recollections:  Kansas
    Olive Branch Cemetery, one of three public cemeteries in Rossville township, is located in the NW ¼ of Sec. 9 T10S R13E, at the corner of N.W. 86th and Bailey Rd. It was started in connection with the Olive Branch Chapel (United Brethren), which was about a mile east on the Rossville to Delia Road.
    The land on which the cemetery is located was part of the railroad grant received by the A. T. & S, F. railroad from the U.S. Government (Certificate dated 17 Oct 1669 Patent dated 16 Sep 1873 filed with Shawnee Co. Register of Deeds,Bk. 16 p 426 and Bk. 37 p 91).
    In June 1881, the entire quarter-section was sold to A. S. Stanley, who then sold the west half of the quarter-section to Fred Franklin later in the same year.
    A Quit-Claim deed from Fred K. Franklin and wife Maria J. to the trustees of the U. B. "Christ" Church, dated 6 Aug 1885 and filed 28 Dec  1886, is found in Bk. 124 p 177 of the Shawnee Co. Reg. of Deeds' records.
    Trustees named in this deed were Benjamin Franklin, Isaac McCullough, Silas Joy, Wm. Hook and S. P. Zickafoose. For a consideration of $30.00, Mr. and Mrs. Franklin relinquished all claims to "a strip or parcel of land 40 rods long and 12 rods wide running north and south off the NW ¼ of Section 9.10.13 to be used as a cemetery by said church,"
The Olive Branch Chapel was disbanded about 1923 and the cemetery was turned over to Rossville township by the U, B. Church trustees. A Quit-Claim deed signed by J. M. Franklin, Mrs. L, A, Lasswell, Silas Joy and R. D, James as trustees for the U. B. Church of Rossville twp, dated 9 Mar 1921, was filed 23 Nov 1923 with the Shawnee county Reg. of Deeds and recorded in Bk. 492 p 319. The church was sold about that time for a Czech church, and the building was torn down about 1955•
    An article appearing in the Topeka State Journal for Saturday,
19 Sep 1959, tells of the fifth annual picnic for members of the former church which was to be held that Sunday afternoon in the Rossville City Park. The picnics were begun in 1955 by Miss Miriam Franklin, a former teacher at Washburn and a granddaughter of one of the original members.
    The first two picnics had been held on the old Franklin farm. In 1959 Emil Kovar was president of the picnic group and Glenn A. Page was sec-retary.
    A list of  inscriptions were submitted to the committee at different times by Mrs. Katy Matthews, Mrs. Livonia Jacobe and Mrs. Ruby Rezac. The cemetery was visited  in 1977 by Mrs. Helen King and Mrs. Shirley O'Toole and seemed to be well cared for.
    If anyone would like digital photos of tombstones in the cemetery,  contact frank.ruff@juno.com who photographed most of the cemetery in 2009..