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You’re walking through a 170-year-old cemetery and find a tombstone that’s… a desk? Welcome to Wyuka Cemetery in Nebraska City. The city itself was founded in 1855 after the U.S. Army abandoned Fort Kearny just eight years earlier. Thanks to its spot on the Missouri River, it became a boomtown before the turn of the 20th century, bringing in settlers, steamboats, and later the railroad.

One of those early families was the Hardings. Nehemiah and Mamie arrived that same year. He became the territory’s first insurance agent and opened Nebraska’s first bookstore. Together, they had 10 children and by the end of their lives were fondly remembered for their pioneering spirit. Their roll-top desk monument in Wyuka is a memorial to their family legacy, honoring their dedication to family and community.

Read more about some of the other fascinating monuments at Wyuka Cemetery in Nebraska City on the Adventures in Cemetery Hopping Blog written by Traci Rylands here: https://adventuresincemeteryhopping.com//?s=nebraska+city&search=Go

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

Resources used to research this episode include various digitized records found on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.com as well as various historical newspaper articles and advertisements found on newspapers.com.

"Fort Kearny". nebraskastudies.org, https://nebraskastudies.org/en/1800-1849/forts-built/fort-kearny/. Accessed 21 June 2026.

"Nebraska Center for the Education of Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired". ncecbvi.org, https://www.ncecbvi.org/whoweare. Accessed 21 June 2026.

"Nebraska Cities by Population (2026)". nebraska-demographics.com, https://www.nebraska-demographics.com/cities_by_population. Accessed 21 June 2026.

"J. Sterling Morton: Founder of Arbor Day". nebraskastudies.org, https://nebraskastudies.org/en/1850-1874/j-sterling-morton-founder-of-arbor-day/. Accessed 21 June 2026.

"History of Nebraska City". nebraskacityne.gov, https://nebraskacityne.gov/community/history.php. Accessed 21 June 2026.

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Happy belated Flag Day! On this week’s Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast, Dianne and Jennie are honoring the women behind the American flag. You know Betsy Ross, but do you know Mary Pickersgill and Grace Wisher? Did Betsy Ross really make the first flag? And why does she have three possible burial sites in Philadelphia? And how did Mary Pickersgill, a widowed business owner, and Grace Wisher, a free young woman of color indentured to Mary, inspire Francis Scott Key to write the poem that became our National Anthem?

Jennie and Dianne weave together the myths, historical facts, and the graves that hold their stories while celebrating how these women, and so many others like them, literally stitched our country together!

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

Planning an overnight stay in Kearney, Nebraska? Book with the Heritage House! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/15256246?source_impression_id=p3_1781800480_P3M2-1z61_DbCNx4

Resources used to research this episode include:

"The History and Evolution of the American Flag ." https://www.nationalflagfoundation.org/. 1 June 2026. www.nationalflagfoundation.org/flag-history-evolution/. Accessed 15 June 2026.

"Elizabeth “Betsy” Ross ." https://friendsofmountmoriahcemetery.org/. friendsofmountmoriahcemetery.org/about/notable-burials/elizabeth-betsy-ross/. Accessed 15 June 2026.

"Mary Pickersgill ." https://www.nps.gov/. 10 Oct. 2019. www.nps.gov/people/mary-pickersgill.htm. Accessed 15 June 2026.

"Grace Wisher ." https://www.nps.gov/. 5 Jan. 2021. www.nps.gov/fomc/learn/historyculture/grace-wisher.htm. Accessed 15 June 2026.

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In the previous episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast (#281), Dianne and Jennie explored Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts and some of its most visited monuments including one often called, "The Boy in the Boat" which marks the grave of little Louis Mieusset. We shared the common story that Louis died as a result of being drowned, but while that story continues to be perpetuated, his death was the result of disease, a common occurrence for thousands of Victorian children; so how did his story become so changed?

In this episode, Jennie and Dianne delve into the story of the Mieusset family, which begins with two brothers from France who brought Parisian fine dining to Boston. One became the city’s most celebrated restaurateur, the other would fade into obscurity, lost to time after the death of his young son.

Need an Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast tee, hoodie or mug? Find all our taphophile-fun much here: https://oecemetery.etsy.com

Family Tales: A free printable, is now available! Gather 'round the table and dig into your roots! This interactive family history game is perfect for holidays, reunions, or just because. Ask, listen, and laugh your way through generations of stories and secrets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT_R56qEwNTIxIBrTy8KFyVmGnFOe7g8/view?usp=sharing

Resources used to research this episode include various digitized records found on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.com as well as various historical newspaper articles and advertisements found on newspapers.com.

Support the show