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Sappington Cemetery State Historic Site houses the grave of a prominent area doctor, Dr. John Sappington, as well as, two Missouri governors. Gov. Meredith Miles Marmaduke became Missouri’s eighth governor for nine months in 1844 after the death of Gov. Thomas Reynolds. Claiborne Fox Jackson was beginning his term as Missouri’s 15th governor when the Civil War began. He was a strong supporter of the Confederacy and was driven from Jefferson City.
SALINE COUNTY’S ELITE
Dr. John Sappington (1776-1856), a prominent pioneer physician of Saline County, established this family cemetery in 1831. The two-acre cemetery contains 111 headstones and markers. It is enclosed by a limestone wall, as well as, a wrought iron fence.
Dr. Sappington studied medicine in Kentucky and in 1804 married Jane Breathitt. She was the sister of Kentucky Gov. John Breathitt. In 1817, they came to central Missouri’s “Boone’s Lick Country” and by 1819 settled just west of Arrow Rock.
A nonconformist, Dr. Sappington attacked the common medical practice of bloodletting to treat patients. In the 1830s, he perfected, as well as, mass marketed quinine in pill form to treat malarial fever. This was a major disease in the Missouri River valley at that time. The St. Louis Medical Society denounced him as a quack, but his “anti-fever pills” quickly became the frontier’s most famous prescription. In 1844, he wrote “The Theory and Treatment of Fevers,” the first medical treatise published west of the Mississippi River.
Dr. Sappington was also a business entrepreneur and agriculturist, as well as, land speculator and political confidant. He established an economic, as well as, political dynasty that included three Missouri governors. An inscription over his grave reads: “A truly honest man is the noblest work of God. He lay like a warrior taking his rest.”
MISSOURI GOVERNORS
Along with the Sappington family, two of Missouri’s governors are buried in the cemetery. Both had married daughters of Dr. Sappington.
Meredith Miles Marmaduke (1791-1864) was elected Lt. Governor in 1840. A Benton Democrat, as well as, strong Unionist, he became Missouri’s eighth governor in 1844 after Gov. Reynolds died. The term only lasted for nine months. Marmaduke married Dr. Sappington’s daughter Lavinia in 1826. He became a partner in his father-in-law’s enterprises. Active in the Santa Fe trade, Marmaduke also served as Saline County judge and surveyor. His son, John Sappington Marmaduke, was Missouri’s 25th governor (1885-1887).
Claiborne Fox Jackson (1806-1862) was beginning his term as Missouri’s 15th governor when the Civil War began. Jackson supported slavery and advocated the secession of Missouri. In June of 1861, federal troops occupied the capital of Jefferson City. They forced Jackson, as well as, pro-secession officials to flee and join Confederate forces. He died in Little Rock, Ark,. in 1862 and was reinterred in Sappington Cemetery after the war.
Prior to entering politics, Jackson was Arrow Rock’s first postmaster. He engaged in retail trade, as well as, banking. He was elected to the House of Representatives from Howard County in 1842. At that time he became a leader in the “Central Clique,” the machine that dominated Missouri’s Democratic Party politics during the mid-19th century. Jackson married three of Dr. Sappington’s daughters. He married Jane in 1831, Louisa in 1833, as well as, Eliza in 1838. All three women are buried in the cemetery.
ETERNAL LIFE TREES
Symbolism in Sappington Cemetery reflects some period beliefs. Cedar and Austrian pine trees represent eternal life because they are evergreen. Gov. Marmaduke’s arched monument suggests victory over death. The clasped hands symbolize a farewell, as well as, hope of meeting in eternity. The Masonic compass shows he was a member of that organization. Twin columns over Gov. Jackson’s grave denote “noble lives” of he and his wife.
The Sappingtons, as well as, their extended families owned large numbers of African-American slaves. Their labor and skills contributed directly to their success, as well as, the families prosperity. Dr. Sappington gave them a tract of ground as a burial place. Known as the “Sappington Negro Cemetery,” it is located on Route AA one-quarter mile south of the Sappington Cemetery. It is privately owned, but open to the public.
Sappington Cemetery, as well as, two other cemeteries, became part of the state park system by an act of the state legislature in 1967. The act mandated that the state park board “suitably mark and maintain every grave of a former governor in this state, which is not within a perpetual care cemetery.” Jewell Cemetery, near Columbia, houses the grave of Missouri’s 22nd governor, Charles Hardin. The burial site in Herculaneum of Missouri’s fifth governor, Daniel Dunklin, is also a state historic site.
PARK HOURS & FEES
Contact Park
PARK PHONE
660-837-3330
PARK ADDRESS
Route AA
Nelson, MO 65347
For more information click HERE.
Have you visited this historic site? If so, please leave a comment. Thank you.
BREATHE LIFE!
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