The Winston Cemetery lies at the edge of the town of Winston, along the south side of Highway 69, in Colfax Township of Daviess County.
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It was not until seven years after the town was platted that land was purchased for a burial place.
In 1871 Frederick Croft gave a part of the land for the new town he wanted to call Winston, after a prominent Whig politician. But there was already a small town in Missouri with that name, so the community was called Crofton. After a short time, the town of Winston elsewhere in the state died out and so the people of Crofton changed its name to Winston.
On Jan. 10, 1878, two acres of land plus 45 rods were purchased from Mr. and Mrs. M.J. Callan and the new cemetery was laid out and organized with the following pioneer citizens serving as the first board members: A.J. Kimberling, F.R. Griggs, and Ezra Soule.
The original cemetery plot was marked out on white oil cloth and was used until the mid-1970s.
The two oldest tombstones mark graves of children bearing the family names of Johnson and Fry with burial dates 1871 and 1873. These are either transplants from other burial places or these were buried there before this plot became an official cemetery.
There is one grave known as that of the "Unknown Soldier" because no one knew his name, knowing only that he was a soldier.
There have been two additions to the cemetery, the part joining on the west side purchased by Lester Musselman recorded by deed in the Daviess County courthouse on Sept. 15, 1930. Board members at that time were Alva DeFord, Harry Stroup, W.B. Hays, Chris Allman and George Leeper. Some time later another small tract was added from the S.R. (Vet) Johnson estate.
A short distance to the left of the entrance stands a clump of four large oak trees which add to the attractiveness of the cemetery. There are also large cedar trees.
It is a coincidence that Winston and Kidder Cemeteries each have 67 veteran graves from the Civil War, the Spanish American War, and from World War I and World War II. One in each cemetery is a Confederate soldier of the Civil War. Memorial services with flags placed on the graves of all veterans has been a tradition since World War I.
On July 15, 1881, a most exciting episode took place at a point east of the cemetery near the stone arch under the railroad commonly known as "the dump." Outlaws Frank and Jesse James robbed a passenger train here. Conductor Westfall was struck in the breast by two bullets and fell from the train dead. One other man, a stonemason from Iowa, also lost his life.
The robbers had tied their horses in the woods on a nearby farm and escaped. Only Highway 69 lays between Winston Cemetery and the now abandoned Rock Island railroad bed (railroad tracks were removed years ago).
Editor’s note: This is an edited account of an article first published in the Aug. 14, 1975 edition of the Gallatin North Missourian. It was recently submitted for republication by Gayle Miller of Kansas City, found as she was going through things left by her late parents, Ruth and Cecil Black.