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A visit to the Franklin Cemetery ...

Introduction ...

Note: We have organized the cemeteries in our Gazetteer based on a problem that we had while working on our own genealogy. Without specifying the cemeteries involved, we found an ancestor that we believed to have been buried in one cemetery was actually buried elsewhere.

We discovered that his burial had been refused at the last moment and the family had scrambled to make new arrangements. By looking at nearby cemeteries, the surrounding communities and in newspapers of the period, we were finally able to locate his burial site.

Should you find yourself in the same situation, we hope that our Gazetteer helps you discover your lost ancestor.

The Location of the Franklin Cemetery ...

We are using the following GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude) for the Franklin Cemetery

Lat:   41.7145°   (41° 42' 52")

Lon:   -93.3801°   (-93° 22' 48")

The Franklin Cemetery is located in Polk County<1>.

The county seat for Polk County is located in Des Moines. Des Moines lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Franklin Cemetery .

List of nearby cemeteries ...

Based on our list of cemeteries, we know of 22 that are within 9 miles [14.5 km] of the Franklin Cemetery.<3>

We've listed the following cemeteries based on their distance from Franklin Cemetery, with the nearest first.

  • Bondurant Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Mitchellville Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mitchellville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mitchellville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Mitchellville Cemetery is located in Polk County
  • Sams Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sams Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sams Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Sams Cemetery is located in Jasper County
  • Holy Cross Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holy Cross Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holy Cross Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Holy Cross Cemetery is located in Polk County
  • Altoona Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Altoona Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Altoona Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Altoona Cemetery is located in Polk County
  • New Altoona Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the New Altoona Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the New Altoona Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The New Altoona Cemetery is located in Polk County
  • Shipp Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Shipp Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Shipp Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Shipp Cemetery is located in Jasper County
  • Graham Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Graham Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Graham Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Graham Cemetery is located in Jasper County
  • McKeever Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McKeever Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McKeever Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The McKeever Cemetery is located in Jasper County
  • Fisher Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fisher Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fisher Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Fisher Cemetery is located in Jasper County
  • Greencastle Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greencastle Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greencastle Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Greencastle Cemetery is located in Jasper County
  • Farrar Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Farrar Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Farrar Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Farrar Cemetery is located in Polk County
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...

For an expanded list with details, please visit our List of cemeteries.

List of neighboring communities ...

The following 26 communities are within 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> of the Franklin Cemetery.

We've listed the following communities based on their distance from Franklin Cemetery, with the nearest first.

  • Santiago
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Mitchellville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mitchellville have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchellville
    • Mitchellville is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,273 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mitchellville <7>
  • Valeria
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valeria have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valeria
    • Valeria is located in Jasper County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 58 people
  • Bondurant
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bondurant have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bondurant
    • Bondurant is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,293 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bondurant <7>
  • Oswalt
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Altoona
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Altoona have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altoona
    • Altoona is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,503 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Altoona <7>
  • Green Castle
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Mingo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Colfax
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Loring
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Berwick
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Berwick. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berwick
    • Berwick is located in Polk County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Berwick
    • From the Franklin Cemetery to Berwick
  • Rising Sun
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

For the full list of neighboring communities with details, please visit our extended List of Communities.

Nearby communities with newspapers ...

The following communities are those where newspapers have been published and are located in the vicinity of the Franklin Cemetery. Unless otherwise noted, the following communities are located in Polk County.

More information can be found on our list of Local Newspapers for The Franklin Cemetery.

We've listed the following communities alphabetically.

Websites to help with your research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their websites are open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that might help with the Franklin Cemetery:

Miscellaneous References and Mentions ...

Our approach is to add the name of a cemetery whenever we see it mentioned - usually from newspapers, old books and maps. Typically we have little information to start with, but we continue to add detail as we find it.

We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that we found useful for the Franklin Cemetery:

  • Referenced GNIS Record ...
  • GNIS ID #456726  (Franklin Cemetery)
    • Note: GNIS record #456726 has been archived by the USGS. It is no longer maintained by the USGS, nor can it be retrieved from their website.
    • Class: cemetery         Map Name: Altoona
    • County: Polk         Elev: 263
    • Location given for GNIS #456726 (Franklin Cemetery)

The official website for Polk County: www.co.polk.ia.us/

The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Iowa's counties, including Polk, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- ) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point at the Franklin Cemetery. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7145, Longitude: -93.3801    
<3>While we have an extensive database of cemeteries (with over 200,000 entries), you can be assured that it's not complete and our list will be missing cemeteries.
<4>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<5>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<6>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<7>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025