H. E. Thompson states in December 1892 that he finished his survey for this newly proclaimed Page Cemetery. He describes the survey as; Commencing at the N.E. corner to the NW1/4 of the SE1/4 of Section 18, Township 28, N. of Range 9 W, thence south 363 ft, thence West 396 ft., thence North 330 ft., thence West 2, 244 ft, thence North 33 ft. to N.W. corner to NW ¼ and SW ¼, thence east along N. line of same 2, 640 ft. to point of beginning. And I hereby certify that the forgoing plot and field notes are a full, complete and timely record of the survey as made by me this third day of Dec. 1892. All corners are marked with cedar stake and nail. H. E. Thompson, Surveyor. (this instrument was not entered in public, legal record until April 9, 1904)

According to an abstract owned by Lyle Heiss, the land was bought from W.H.Ord and the transaction was entered on the abstract on Sept. 12, 1892 recorded in book 54, page 351. Contained in the same abstract was the information that W.H. Ord had “homesteaded” this ground on or about 1883 and received a patent for his “homestead” from the United States on Dec. 22, 1887 for consideration of four dollars.

This abstract also contains the information that the Nebraska and Western Railway Company purchased land from W.H. Ord on Feb. 20, 1890 by condemning a strip of land 100 feet wide on the line of the survey for the railroad. Ord was to receive one hundred and fifty dollars for the railroad land.

If you followed through the survey as described by Mr. Thompson, you will see that not only is this a provision for the cemetery but also allows for an access road to the cemetery from the east side of the Village of Page on the half mile line. The cost of this three-acre plot and access road was one hundred dollars. (See appendix B) The total acreage of land bought including the land for the road was five acres. This money was raised by donation from within the community. Forty-four families were the first contributors of from one to three dollars each. Future contributors and families who purchased burial lots later paid the loan of one hundred dollars in full.

Today, we do not know, positively, the identity of the first person buried in the Page Cemetery. However, on July 14, 1892, two daughters of C. L. Wood drowned on a neighborhood outing to the Elkhorn River near Inman. Dora aged 13 years and Matie age 12 stepped into a hole and went over their heads in the water. Louise Heiss, age 14, daughter of Leonhard Heiss and sister to Leonard Heiss, went in to save them. The two Wood girls drowned and Louise died four years later from complications caused by the accident. The Wood Family descendants believe that these two young girls were initially buried on the hill south of the buildings on the Wood Farm, three quarters of a mile south east of the Page Cemetery. They were laid to rest near the grave of their older brother who passed away in 1882 at the age of 5 months. Then, after the Page Cemetery was plotted, it is believed the two girls and their brother were exhumed and moved to the northeast corner of the Page Cemetery. Their father C. L. Wood had purchased Lot number one in Block A. These two graves could be the first in the Page Cemetery. (Louise Heiss is buried in the lot west of the her two friends, Dora and Matie Wood.) The Page History Book, written in 1983 states that the after the burial of the Wood girls, the next burials were Jacob and Martha Harper.

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