Week 20 2026 - At the Cemetery - Porter cemeteries in Iowa

Back in 2016 my husband and I took a flying/driving research trip to Iowa to finally see where my dad came from. Dad was born in South Dakota, but was raised in the Sioux City, Iowa area. My grandfather Harry E Porter was born in Iowa but had moved to Michigan during WWII for work. My great-grandfather and 2x great grandfather were all born and died in the same area in Iowa. 

My 3x great grandfather Aaron Porter was born in Vermont or New York in ca1780 and supposedly died in 1845 while traveling from Iowa to Indiana. There are no records for his death other than his probate records that his wife and sons created.

We flew into Cedar Rapids, Iowa and then drove back southeast to the town of Tipton and went to the Rochester Cemetery southeast of town where John J. Porter (my 2x great grandfather) is buried.  

It is over 13 acres in size, and the cemetery is left to ‘prairie grasses’ in the summer, so access is extremely limited. We had attempted to drive in a part of the cemetery, but because of the tall grass it really wasn't safe for us, the car or the potential of any damage to any headstones.  We did walk through some of it, but it was very hard going, and you often tripped on headstones. We never found his headstone, but from Find-a-Grave, I do have a picture of it.


                                              Rochester, Iowa                                                               John J Porter

His wife Margaret is buried with her 2nd husband in the Masonic Cemetery also located in Tipton, Iowa and we also drove to that cemetery. It is a very clean, open cemetery and very nicely maintained.

Also buried at Rochester Cemetery is Juliana (Dolan) Porter, the wife of Nicholas Porter, son of John J. Unfortunately, young Juliana died at the age of 17 after being married less than a year. There is no stone for her, but she is listed in the records of the cemetery. Her husband Nicholas would move on and settle in California, although he never remarried.

We often walk burial grounds as genealogists, chasing that family dream of filling out one more section of their vital records. But they lived, loved and were members of their families and an integral part of their communities just like us. We are not thinking about how they came to be in that area and the how and why they are buried at the cemetery.

Barbie


          


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