Submitted by Ben K. Sager
Joseph Manson (Munson)
Hillside Cemetery
Egan, Moody County, South Dakota
(Sept. 24, 1820 - June 17, 1915)
Our 4th stop on Sunday was the Hillside Cemetery at Egan, Moody County, SD. I was unable to contact the Sexton so walked the portion of the cemetery which showed the most dates close to the date of death for Joseph Manson. This was the most interesting of all the cemeteries due to the topography of the land and the many interesting gravestones. There are many metal gravestones which were apparently quite popular during the 1880s and 1890s. I do not know what type of metal was used. It is not iron as there is no rust. The first one I ever saw is in the middle of a cornfield at Metamora, Illinois, and is for my second great-grandparents, the parents of my great-grandmother, Elizabeth True Wilson Sager. It also commemorates her first husband, two sister-in-laws, and several others. (It is a rather large grave marker). But I digress. Getting back to the business at hand, this cemetery is on a rather steep "hillside" and I am sure that getting there for winter burials would be a problem. I would have liked to have stayed longer; however, the mosquito squadrons were out in force and they diminished the pleasure of the visit considerably. I first saw the stone from the backside where there is a beautiful bronze plaque of apparent fairly recent acquisition. Ben K. Sager (6/29/2010)