if the old city cem is the one that is listed in the cemetery list, then there are several people burried there that had significant input into trenton, mo...james r. merrill donated quite a large amount of land for trenton...he was a judge and one of the earliest settlers of the county...i dont believe that the folks that are burried there were passers by and died on the trail... ----- the following was copied from the opening paragraph of the grundy county web site... Before white men settled in Grundy County, it was occupied as a hunting ground by tribes of Sac, Sioux, and Pottawottomie Indians. No obtainable record or tradition exists of a permanent settlement being made until 1833, when General W. P. THOMPSON settled near the Grand River. Among the first settlers in the vicinity of the present site of Trenton were: James R. MERRILL, Samuel BENSON, John THRAILKILL, Levi MOORE, William COCHRAN, Jewitt NORRIS, John SCOTT, and Daniel DeVAUL, plus the PERRY, GRUBB, and METCALF families. the following was taken form the top of the cem listing on the grundy web site... This cemetery is regarded as Trenton´s first burial place and was the only public cemetery in the area prior to 1870. It holds numerous Grundy County pioneers and Civil War veterans, although many old records of the graves are lost. An Association was formed in 1924 to preserve and maintain the cemetery, and there were few available lots after 1934. It is located at the south end of Ridgeway Street at the old entrance of the Riverside Country Club. Old City was catalogued in 1955 by the following members of the Methodist Church M.Y.F.: Joe Seymour, Dennie Irwin, Linda Chapin, Chester Hatfield, Raymond Adams, James Coffman, Pattie Nichals, Mary Lou Hill, Sandra Skidmore, Mary Ann Laffoon and Barbara Kemptan. Additional names and notations have since been added, so please be aware of possible errors. ------- i, for one, would be willing to contribute to a fund to maintain this historical area...it may even qualify for some kind of historical preservation grants...since james r merrill gave the land to the city, maybe the city could chip in to save the memories of one of its founding fathers... keep me posted on the subject... thanks chuck crow