Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

You are standing on the road originally led to the Old Dillard Cemetery. This cemetery is often confused by visitors with another located on the hill in the present village of Dillard.

The oldest grave in this cemetery belongs to Eliza Wisdom, who died in 1833. She was a relative of Francis Wisdom, owner of the area's first gristmill. Many of the other 138 known graves bear the family names of those who first settled the area -- Cottrells, Colemans, Huitts, and Mischkes.

The large, dark gray granite monument at the back of the cemetery is Marie Mischke's (1872-1944). She was the sister of Emil Mischke, who built the mill that has since become the state historic site. Marie Mischke purchased the mill from her brother in 1907 and owned it ten years before selling it back to him. The image of her in an ankle-length skirt doing "a man's work running the mill" was vivid in the recollections of older area residents.

[A copy of the newspaper obituary for Marie Mischke is also included on the marker.]

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