The largest of the county cemeteries is located 5-1/2 miles north of Sublette on U. S. Highway 83 and originally served the town of Santa Fe. The first block was acquired from Margaret S. Frisbie, and the original cemetery plat was filed August 28, 1888. The balance of land to the highway was purchased from James Patrick in 1921 for $25 an acre. Four blocks are platted, numbering 1600 plots and nearly all have been used or sold.

Records have been carefully kept of the cemetery since 1914. Lots containing four plots were sold for $5 at that time. To raise revenue in addition to the sale of lots, dinners were served and food sales and bazaars held. These netted as much as $83. Donations of $1 and $2 were often made. Mrs. Meredith made a generous gift of $2,000 in 1943.

In 1941 an election was called to give a deed to Haskell Township to legalize a levy; the cemetery is now tax supported. The first well was drilled in 1929, and a new fence was constructed in 1939, replaced in 1951 by the present fence and brick entrance. The metal arch was moved near the highway at that time from its previous location about midway in the cemetery. Many, many hours of volunteer labor have been donated to help keep the cemetery up over the years. The most recent improvement made was a second flagpole placed at the front entrance, just before Memorial Day 1984.

In the earlier recorded minutes, plans for Memorial Day were extensive. They included parades, speakers, musical numbers, flowers, flag raising and selection of a high school student to recite the Gettysburg Address. Memorial services are now provided each year by the Sublette American Legion Post #205 and Auxiliary with a speaker, color guard, placement of a wreath at the flagpole and taps, all honoring approximately 70 veterans buried at the cemetery. A flag is placed at each of their graves by the Legion.

The earliest known burials are several in 1886 near the west fence. Side by side are two cement-covered graves whose markers bear that date: F. M. Rosenberry, age 12 and Ella Collins, age 15. Two stones marked "unknown" and many other old stones can be found in this area. One inscription tells of a tragic death: Willie Pryor, 1899-1914: "Willie tried to swim the Cimarron River at low flood stage."

Many names no longer familiar can be found, but some have been remembered: Mrs. Gillespe: "Died August 1893 at A. J. Trimbles." Her story has been passed on by the McCoy family. She was traveling through the area when she became too ill to go any farther and the family stopped at the Trimbles who took them in and helped care for the sick woman until her death. Their kindness did not stop there. Years later one of the Trimble sons, who was in the monument business, erected the stone in memory of the lady who died at his parents' home.

Abraham Bushey, a bachelor, died in 1906 at the age of 38. He hauled freight from Garden City to the Rutledge Hotel at Santa Fe and, when the wagon was filled with ice, the trip was made at night. On one of these late-night trips, while still in Finney County, he apparently went to sleep and slid to the ground. His neck was broken when he fell beneath the wagon and died instantly. Mr. Rutledge brought him back to Santa Fe, arranged for his burial and erected the monument.

John L. Taubman, 1848-1918, and his sister Meta Taubman, 1865-1946, came from the Isle of Man, a small island located in the Irish Sea midway between England and Northern Ireland. It is believed she originally came to New York as a maid and that he carried the mail in this area at one time. How and why they came to Haskell County is not known. Several Sublette residents remember Meta who stayed on in her little two room house a block east of Sublette's main street until her death.

~ Used by Permission. McClure, Janice Lee. Haskell County, Kansas 1887-1987: A Historical Anthology. Newton, KS: Mennonite Press, 1988.