From Missouri - A Guide to the "Show Me" State -
Tour 1 - Arrow Rock section:
Southwest of the Sappington house is the SAPPINGTON CEMETERY (inquire
locally route and road condition), enclosed with a stone wall topped by a
castiron fence. Here are buried Dr. John Sappington (1776-1856), his wife Jane
(1783-1852), and their numerous relatives, including the two Missouri Governors,
M. M. Marmaduke (1791-1864) and Claiborne F. Jackson, and their families.
The cemetery is now maintained as a Missouri State Historic Site by
legislation which creates state historic sites for all final resting places of
former Missouri governors which are not in maintained cemeteries. This cemetery
is the final resting place of two former governors.
"Dr. John Sappington (1776-1856), a prominent pioneer physician of Saline
County, established this family cemetery in 1831. The two-acre cemetery contains
111 headstones and markers and is enclosed by a limestone wall and wrought iron
fence.
Dr. Sappington studied medicine in Kentucky and in 1804 married Jane
Breathitt, the sister of Kentucky Gov. John Breathitt. In 1817, they came to
central Missouri's "Boone's Lick Country" and by 1819 settled just west of Arrow
Rock.
A nonconformist, Dr. Sappington attacked the common medical practice of
bloodletting to treat patients. In the 1830s, he perfected and mass marketed
quinine in pill form to treat malarial fever, a major disease in the Missouri
River valley. The St. Louis Medical Society denounced him as a quack, but his
"anti-fever pills" quickly became the frontier's most famous prescription. In
1844, he wrote "The Theory and Treatment of Fevers," the first medical treatise
published west of the Mississippi River.
Dr. Sappington was also a business entrepreneur, agriculturist, land
speculator and political confidant. He established an economic and political
dynasty that included three Missouri governors. An inscription over his grave
reads: "A truly honest man is the noblest work of God. He lay like a warrior
taking his rest."
Along with the Sappington family, two of Missouri's governors are buried in
the cemetery. Both had married daughters of Dr. Sappington.
Meredith Miles Marmaduke (1791-1864) was elected Lt. Governor in 1840. A
Benton Democrat and strong Unionist, he became Missouri's eighth governor for
nine months in 1844 after Gov. Reynolds died. Marmaduke married Dr. Sappington's
daughter Lavinia in 1826 and became a partner in his father-in-law's
enterprises. Active in the Santa Fe trade, Marmaduke also served as Saline
County judge and surveyor. His son, John Sappington Marmaduke, was Missouri's
25th governor (1885-1887).
Claiborne Fox Jackson (1806-1862) was beginning his term as Missouri's 15th
governor when the Civil War began. Jackson supported slavery and advocated the
secession of Missouri. In June of 1861, federal troops occupied the capital of
Jefferson City, forcing Jackson and pro-secession officials to flee and join
Confederate forces. He died in Little Rock, Ark. in 1862 and was reinterred in
Sappington Cemetery after the war.
Prior to entering politics, Jackson was Arrow Rock's first postmaster and
engaged in retail trade and banking. He was elected to the House of
Representatives from Howard County in 1842, and became a leader in the "Central
Clique," the machine that dominated Missouri's Democratic Party politics during
the mid-19th century. Jackson married three of Dr. Sappington's daughters: Jane
in 1831, Louisa in 1833 and Eliza in 1838. All three women are buried in the
cemetery.
Symbolism in Sappington Cemetery reflects some period beliefs. Cedar and
Austrian pine trees represent eternal life because they are evergreen. Gov.
Marmaduke's arched monument suggests victory over death. The clasped hands
symbolize a farewell and hope of meeting in eternity. The Masonic compass shows
he was a member of that organization. Twin columns over Gov. Jackson's grave
denote "noble lives" of he and his wife.
The Sappingtons and their extended families owned large numbers of
African-American slaves whose labor and skills contributed directly to their
success and prosperity. Dr. Sappington gave them a tract of ground as a burial
place. Known as the "Sappington Negro Cemetery," it is located on Route AA
one-quarter mile south of the Sappington Cemetery. It is privately owned, but
open to the public." ~
Sappington Cemetery State Historic Site website