The Milltown Cemetery

Established in 1884, the cemetery is the oldest established incorporated cemetery in South Dakota. It sits in the Milltown hills not far from the early farms of the Adkins, Mattas, and Mize families. The road to it is gravel and dirt. For over a hundred years those families and their descendants have been coming to this place on that road. They have been coming here to bury their loved ones.

Dakota winter weather is brutal. The death of an infant equally brutal. Homer Levi Adkins, son of Zina and Helen, died January 23,1908. He was less than a month old. The funeral services were held at the family farm. On the tombstone is written, “Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.”

I can imagine what the dirt road to the cemetery must have been like in January. Homer was the first of the families to be buried at Milltown.

I can imagine what the dirt road to the cemetery must have been like in January. Homer was the first of the families to be buried at Milltown.

Dakota winter weather is brutal. The death of an infant equally brutal. Homer Levi Adkins, son of Zina and Helen, died January 23,1908. He was less than a month old. The funeral services were held at the family farm. On the tombstone is written, “Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.” 

Clarence was nineteen. Another young death and the first Mize to be buried in the cemetery. His death was not easy, run over by a train. The entire community shared in the grief, the community of the Adkins, Mattas and Mize families.

From the obituary: “The church was packed to its utmost capacity and at the close of the services a long line of carriages followed the remains to their last resting place in the Milltown Cemetery.”

I can imagine carriages and carriages snaking their way up the Milltown Road in 1912.

The 1912 obituary of  Clarence Everett Mize.

Click on images to zoom in.

The church was also packed for Joseph J. Mattas, the first of the Mattas family to buried in the cemetery. One of the patriarchs of the Milltown families, he left behind his wife Vincencia, eight children, ten grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

He also left behind his friends Zina and Helen Adkins, and William and Susan Mize.

I can imagine cars and cars snaking their way down the Milltown Road to the cemetery in 1934.

I don’t have to imagine the vehicles snaking their way down the Milltown Road to the cemetery in 1969. I was there in one of the front cars looking back.

As the caravan rounded a curve in the road, I could see the flashing lights of many highway state patrol cars behind me. The lights turned on in honor of my father, Horace “Pete” Adkins, a long-time police officer.

One of the second generations of the Adkins family to be buried at the cemetery.

The year was 2016. My car was in the back of the line, I could see others in front of me snaking their way towards the cemetery.

We were going there to spread the ashes of my cousin Hiram Adkins, next to his brother Homer’s.

A third generation of Adkins to be taken down that Milltown Road.

The headstone was placed next to the 108 year old headstone of Homer Levi Adkins, their great uncle and Homer’s namesake.

I can’t remember the first time I went to the cemetery. I must have been very young. My mother Margaret Mize Adkins always decorated our relatives’ graves for Memorial Day. She wrapped Sweet Wlliams and lilacs in tin foil, put them in mason jars, and placed them in front of the headstones. It was our duty as children to help.

Now her grandchildren and great grandchildren continue the tradition, laying flowers at her headstone. She was a third generation of Milltown Mizes. Pictured is the family of my sister, Gloria Adkins Leonard.

I can’t remember the first time I went to the cemetery. I must have been very young. My mother Margaret Mize Adkins always decorated our relatives’ graves for Memorial Day. She wrapped Sweet Wlliams and lilacs in tin foil, put them in mason jars, and placed them in front of the headstones. It was our duty as children to help.

Now her grandchildren and great grandchildren continue the tradition, laying flowers at her headstone. She was a third generation of Milltown Mizes. Pictured is the family of my sister, Gloria Adkins Leonard.

I do remember the last time I visited the cemetery. May, 2021. Bill Hoffman, President of the Milltown Cemetery Association, and an Adkins descendent, was conducting the Memorial Day Service as had been done for many years.

Mize and Adkins cousins, as well as members of my immediate family, listened to taps being played. The music floated over the graves of our many relatives. Graves lovingly decorated with wreaths and flowers by the next generations of the Adkins, Mattas and Mize families.

I can’t remember the first time I went to the cemetery. I must have been very young. My mother Margaret Mize Adkins always decorated our relatives’ graves for Memorial Day. She wrapped Sweet Wlliams and lilacs in tin foil, put them in mason jars, and placed them in front of the headstones. It was our duty as children to help.

Now her grandchildren and great grandchildren continue the tradition, laying flowers at her headstone. She was a third generation of Milltown Mizes. Pictured is the family of my sister, Gloria Adkins Leonard.

I do remember the last time I visited the cemetery. May, 2021. Bill Hoffman, President of the Milltown Cemetery Association, and an Adkins descendent, was conducting the Memorial Day Service as had been done for many years.

Mize and Adkins cousins, as well as members of my immediate family, listened to taps being played. The music floated over the graves of our many relatives. Graves lovingly decorated with wreaths and flowers by the next generations of the Adkins, Mattas and Mize families.

I do remember the last time I visited the cemetery. May, 2021. Bill Hoffman, President of the Milltown Cemetery Association, and an Adkins descendent, was conducting the Memorial Day Service as had been done for many years.

Mize and Adkins cousins, as well as members of my immediate family, listened to taps being played. The music floated over the graves of our many relatives. Graves lovingly decorated with wreaths and flowers by the next generations of the Adkins, Mattas and Mize families.