
Members of the Society of the War of 1812 were on hand this past Sunday (June 24, 2012) to help honor the memory of Abraham “Abel” Galland at a small pioneer cemetery in northwestern Shelby County, Iowa.

- Amy (Furby) Galland & Abraham “Abel” Galland
Abel Galland was born in the State of New Jersey. He served in the War of 1812. Abel came to Kanesville with the Mormons in 1846. In the fall of 1846, Abel followed an Indian trail, northeast of Kanesville, now eastern Council Bluffs, parallel to the Mosquito Creek, to a location called “Six Bee Tree Grove” just north of the present day Manteno Park. Since the pioneers, in place of sugar, used honey, trees in which bees store honey were highly prized.
In 1847, Abel returned to Kanesville with a wagon load of honey after the local people heard about the trees, honey and the opportunity for religious freedom, they followed him back to the Galland’s Grove area.
In 1848, Abel Galland and his son-in-law, William Jordan, built the first log cabin in Shelby County. Abel died June 22, 1857. Abel is buried in Gallands Grove. ~ Copied from the program for The Abel Galland Memorial Cemetery Unveiling
Volunteers headed by Ron Chamberlain of the Western Iowa Pioneer Cemetery Association (WIPCA) and others in the local area have spent countless hours in researching the location of this little cemetery – located in a field behind where early pioneer settlers came to worship – and working to find and mark graves, clean up the area and erect a fence and brick path. Their hard work was “unveiled” on a hot Sunday afternoon to a large and happy crowd including direct descendant Roger Galland and his wife Virginia who traveled from Utah to attend the ceremony.

Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Iowa members Mike Rowley, Danny Krock and Dan Rittel took part in the ceremonies and our member-of-the-year Ron Rittel was also in attendance and took some of these pictures.

Dan Rittel, also a member of WIPCA, acted as master of ceremonies. Danny Krock and Mike Rowley (Rowley in War of 1812 uniform) stood with the honor guard from the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, of which both Krock and Rowley are also members, for a veteran’s headstone dedication after the official unveiling of the cemetery by WIPCA. Also present were honor guards from the following American Legion Posts: Defiance/Westphalia Post #707, Dunlap Post #224, Earling Post #615, Elk Horn Post #322, Panama Post #601, and Portsmouth Post #547.
For his part, Mike Rowley read the Proclamation from the City of Dunlap and short biographies of four veterans of the War of 1812 buried in Harrison County, Iowa, that was prepared by the Harrison County Genealogical Society.
The event was very well attended by local residents, representatives from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Community of Christ Church and several members of the Crandall and Roundy families who had gathered that weekend for a large family reunion. After the ceremonies, guests were treated to ice cream (provided by Blue Bunny) and cookies and lemonade or iced tea provided by WIPCA volunteers.

More pictures of the event can be seen on the Facebook page for the Abel Galland Memorial Cemetery.