Bender Cemetery
                                                                                            Aka "Old" Hopewell

                                                           Forest Township, Richland County, Wisconsin  USA

                                             HERE THEY SLEEP Narrative

HOPEWELL - BENDER CEMETERY

Catalogued May 24, 1975 by H. A. Dieter. The location can be doubly described as being accessible from two well known directions. However, the focal point lies in section 32, Town of Forest. One, take County Trunk G north of U.S. 14 at Bosstown. Follow  G 7.6 miles to Hopewell Ridge and cemetery which is west of G as it turns to the right into the valley leading northward to Wis. 56.  Secondly, turn south on G two miles east of Viola on Wis. 56. Hopewell lies 2.3 miles south of 56. Turn right near the top of Hopewell Ridge on a town road leading past the cemetery. The first known burial here was in 1895 as compared to the very earliest burial at Bender in 1851. It is again a matter of  the old and the new. The last burial at Bender was that of Mrs. Jennie M. Bender,  1879 - 1968, and completes all burials of that generation. The old part, as it is referred to, lies about 80 rods north of new Hopewell. It is no longer accessible from the main road, which was changed from the old road once leading to the church then standing nearby. A temporary field road leads to a cattle lane sloping eastward past the cemetery. The grounds are presently being cared for. At least one-half of the monuments are of the old slab variety and are fast becoming eroded and illegible.


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