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As in the other pioneer cemeteries in Omaha, the predominance of children's graves is disheartening. According to the Laurel Hill Cemetery book, at least 2,500 infants are buried in the children's section, most prior to 1900, and the majority are not marked; there are likely many more than that. Many people who have emailed me asking for pictures of markers never get them, because so many graves are unmarked. Pioneer families didn't have the money to buy markers, and had to settle for a simple unmarked grave.

 

The other side of the Nielsen marker in the first picture on this page.

 

This marker for 3-year-old Enno Alva Leber is topped by a weathered lamb almost 126 years old...he died in 1894.

 

This marker was for two of the children of Carl and Elisabeth Furler, Emma and an unnamed infant. It's in German, as are many of the older markers in Laurel Hill.  Omaha still had a German language newspaper as late as 1920.