John Epeneter was born in Buicen on the Rhein, according to his tombstone, and died in 1896. As you can see from the top photo, the retaining wall and the steps up to the plot have had a lot of years to settle. John was the last person buried in the plot for this family (at least the last to have a marker), so it's been over 100 years since anyone has been buried there. I've found only 9 listings in the entire US for that surname, none of which are in Iowa or Nebraska, so I'm going to surmise that this plot probably represents a single family that moved west to build a life of their own and died out in the process.

However, there was an Epeneter family living across the river in Omaha, either at the same time or within a few years of John's death, so they could be related. The Gustave Epeneter house, which is on the Omaha Landmarks list, is still standing. Click on the link to read about the history of this branch of the Epeneter family and their house.

I'll post the information from the other stones in this plot at a later date, and if anyone out there knows the history behind this family, let me know and I'll also post that. I did hear from a descendant of this Epeneter a few years ago, so the family is still out there and growing, just not in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area.