Son Of Pioneer Interred At Historical Cemetery

(Family Photo – Caption – These members of the Kline family gathered at the graveside in the Cuming City Cemetery Thursday morning for the burial of Marvin Lewis Kline. Left to right, Carol Kline D’Ambrose of Staten Island, N.Y.; Frank William Kline, Jr., of Minnesota; Lila Kline Barth, a sister, of New York City; Frank William Kline, Sr., a brother, of Santa Paula, Cal.; Pvt. Timothy E. Flaherty, a grandson; Patricia J. Kline Lilledahl, a daughter, of Minneapolis; Lucille M. Kline, wife, of Minneapolis; and Jerrold J. Kline, a son, of Silver Spring, Maryland.) The ashes of Marvin L. Kline, a member of the pioneer Kline family of the Cuming City community, were interred last Thursday morning in the Cuming City Cemetery. This was the first interment in the cemetery for a number of years.

The cemetery would have been the official burial place for the once promising town of Cuming City, located three miles north of Blair. The present rural Cuming City school and the Blair airport are both located on the original town site lots.

Marvin Kline was the grandson of Lewis Mines Kline, the founder of Cuming City in the territorial days, and the donor of the land on which the cemetery was established. The Kline family have preserved their interest in the cemetery and several members of their family are buried there.

The cemetery was established in 1857 and the first burial there was that of Lewis Kline Moffett, a 20 year old relative of the Klines, who had drowned in the Missouri River. The cemetery was used by several families of the neighborhood, but has not been actively used for years.

In recent years it has been under the supervision of the Cuming City Cemetery Association. At this time there is an active movement under way to have it declared an area for the preservation of the native prairie vegetation of this region, since the grounds have never been under the plow.

Marvin Lewis Kline, the grandson of Lewis Mines Kline, was born in Brunswick, Nebr., on December 9, 1903, and died at Ventura, California, on April 9, 1974. For much of his life, he had lived in Minneapolis, where he was a member of the city council and also served as Mayor of that city in 1941-45.

Members of the Kline family came from all parts of the United States to attend the funeral services. Other relatives and friends were also present at the interment.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~