Williamson Mausoleum at Orphans Cemetery

Orphans Cemetery is a cemetery with the area of four acres, paved streets, and running water. It is located at the southwest corner of Orphans Cemetery Road and Jim Harp Road west of the North Dodge Elementary School between US 341 and US 23.

Albert G. Williamson, a Dodge County entrepreneur, donated land for a burial place in Orphans community following the death of a neighbor’s child, George P.A. Barnes, in 1887. The community was named in honor of the six orphaned Williamson brothers who moved there in 1873-74 from North Carolina. The earliest burials were children of the Thomas, Weldy, and Lashley families. Other common names in the original acre are Hardy, Manley, Steele, Stuckey, and Williamson. The statuary above their mausoleum depicts A.G. and Martha Buchan Williamson and their nephew, Jay Gould. Orphans Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places November 7, 1997.