MOUNT STERLING — The Brown County Historical Society is hosting a walk through the Mount Sterling Catholic Cemetery.
The cemetery on the west edge of the city will accommodate guided tours of eight to 10 people every 15-20 minutes from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Society members will be featuring noteworthy people through portrayals about their lives. Among some of those featured will be the Hagel family, Nicholas and Richard Cooke, the family of William Kassing and Bridget Kelly Drew.
The Joseph and William Hagel built a hardware store in tow in 1891 and are the namesakes of the Hagel 1891 restaurant on Main Street. Their father, Casper Hagel, came from France and settled in Missouri Township in 1853.
Nicholas and Richard Cooke came from Ireland when their parents, James and Honora, settled in Brown County with seven children. Being 21 and 13, at the time of their father’s early death, they assumed farming responsibilities, assisting their grandmother, mother and younger siblings but came to choose a different path.
The Kassing family arrived in 1875 from Essex, Germany. Their son, William, and his wife, Rosa Wort, settled east of Hersman near his parents, farming side by side. William Kassing was charged with seeing to the needs of his mother after his father’s death. William Kassing’s early death left his wife to carry on with a family of small children.
As a young bride of Samuel Drew, an Irish immigrant, Bridget Kelly Drew came to Brown County in 1853. This settler, who with her husband raised eight children, traveled via river from Kentucky to Beardstown, then walked the last leg of the journey, settling in Missouri Township. Hard work as a horse trainer and farm worker allowed Drew to buy land near the community of Daisy.
