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On July 10, 1987, six members of the United Church of Christ, Congregational in Ames traveled to the old Wittemberg Cemetery, about five miles north of Newton, Iowa. Under the supervision of Lawrence Hammerly of the Wittemberg Congregational Church, they unearthed the remnants of the tombstones of the White family. Here, Ed Collins (on the right) and Steve Barnhart of the Ames delegation dig for shards. Rev. John White, originally from Connecticut, helped found the Congregational Church in Ames in 1865. He served the Wittemberg church until his death at the age of 37 on March 23, 1872, from consumption. His wife Jane returned to Connecticut; but when she died in 1903, her body was returned to Wittemberg for burial next to her husband and their little daughter Mary. The dig party from Ames recovered the parts of the stones which were reassembled in the Wittemberg Cemetery.