Many leading residents from Tamaqua’s and Schuylkill County’s storied past, plus figures of national importance, rest at sprawling Odd Fellows Cemetery. Their stories reflect some of the most remarkable events in American history.

Among them is Tamaqua resident William Heath, who served with Gen. George Armstrong Custer and is viewed by many as a probable survivor of Custer’s Last Stand, contrary to the traditional understanding of the famous battle.

Also, Peter Zangher, a Revolutionary War veteran, rests on the hillside, along with several key figures of the reputed Molly Maguires era.

The simple grave site of Simon Jefferson has no marker. But it should.

He was a black man who set up shop as Tamaqua’s first barber.

Jefferson is reputed to have met John Wilkes Booth in Tamaqua in 1865, where he learned of plans for Lincoln’s assassination and tried in vain to warn authorities. But nobody would believe him.

Jefferson even rode a train to Lincoln’s second inauguration to warn the president. But he wasn’t allowed access.

Interestingly, Jefferson claimed to be a grandson of President Thomas Jefferson. Today it’s generally agreed President Jefferson fathered children from slave Sally Hemings.

Tamaqua’s Simon Jefferson went to his grave telling people he was one of the offspring of those children.

He died Aug. 26, 1886, after suffering a paralytic stroke.

Another notable burial at Odd Fellows is the Rev. Amos Whetstone.

Whetstone was one of only two civilians to receive fatal wounds in 1863 during the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg.

He survived for years, but eventually died of complications of his injuries on March 28, 1894, at the age of 58. His portrait hangs in the Gettysburg Museum.

The cemetery also is the final resting place of Tamaqua native Ida Verret, who moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and met an unimaginable fate.

She died tragically on July 6, 1944, during one of the most heart-wrenching circus tragedies in U.S. history.

Verret had taken her young son and daughter to see Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in what was planned to be a delightful family outing.

However, to everyone’s shock, flames began shooting from the canvas of the big top.

Within moments, the tent was fully engulfed and collapsed on the crowd, burning to death 169 members of the audience in a horrible inferno. Most were children. One of the grown-ups who perished was Verret. Her body was sent home to Tamaqua for burial.

The horror shocked the nation and launched a series of laws governing circuses and mandating fireproof tents.

The heartbreaking tragedy is known as “The Day the Clowns Cried.”

There are countless other notable burials in Odd Fellows. Many in the region believe the cemetery could become the town’s number one tourist attraction.