Located in Section 7 of Union Township, about 20 miles southwest of Chariton and less than half a mile from the Clarke County line, Last Chance lies alongside the 1846 Mormon Trace. The simplest way to get there is to drive west on Highway 34 to Lucas, south on Highway 65 to Goshen church and cemetery, then turn west on gravel. About five miles on, after a mile’s worth of jog south and a turn west again, the cemetery will be some distance to the north, off the road on a short lane.
It would be difficult to find something not to like about Last Chance. The setting is lovely, at prairie’s edge but embraced on three sides by timber. The cemetery may contain Lucas County’s largest collection of mid-19th century tombstones and certainly does contain several remarkable examples of late 19th century stonework. And there’s the story of its founding, among the most specific of any handed down from earliest days.
All that's missing, sadly, are the giant pines that once shaded it. These reached the end of their natural lives quite a few years ago; only one massive stump remains.
If you’re a purist, you can follow the Trace all the way to Last Chance by turning south on gravel at the airport road intersection with Highway 34 west of Chariton, then meandering south and west to join the final five-mile stretch at Goshen.
The cemetery at Last Chance precedes the name by several years and the story of its origin was told by Simeon B. Chapman, who arrived in the neighborhood with his family from Monroe County during the spring of 1851, to his son, Robert - about 5 years old in that year.
According to that story, a party of emigrants - most often assumed to be Mormons - had camped for the night at some time during 1851 along the Trace in Section 3 of Union Township, about a mile west of Goshen. One of the men of the party, Lafayette Sherwood, was killed in an accident involving an ox team. He was buried the next day on the knoll a few miles west, where the cemetery developed.
The story is told occasionally with variations - Sherwood was killed by a cattle stampede, rather than by an ox team, for example. And although there were several identifiable Lafayette Sherwoods out there in 1850, none of them seem to fit “our” Lafayette. Some attempts have been made, with little success, to link Lafayette Sherwood to the Rev. Jesse Sherwood, a circuit-riding Methodist preacher who lived and died in Indiana Township, Marion County. If Sherwood were indeed a Mormon emigrant, no LDS family ever has claimed him. So next to nothing actually is known about a man whose name is very familiar to many Lucas Countyans.
There is no doubt, however, that thousands of emigrants passed by Last Chance during the late 1840s and early 1850s. As Mormon numbers waned, they were replaced by parties headed for the gold fields of California and to land open for settlement farther west in Iowa or far away in the Pacific Northwest. For a time, this was the major route across Iowa for travelers.
The village of Last Chance came along later, a modest trading center then also took advantage of traffic passing on the Trace - then a major route across southern Iowa. A post office was located here from 1865 until 1888, then the community faded. It reportedly included a general store, a blacksmith shop, a brick kiln, a deep well with windmill, eight or 10 houses - and Last Chance Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), organized in 1856.
The Last Chance congregation’s first building was built in 1867; the second building, in 1894. That distinctive little structure was torn down during 1969 and replaced by a simple rectangular structure that served a diminishing number of people until its doors finally were closed. The final building, converted into a home, still stands on the original Last Chance location southwest of the cemetery.
As to how Last Chance came by its name - take your pick. Some say the couple who opened the first general store there, having failed twice before to get a business off the ground, declared this to be their “last chance.” Others say that, when residents were searching for a post office name not already taken in Iowa, “last chance” was picked because every other name anyone could think of already had been taken. And still others say a discouraged peddler named William McHenry decided to hold an auction of his goods in the neighborhood, cried out “this is your last chance” during the proceedings and made so much money he decided to stay around, as a farmer, and designated his new neighborhood, you guessed it, “Last Chance.”
Side by side at Last Chance - From a distance, especially on a moonlit night I’ll bet, the matching tombstones of Granville and Jennetta Westfall --- the tallest at Last Chance --- are just a trifle spooky. Tall cowled and draped figures standing side by side, looking down into timber beyond the cemetery fence (creative imagination required).
Up close, these flights of marble fancy --- identical in concept but not in execution --- are less intimidating. As probably was the case in life, Granville stands taller than Jennetta, and it’s appropriate that the couple has pride of place at Last Chance. They almost certainly are the earliest settlers in the neighborhood buried here.
"Please be respectful, do not hunt at night, do not disturb mourners, and leave this peaceful and revered place in good condition. Remember to practice CITO, always. Thank you."