SABULA, Iowa — For more than 100 years, a Civil War veteran's remains were unidentified in the Seattle area.
With the help of national nonprofit Missing in America Project, those remains were identified and recently returned home to Sabula, Iowa, to be buried Monday, Nov. 8.
History rests along the banks of the Mississippi River in Sabula. Pastor Barbara Hayden added to the history of the sacred ground at Evergreen Cemetery.
"It's an honor to touch the past," Hayden said.
Pastor Hayden has done burials of veterans before, but she has never done one like this.
"This gentleman did a lot for Sabula," Hayden said.
That gentleman was Cpl. George Heberling, who died in 1911.
"This kind of stuff doesn't happen, hardly ever," Don Wentworth of the Jackson County Historical Society said.
"I know he was a state legislator, and he was a mayor here in Sabula, and very highly regarded," Wentworth said.
You can read the full biography of Heberling here, which includes his political service.
It was 110 years ago when Heberling went to Seattle and never came back, according to a document provided by the Sabula city clerk.
"There was nobody that claimed his remains, and they were put on a shelf, and they've been on a shelf in Washington state ever since," Wentworth said.
After the remains were recovered by the Missing In America Project, George's remains were sent back to Sabula in April 2021, allowing for Monday's burial next to Heberling's family.
"I'd like to think he's happier now than he has been for the last 110 years because he's home," Wentworth said.
Heberling was a lifelong servant, home at last and now at peace, back in Sabula.