Sept. - Dec. 2010 "In the News"

Headstone marking the grave of William T. Simpson (1827-1878), a veteran of the Civil War.

Press Release

December 23, 2010

Macomb - In August, Tucker Hays completed cleaning up and reclaiming the Simpson cemetery, a project that will be submitted as his major requirement to reach Eagle Scout.

The Simpson family cemetery has been inactive since 1918, with the attendant

neglect taking its toll in fallen trees, limbs, and aggressive weeds.

After several Saturdays of chain saws, weed whackers, loppers, stoop labor,

and the cooperation of a dozen fellow Scouts and friends, the Simpson Cemetery emerged as a beautifully restored cemetery. The headstones are standing erect surrounded by an ancient wire fence supported by original concrete posts.

In August, the McDonough County Historical Society recognized the work of Tucker Hays by erecting a new sign at the edge of the newly cleared plot in the middle of a forest a half mile north of the Animal Shelter.

The earliest burial was an infant in 1842. The last was William M. Simpson, a veteran who died in World War I in 1918. An older William T. Simpson was a veteran of the Civil War who died in 1878. Seven of the 16 headstones mark the graves of young children or infants. Ten members of the Simpson family rest in this deeply wooded and secluded plot.

Tucker felt that the remoteness of this historical site required a second sign at the edge of the forest near a newly created footpath leading to the resting place. The members of First Presbyterian Church agreed and sponsored a second sign for the Simpson Cemetery, erected last week.

Tucker is a member of Scout Venture Crew #1. Mitch Standard serves as Scoutmaster and Mike Burdick supervised this Eagle project.

The cemetery sign project is sponsored by the McDonough County Historical Society.

McDonough County Almshouse

Andy and Holly Riggins decorated the sign that commemorates the site of the McDonough County Almshouse, or poor farm, that once occupied their property from 1884 to 1949.

In early 1884 the county board purchased 160 acres from Beverly Westfall for $10,000 for a new Almshouse. (This same land had been awarded to Benjamin McCleary on January 1, 1818 by President James Monroe as a bounty for military service in the War of 1812. It changed hands many times before Mr. Westfall sold it to the county in 1884.)

William O. Thomas earned the contract to build the new Almshouse

(designed by architect F.M. Ellis of Marshalltown, Iowa). Thomas had a good reputation in Macomb, having built the high school (1865), the Chandler Opera House block (1872), and the jail (1876). But after completing this job, he moved to Kansas in 1886 after the county board refused to honor its contract, paying him $1,000 less than the stipulated agreement.

The county was left with an imposing and magnificent structure to house the wide variety of people who needed help: the destitute, the elderly, abandoned and orphan children, the infirm, those with mental disabilities, and women escaping abusive situations. The Almshouse was typically underfunded, making it impossible to hire qualified supervisors and competent staff to operate the facility or maintain the building in a satisfactory state of repair.

This photo of the Almshouse is courtesy of the Western Illinois University Archives and Special Collections, where the research was conducted for this article.

The sign marking the Almshouse site, donated by the McDonough County Historical Society, is on the SW corner of Candy Lane and 1050 North, property now occupied by Andy and Holly Riggins and their three daughters, Katie, Sarah, and Masyn.

The holiday Christmas wreath draws one’s attention to the sign and a chapter of McDonough County History unknown to many of us.

Summer photo of grave of Civil War veteran Rowan L. Simmons.

Press Release

December 1, 2010

SIMMONS CEMETERY CLEANUP AND SIGN

Macomb - Macomb High School senior Joe Howard learned about the cemetery restoration project of the McDonough County Historical Society early this spring. He consulted with some leaders of his Scout troop which set off a chain of events that culminated in completion of his major project to reach Eagle Scout. The Simmons family cemetery has been inactive since 1922, when Spring

Lake was created. The lake project flooded the county road used to access this cemetery. The isolation and consequent abandonment and neglect took its toll in fallen trees, limbs, and aggressive weeds.

Howard learned that members of the Historical Society would be enthusiastic

supporters of his proposal to reclaim and restore this old family cemetery which

is on property owned by the city and administered by Spring Lake Park.

After several Saturdays of chain saws, weed whackers, loppers, stoop labor,

and the cooperation of a few fellow Scouts and friends, the Simmons Cemetery has emerged as an expansive and restored cemetery. Most headstones are standing erect surrounded by a dense woods.

The McDonough County Historical Society recognized the work of Howard by

erecting its most recent sign at the edge of the newly cleared plot in the middle of a forest a half mile north of Spring Lake shore. The earliest burial was Joseph E. Landsdown in 1855, at age 54 years old. The last interment was John Joshua Simmons in 1922. An older Rowan L. Simmons was a veteran of the Civil War who died in 1906. Ten of the 31 headstones mark the graves of young children or infants. Twelve members of the Simmons family rest in this deeply wooded and secluded plot.

Howard is president of Scout Venturing Crew 5203. Dr. Shea Trost serves as Crew Advisor and Tom Green supervised this Eagle project.

The cemetery sign project is supported by Niemann’s County Market and Pepsi, the McDonough County Genealogical Society, the McDonough County Highway Department, and the McDonough County Historical Society.

Douglas R. Head of Overland Park, KS, found ancestors in the Head Cemetery and the Spring Creek Cemetery in McDonough County.

Press Release

October 26, 2010

Emmet Township - Descendant Douglas R. Head of Overland Park, Kansas, recently visited several county cemeteries and arranged for a new sign at the Head Cemetery donated by the McDonough County Historical Society.

The Head Cemetery is located in northwest Emmet Township

in McDonough County. It is an inactive and abandoned family and community cemetery. It was founded in 1836 and contains approximately 16 graves interred from then to 1876. There is an old wooden gate and arch which still holds up the deteriorating wire fence surrounding the plot.

James Head (1780-1863), born in Virginia, moved to Emmet Township on Christmas day in 1832. He farmed until 1855 when he moved to Macomb. James and his wife Isabella (1790-1876) raised 12 children. They both rest in the Head Cemetery.

Their son Thomas W. Head sold two acres of his land for use as a public cemetery (Spring Creek) where he and his wife Isabel are buried.

There are seven infant graves among the 16 headstones still visible in the Head Cemetery. In 1973, a few markers were located just outside the fenced area.

The cemetery sign project is supported by the McDonough County Genealogical Society, the McDonough County Highway Department, Niemann’s County Market and Pepsi, an anonymous donor, and the McDonough County Historical Society.

Alvin Curtis with one of only three foot stones (B.V.) still remaining in the Vawter Cemetery.

Cemetery Mystery!

Over the last four summers, the McDonough County Historical Society has sought to locate and mark each of the cemeteries in our county with a new sign. At one point in the 1980s, Libby Grimm, Marge Harris, and Dwayne Lester identified over 120 cemeteries or burial sites within McDonough County.

Our goal is to reclaim, restore, and return respect to these resting places of our ancestors, forebears, or community leaders. It is already obvious, as a result of our search for some of these remote and isolated places, that the cemeteries or grave sites have become totally abandoned, neglected, and in some cases destroyed.

When a cemetery is desecrated (a violation of Illinois statutes), we lose a component of our history and culture. We also make a negative statement about our humanity and civility.

We can be proud of many of our neighbors who have volunteered to clean up and repair a neglected cemetery. And we thank a large number of individuals and businesses who have supported the 75 signs installed at these repositories of local history, art, architecture, demographics, and family life.

Now I am sending out a call for help to solve a cemetery mystery.

I had been searching for two years to find the Vawter Cemetery in Bethel Township. The first burial was Earley Vawter in 1835. Sebastian Hoover, a veteran of the War of 1812, was buried there in 1839. The last funeral was in 1920.

I eventually learned the name of the property owner where this cemetery is located. Alvin Curtis, who as a lad of four years old attended that last funeral in 1920, owns the property. He enthusiastically agreed to take me to the Vawter Cemetery.

Alvin no longer farms the surrounding land, but he vividly remembers approximately 25 large and beautiful headstones in an acre of fenced land with concrete posts and barbed wire.

Last week we parked as close as we could. Just before climbing over fences and trekking across dense brush, weeds, and thorn bushes, a nearby neighbor warned us that two years ago he spotted three pickup trucks driving away from the cemetery area. When he went out to the cemetery, all of the headstones had been removed.

Alvin was devastated at this bad news. But wanting to see for himself, he led me for 30 minutes through the nastiest, thickest, tallest field of weeds that I’ve ever experienced.

We found the “cemetery,” or what was once a cemetery. The posts and wire fence are still there. The gate has been removed. Under fallen timber and forest debris, we did find three small foot stones with mere initials carved into them. But all of the 25 family and historic headstones had been removed.

Next summer the MCHS will install one of its signs marking the Vawter Cemetery. But before that happens, I ask all of you to help solve the mystery of the missing memorials to our ancestors resting there.

If you have any clues to who removed the headstones and/or why, please report your information to the McDonough County Sheriff’s office (309/833-2323), or give me a call: Gil Belles, 309/837-9441, AG-Belles@wiu.edu

WIU Professor Tom Green clears the Dailey Cemetery for its new sign donated by the McDonough County Historical Society.

Press Release

October 14, 2010

Eldorado Township - WIU Professor Tom Green of Macomb, agronomist and cemetery historian, recently cleared weeds and brush for a new sign donated by the McDonough County Historical Society for the Dailey Cemetery.

The Dailey Cemetery is located in northwest Eldorado Township in McDonough County. It is an inactive and abandoned cemetery founded in 1844 containing approximately 10 graves interred from then to 1867.

Thomas Dailey (1783-1854), born in West Virginia, moved to Eldorado Township in 1836. He owned and farmed 160 acres. When his wife Sarah died at age 72 (1862), she had buried two daughters and her 71 year old husband in this family cemetery.

Their daughter Rebecca married George Greenup. He and his mother Catherine also rest in this plot.

The cemetery sign project is supported by the McDonough County Genealogical Society, the McDonough County Highway Department, Niemann’s County Market and Pepsi, Gene and David Raymond, and the McDonough County Historical Society.

Richard Jackson admires the new sign at the White Flock Cemetery installed by the McDonough County Historical Society. Dick and his wife Marilyn cosponsored the new sign.

Press Release

Immediate - October 12. 2010

Macomb - Dick Jackson, local historian and genealogist, with his wife Marilyn cosponsored a new sign for the White Flock Cemetery installed by the McDonough County Historical Society. This well maintained cemetery is in the northeast corner of Lamoine Township.

The first burials were in 1839, but the land was not deeded as a cemetery

until 1871. There is still an occasional funeral at this beautiful site.

There are two veterans of the Civil War resting here, Charles Turner and Joseph Bayles. Seven of Bayles’ 16 siblings served in the Civil War, one killed in action.

Joseph also served in the Mexican War before enlisting in the Union Army from Illinois. He was taken prisoner and incarcerated at Andersonville, where a fire nearly blinded him. He escaped in 1864, and continued to serve even though being wounded several more times.

The White Flock Church was built near the cemetery in about 1866. A fragment of an undated newspaper article attributes the name to Hannah Wilson Stookey, who, with her husband Benjamin, organized the church. “Mrs. Stookey suggested that since all in the community were white with no other color or nationality, and since the people seemed to flock together very well, they should call the church White Flock and . . . establish a Congregational Christian Church.”

There are almost 100 pioneer citizens of McDonough County resting in this hilltop cemetery.

The cemetery sign project is supported by the McDonough County Genealogical Society, the McDonough County Highway Department, Niemann’s County Market and Pepsi, Richard and Marilyn Jackson, and the McDonough County Historical Society.

Gerald Thrapp accepts a new sign for the Hays Cemetery installed by the McDonough County Historical Society.

Gerald Thrapp, current owner of the land on which the Hays Cemetery lies,

accepted two new signs installed by the McDonough County Historical Society.

The Hays Cemetery is on the northern edge of Hire Township, 1.5 miles

east of Blandinsville, deep in the dense woods south of Route 9.

The Thrapp family found the Hays Cemetery after they purchased the wooded property. Their discovery set off a chain of events that has culminated in the restoration of this abandoned and neglected family cemetery.

The Hays family cemetery has been inactive since 1868, with the attendant neglect taking its toll in fallen trees, limbs, and aggressive weeds. An ornamental iron fence still surrounds this small family plot with eleven known burials.

Erect stones mark the resting places of six members of the William H. Hays family, the earliest marker for Elizabeth, who died in 1842, just before her 17th birthday.

Jefferson Hays was born in Kentucky in 1808. In 1832, he moved to Hire Township with two brothers, William and Thomas. When he died in 1857, Jefferson was buried in the family cemetery (but his headstone is missing or covered with mud and weeds). The markers for his brother William (died 1845) and William’s wife Susan (died 1857) are erect.

Two other family names are represented on these headstones: Boyles and York.

While clearing the area around the cemetery plot the Thrapps believe that they have found evidence of other graves outside of the fence.

The cemetery sign project is supported by the McDonough County Genealogical Society, the McDonough County Highway Department, Niemann’s County Market and Pepsi, the Gerald Thrapp family, and the McDonough County Historical Society.

Bob Douglas, left, Macomb County Market store director, presents a matching grant check from County Market and Pepsi, to Gil Belles, of the McDonough County Historical Society for its cemetery sign project.

For Immediate Release

September 14, 2010

Bob Douglas, store director of Niemann’s County Market in Macomb, presented a matching grant donation for cemetery signs to Gil Belles, director of the cemetery project for the McDonough County Historical Society.

Gerry Kettler, County Market spokesman in Quincy, commented that “County Market and Pepsi are proud to support the McDonough County Historical Society in this project. This work is vital for historical preservation and we are happy to help them reach their goals.”

Douglas pointed out that “County Market and Pepsi have awarded over $10,000 this month to worthy organizations in our region.”

The gift of $250, when matched by the society, will support five signs installed on cemeteries in McDonough County.

In the last four years over 75 signs have been installed with the help of the McDonough County Highway Department, funeral homes, banks, family members, anonymous donors, the McDonough County Genealogical Society, and the McDonough County Historical Society.

There are over 110 cemeteries in McDonough County. Project director Belles, with help from Craig L’Hommedieu, put up 16 new signs in 2010.

The cemetery sign project has brought attention to the poor condition of many of these cemeteries, generating interest among volunteers to clean up and restore dignity to these resting places of our forebears.

Courses of interest offered by the LIFE (Learning is Forever) program at WIU

To register go to: http://www.wiu.edu/LIFE/

McDonough County Cemeteries

For over four years, the McDonough County Historical Society (MCHS) has attempted to locate and bring due recognition to the more than 100 cemeteries in McDonough County. While some of the county’s cemeteries are still in use and well-maintained, a large number are sadly neglected. In many instances, the installation of a new MCHS sign has provided motivation for volunteers to clean up an abandoned cemetery and restore it to dignity, order, and respect. In the process, often fascinating stories emerge about those laid to rest in a particular site, their families, jobs, migrations, and other important life events. Each Saturday morning, participants in this class will visit three or four rural cemeteries located in one of the quadrants of the county. Each class will begin with an orientation (conducted in the lobby of the Radio Information Services Building, formerly the Hy-Vee market), after which they will car pool and caravan to the various cemeteries.

Coordinator: Gil Belles

Class sessions: Saturdays, September 11 & 18; October 2 & 9

Time: 9:30 am--approximately noon

Place: Radio Information Services lobby on W. University Drive and N. Lafayette Street

Parking: At the site Cost: $10.00

Scrapbooking Your Family History

A great way to preserve your family history and the interesting stories accumulated through the years is to put them into a scrapbook that is sure to become a family treasure, passed down (and added to) from generation to generation. This course will include lists of local genealogical resources and useful Internet sites that will enable participants to gather information about their ancestors. The class will explore the process of designing scrapbook pages and will study examples created by a local artist. The class will also make a trip to the Scrapbook Nook in Colchester to purchase the necessary supplies.

Coordinators: Betty Kaspar and Patricia Hobbs

Class sessions: Thursdays, October 14, 21 & 28

Time: 3:30-5:00 pm

Place: Spoon River College Community Outreach Center

Parking: At the site Cost: $10.00

A Trip Back to the One-Room School: Seeing Is Remembering

No history of rural education is complete without the inclusion of the one-room school. By means of a visit to a museum dedicated to the topic, this class will address this important aspect of McDonough County’s past. Participants will receive an orientation about one-room schools in our area and then carpool to Ipava where Mr. and Mrs. Marian Cornelius have developed a restored one-room school that is part of a larger museum project that also includes Camp Ellis material as well as the remains of a log cabin. Following the tour of the museum, the class will drive on to the historic community of Bernadotte for lunch in a café overlooking the Spoon River. The return trip to Macomb should occur by mid-afternoon. Maximum enrollment: 30.

Coordinator: Louis Battin

Class session: Thursday, September 23

Time: 8:45 am-midafternoon

Place: Wesley United Methodist Church, 1212 W. Calhoun Street

Parking: At the site, lower level lot Cost: $5.00