University Libraries is pleased to host, Greg Phelps, as he presents, "Cemetery Symbols" on Wednesday, October 30 at 12 p.m. in the Leslie F. Malpass Library, Room 180. 

Greg Phelps will be presenting Dead Men's Tales: Cemetery Symbols and their meanings. Have you ever wondered what the skull, hand, or rose on a tombstone meant? Dead Men's tales looks at the history of gravestones, their symbols and their meanings. Many tombstones have clues to the occupations and groups the deceased were involved with during life. Also included in the lecture will be a demonstration on how to make your own gravestone rubbing.

The event is free and open to the public. Questions about the event can be directed to Tammy Sayles at (309)298-3298. 

from the McDonough County Voice

Saving the Stone

By Nick Draper
ndraper@McDonoughVoice.com 
Posted Sep. 21, 2013 @ 6:00 am 

MACOMB  —  

Local history is often associated with courthouses or buildings, streets and monuments, but in Macomb, the most vivid and telling portrayals of history may be found with the county's permanent residents in cemeteries.

They're often the focal point of ongoing beautification and preservation efforts, after years of their neglect. Cemeteries, especially ones that are no longer being filled, can be overlooked as time passes. Maybe a caretaker knocks over a stone or a small cemetery on private farmland — there are several by Industry and Blandinsville — can be encroached upon inch by inch each harvest.

(For a full regional map of cemetery bios in the region.)

"One (cemetery) almost was destroyed," said Gil Belles, coordinator of the cemetery project, regarding a rural cemetery in the county. "The guy would plow and every year he went another 6 inches off the edge of that cemetery. One year he broke one of the headstones."

The signage program, which marks around 98 cemeteries with modern official signage, induced by the McDonough County Historical Society and continued by Belles is an example of present-day efforts to continue recognizing cemeteries.

Boy Scouts have done work to clean up cemeteries and preserve them — one group putting a fence up in an attempt to protect the encroached cemetery mentioned earlier by Belles. Multiple local individuals have also earned Eagle ranking by restoring areas of cemeteries as service projects.

Another effort by Don and Gordana Rezab, now both deceased, set in motion the beautification of several acres south of Old Macomb, Belles said, to assure that the land would complement the cemetery instead of a structure like an apartment or gas station.

Community preserves history

Occasionally, cities themselves will forget the importance of the old stone. In commentary written by author and local historian John Hallwas, also a columnist for The Voice, entitled "Oakwood Cemetery and Community Leadership" in 2006, Hallwas makes a stand against the Macomb City Council's vote to destroy Oakwood Cemetery's entryway arches.

The arches, crafted by Wilbur Wetzel, who was born in McDonough County in 1873 and had served as mayor of Macomb from 1941 to 1945, were constructed by paving bricks taken up when the resurfacing of Lafayette Street was completed.

With limited public funding, Wetzel created the large stone archways that were then threatened in 2006 when the council voted to tear them down.

"The historic entranceway, constructed by Wilbur Wezel, symbolizes the character and spirit that makes our town so special," Hallwas wrote. "But without either caring about our past or knowing where we are heading, the city council voted to destroy a historic structure, and thereby damage a superb historic cemetery."

The arches still stand in Oakwood today.

Preservation of these monuments of the past fall on the one entity that has consistently come to their defense: The community.

People like Duane Lester of Good Hope, who in the 1970s took up the daunting task of documenting the information of each of the tombstones — more than 100 in McDonough County — and placing them in an 18 volume work entitled "Rural Cemeteries of McDonough County."

People like Libby Grimm of the genealogical society, who published "McDonough County, Illinois Cemeteries: Location Maps and an Index," which detailed the history of 126 burial sites.

People like Marge Harris, who documented the location of tombstones in Old Macomb Cemetery in "'Old Macomb' Illinois" to help locate where certain moved tombstones should lay.

People like Hallwas, who has written multiple books such as "Here to Stay," which retells the history of permanent Oakwood Cemetery residents, and "McDonough County Heritage," telling the history of Old Macomb Cemetery as well as other important structures, and who tours around the state giving talks on the importance of cemeteries.

They're all people who have taken strides to preserve the history of where the dead lay — for the good of the community.

"I view cemeteries as historic sites, which they are, of course," Hallwas said. "You'll see the growing commitment to that in many different ways from teaching classes, to the writing of books and articles to try and get people to understand that these are important historical sites. You need to preserve them, you need to take care of them."

Historic sites

Twenty-eight people born prior to 1800 are buried in Old Macomb Cemetery, according to Hallwas' "McDonough County Heritage" — their lives undetailed by the lack of paper but assuredly tied to the westward movement post Revolutionary War.

Old Macomb, Hallwas said, served as a "graveyard" that had a disconnect to the living. With Oakwood Cemetery, preservation and beautification, an idea that stemmed out of Mt. Auburn in Boston, according to Hallwas, was for the cemetery to become a place for the living to reflect in a park-esque setting.

In Oakwood lies many founders of Macomb, such as James M. Campbell (1803-1887) who "built a log cabin at what is now the intersection of Johnson and Jefferson streets," which would become Macomb's first general store.

There is also William H. Randolph, whose murder in 1864 was denounced in the Chicago Tribune and set off a divisive murder case. Randolph, Hallwas wrote, was to bring John Bond in for trial for deserting the Union war effort. Bond shot Randolph, starting a gunfight, and fled the county.

Countless other sites hold the history of the original founders, residents, scoundrels, politicians and heroes of the county that make up the spirit of the community today.

Read more: http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/article/20130921/NEWS/130929870/0/SEARCH#ixzz2g3lhFn6N

Members of the McDonough County

Historical Society

This note is to inform members of the McDonough County Historical Society that Gordana Rezab died Saturday, August 31^st.   Dodsworth Piper Wallen is handling the arrangements and a memorial service will be scheduled at a later time.  She had been the President of the society since January 2012 and was serving her second term this year.   Gordana enjoyed serving the society and played a major role in developing the “Old Macomb Cemetery” project.  She will be missed.  More information will follow later.  This information was provided by Jayne Schiek and forwarded to Gil Belles.

Troubled and Violent Stories

Memorial Day Weekend - Oakwood Cemetery Tour

led by historian John Hallwas

See the graves and hear the stories of murder victims, suicides and violent deaths all buried at Oakwood Cememtery

Friday, May 24 and Saturday May 25

You are invited to find out more about a new organization

“Friends of Oakwood Cemetery”

 Friends of Oakwood Cemetery is a

volunteer organization with a mission to preserve,

protect and promote Oakwood Cemetery,

a historic cemetery in Macomb, Illinois.

To find out more please see their website at

http://oakwoodcemetery.jimdo.com/

and check out their Facebook page and “Like” the page! www.facebook.com/FriendsOfOakwoodCemetery

Please consider joining the Friends of Oakwood Cemetery!