Jersey County, Illinois - Chapter 18: Cemeteries, 1919

A Change In Conditions

After the reference by Dr. Grosvenor in his Thanksgiving address to the cemetery Jersey ville was then without, the city of Jersey ville purchased twenty acres of land in the eastern part of the city for cemetery purposes, and gave it the name of Oak Grove Cemetery, in which are buried many former citizens, and monuments of marble and granite that would be a credit to any city of much larger population. There is a Soldiers' Monument in the center of the plot. A large mau¬ soleum has been built of brick and concrete, and supplied with all of the latest improvements connected with such structures.

Oak Grove Cemetery

Oak Grove Cemetery was purchased in January, 1856. It is located in the eastern part of Jersey ville. The first sexton was Thomas Ford, who acted as such until the latter part of 1860. The second one was Joshua Walpole, who acted until May, 1867, and he was then succeeded by Casper Sabo, who held the position until his death. The present sexton is Strother Kennedy. The cemetery is very well kept, and is a beautiful resting place for the dead.

First Persons Buried

The first person buried in Oak Grove Cemetery was Clavera Stelle. a daughter of L. and R. Stelle, the date of her interment being August 6, 1856. The second burial was that of Elizabeth Ford, who was in¬ terred in September, 1856.

Addition To Oak Grove

An additional twenty acres was purchased of Eugene Eberhard on January 19, 1898, and platted by A. W. Newton, county surveyor. There are 792 lots in the original cemetery, including fifty lots laid off for the potter's field, and 690 in the new part, making a total of 1,482 lots, which, as a whole, makes one of the most beautiful ceme¬ teries in this part of the state.

Old Cemetery

There are a number of graves in the old cemetery in Jersey ville, that should have long since been removed, either to Oak Grove Cemetery, or elsewhere. This burial ground is an unsightly and unsanitary nuisance, and should not be allowed to so remain, in the center of a city with the claims to enlightenment, civilization and prosperity constantly ad¬ vanced in favor of our beautiful municipality. It is to be hoped that - - - ^ « this matter will have early and prompt attention from the authorities,

Catholic Cemetery

The Catholics have a cemetery a half mile north of Oak Grove Ceme¬ tery. It has been surveyed, laid out with walks and monuments, and is a very beautiful burial place.

There are a number of other cemeteries in Jersey County, and it may be said that there has been more care taken in the platting arrange¬ ment and adornment of these cemeteries in later years than there was when the county was new. Among the cemeteries of the county may be named the following: the Noble Cemetery at Otterville; the Newbern at Newbern; the Salem Cemetery; the Odd Fellows' Cemetery north of Grafton ; the Elsah Cemetery ; the Rosedale Cemetery ; the Fieldon Cemetery; the Hartford Cemetery; the Meadow Branch Ceme¬ tery ; the Shiloh Cemetery ; the Fidelity Cemetery ; the Delphi Cemetery ; the Kemper Cemetery; the Lacko Cemetery, in English Township, and several others in various neighborhoods. In addition to the one at

Record On Old Tombstone

This John McDow was married to Margaret Gillham, a daughter of William Gillham, a Revolutionary soldier, and a sister of Mrs. John G. Lofton, and John D. and Ezekiel Gillham. John McDow and his wife were the parents of Charles, Thomas, Robert, William and John McDow, and Margaret (McDow) Lurton, wife of Jacob Lurton. John McDow, Jr., died in California. On the day of the writer's visit to this cemetery, John J. Hardin McDow, aged seventy years, ten months and twenty-two days, was buried there, the funeral being attended by a large concourse of relatives and friends. He was a grandson of John and Margaret McDow, and died in the same room of the same house in which he was born, and upon the same land upon which his grandparents originally settled a century ago.

On that same day, July 31, 1918, the writer in company with Joseph M. Page, his wife, and A. F. Pitt, president of the local draft board, through the courtesy of Charles C. Gillham, visited the original brick house erected by John D. Gillham ninety years ago from mud bricks, made and burned upon the ground, with timber there grown, and fin¬ ished with native woods. The building is two stories above the base¬ ment, and there is not a crack in the walls from the bottom of the base¬ ment to the roof, the bricks are in a perfect state of preservation, and the house from all appearance may stand for another century.

The view from the eastern front across Round Prairie, which in¬ cludes the original Gillham Camp Ground, the East Newbern Methodist Church, the original home of Moses Cockrell, Robert Gardner, and many of the early settlers, the present finely improved farms, and extends to the "Piasa" and Madison County, is truly beautiful, and well worth a visit to this, the oldest building now standing in Jersey County. Charles

D. Gillham its builder, and he is a member of the county board as supervisor from Mississippi Township, as was also his father, Richard C. Gillham before him. Charles C. Gillham now owns the property originally owned by his ancestors. A century of the history of that part of Lofton's Prairie is contained in the foregoing observations.