Geo M. Locke has recently made quite an improvement in the south part of the
old Henry Cemetery, the gift of the late Wm Hoyt, inasmuch as he has dug up,
moved off, piled and burned rubbish which was the accumulation of years, and
he furnishes us a list as taken from the marking stones of graves within the
present enclosure, which we publish for the benefit of friends who may be
interested in the better care of the neglected grounds, 78 in number.
Rebecca W Disosway, Harriet E Black, Wm M Morey, Jerusha A. Morey, Francis Lewis, George D Mourning, Joseph Little, Rachael Stevenson, Clarinda Tyler, Joseph E Tyler, Abbie E Battles, Alfred L Buck, Sarah W Pendleton, Elizabeth L Pendleton, Wm Henry Pendleton, Ann L Pendleton, and infant Pendleton, Elizabeth J Strafford, Gardner W Mallery, Mary Crabtree, Frederick E Ferguson, Henry H Ferguson, Leonora A Bacon, James W Cook, Harriet M Cook, John M Cook, Benj W Bowers, Mary Ann Bowers, Alletha A Hoyt, Charles E Hoyt, Frankie Hoyt, Frances M Hoyt, Willie Hoyt, Minnie Hoyt, Francis Hoyt, Augustus D Hoyt, Sarah E Locke, Franklin A Locke, Geo W Locke, John Locke, Silas Locke, infant daughter of Wm H Blood, Rosson G Blood, Mary E Blood, Waltesey Camp, Sarah J Camp, Arista M Hoyt, Freeling Hoyt, Eliphalet Hoyt, Bertha Hoyt, Anna Hoyt, Ephraim Hoyt 1st grave made in the yard Oct 6, 1844, Robert A Howard, Dorcas A Hart, Harriet Fanning, Washington B Locke, Mary Ann Hayes, Lucien F Hayes, George Hayes, Byron P Hayes, Louisa Hayes, Hannah Holmes, Sarah O Stevens, Lucy Ann York, George York, John York, William York, Mary E Ratliff, Henry C Woodward, Thomas Gallagher, Aurora Gallagher, Nancy Jane Heath, David W Heath, James E Elston, Nancy A Elston, George E Hoyt, Thomas D Lewis.
There are many graves that have no marking stones. Mr. Locke says he wishes to raise mounds over such graves wherever he can find them to a certainty.
Published under the auspices of the Marshall County Historical Society
Ordinarily, this installment in this series would be separated into two distinct
stories, but circumstances in this case make it necessary to combine the two
into one, and divide it, rather, into two installments, dealing with both;
originally, they were one single cemetery, but less than 50 years ago where
actually made two, instead of one.
While it may seem a little confusing
to the reader, we shall try to treat the cemetery/ies as one from its earliest
beginnings, until the time of separation, which was about 1914 or 1915, and from
then on, as two distinct units.
Even so, the actual beginnings of the
single unit are somewhat shrouded in the "vagueness of antiquity," for the
simple reason that it, like most others of these very old burying-grounds, was
never officially set aside, conveyed, or dedicated for public use as such.
As near as we can tell from what
published material is available on the subject – and even the date is uncertain
– this plot of ground, originally comprising some three to four acres, was (more
or less) donated for public use as a cemetery, by Daniel N. Blood, Sr., who
owned the NE1/4 of Section 8 in Henry township, on which the cemetery is located
(near the center of the east edge of the SE1/4 of the quarter-section, about a
quarter-mile north of the Rte. 29 – Sugar Grove road intersection).
It,
too, can probably best be dated from the earliest marked burials in it, though
probably with nothing more than approximate accuracy, because it likewise, may
contain some very early burials that were transferred from elsewhere.
Quite likely, the earliest-dated stone in
it did come from outside the confines of the cemetery: William W. Pool,
7-months-old son of Simeon and Elizabeth D. Pool, (who were among the earliest
settlers in this county) date of death, Aug. 8, 1836.
Our reason for so
presuming is, that 5-1/2 years elapsed between that, and the next-earliest
marked burial, William Henry Pendleton, 22-monts-old son of Rev. H. G. and
Elizabeth Pendleton (about whom much more will be noted later on in this story,
in next week's installment), who died in February, 1842. The third burial was
that of Henry C. Woodword, Jr., 12-year-old son of Henry C. (Sr.) and Mary D.
Woodward, who died Aug. 31, 1841.
The first of these three is in the
unenclosed portion of the original (whole) cemetery; the other two, although
they had no Hoyt blood lines in their ancestry, are in the inclosed (Hoyt)
portion of the cemetery as it stands today.
That the cemetery had its beginnings in either 1842 or in the next two or
three years following it, is quite clear, from the number of marked burials in
it in those years, which still remain in the cemetery; for in considering these
things, we are required to take into account the fact that after is
"abandonment" when the newer Henry City cemetery was first opened up for public
use (May 12, 1867) large numbers of graves were transferred from the former to
the latter in the succeeding 20 or so years.
The total number of graves
which bear pre-may, 1867, dates of death on their stones, in the newer cemetery,
is 131. Of these, however, some are known to have been transferred into it from
other cemeteries than the Old Henry-Hoyt graveyard; it would be safe to estimate
that at least 100 of these did come from the latter.)
A tabulation of some of these graves – though taking into account only stones with legible dates on them, our only possible guide, would be about as follows:
| Year of Death | In Inclosed (Hoyt) Portion | In Uninclosed Portion | Pre-1867 Burials in Henry Cemetery | Total | |
| 1842 | 2 | - | - | 2 | |
| 1843 | 1 | - | - | 1 | |
| 1844 | 2 | - | - | 2 | |
| 1845 | 3 | - | - | 3 | |
| 1846 | 3 | - | - | 3 | |
| 1847 | 1 | - | - | 1 | |
| 1848 | 1 | - | 1* | 3 | |
| 1849 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 12 | |
| 1850 | 4 | 1 | - | 5 | |
| 1851 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 10 | |
| 1852 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | |
| 1853 | 3 | - | 4 | 7 | |
| 1854 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 25 | |
| 1855 | - | 2 | 9 | 11 | |
| 1856 | - | 2 | 6 | 8 | |
| 1857 | - | - | 1 | 1 | |
| 1858 | 1 | - | 2 | 3 | |
| 1859 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| 1860 | - | 3 | 5 | 8 |
* This one burial is known to have
been transferred from the Lacon cemetery, shortly after 1867, along with several
others in the same family.
Several interesting things are brought out in
a study of this table: a) the irregularity of the annual death rate in a small
community, a condition which still exists; b) the steady growth of Henry's
population, which by the time of the incorporation as a city (1854) had reached
the 700 mark; c) as time went on (still several years before the opening of the
newer Henry City cemetery), some of the older graves were beginning to be
neglected; while many of the newer ones, in the "old" Henry cemetery (still
including the present Hoyt portion, as of the time we are considering) were
being moved to the newer one; this was due to the fact that families and
relatives of many of the left-unmoved burials had already left the community for
elsewhere by 1867.
d) One
more interesting study comes from facts brought out in the above table: note the
unusually large number (25) of burials in 1854 more than twice the number of any
other year given in it. From the very fortunate circumstance that prevailed in
the days of which we are writing, full dates of death were uniformly given on
stones, we are able to make some important deductions.
Henry's population
did not receive any sudden "boost" in 1854 that would have more than doubled the
number of deaths that normally take place in a year's time; accordingly, some
other factor must have entered into it, quite heavily. Noting these actual dates
of death brings out the fact that beginning in the final few days of August in
that year, and continuing through mid-November, 17 of the total of 25 deaths
took place. Seven of these were children, ten were adult.
There is
nothing in published histories of Henry to indicate just what happened right
then, but only an epidemic of something could have brought about that number of
deaths in such a short period of 11 weeks. (It must have been an entirely local
piece of business – none of the others of the Marshall county cemeteries of
which we have complete rosters of burials, show any such preponderance of
late-summer-=and-fall-of-1854 deaths.)
(Note: Since writing the above, we
learned from a third generation descendant of a couple living in Henry in 1854,
that the epidemic "suspected" was one of the dreaded "black diphtheria" of those
days, which often took as many adult lives as those of children. The mortality
rate a century ago was estimated at close to 90 percent.)
The original plot occupied by this cemetery contains
burials of three war veterans, all, fortunately, within the inclosed portion now
known as the Hoyt cemetery. All have interesting stories behind them. (Two were
included in the "War Heroes of Former Years" series, which appeared in one of
the newspapers publishing this series several years ago. These two we shall
review briefly, adding some interesting information unearthed about them since
those stories were published.)
For space distribution reasons, we shall
consider them in reverse order of dates of death, the most recent first. He was
Nathan Dayton, whose widow, Mary, survived until 1914, and is well remembered by
many Henry residents. None of their descendants remain in this vicinity, to our
knowledge.
His burial in the Hoyt
cemetery in November, 1893, some 26 years after the opening of the newer Henry
City cemetery, was explained in his obituary in the (then) Henry Republican, as
being due to circumstances that the family could not even afford to purchase
burial space in the new cemetery – that in the old one was never charged for.
Mr. Dayton, who died Nov. 14, 1893, had been an invalid for a number of years
prior to his death, and the family could not make ends meet on the usual
soldier's pension – Mrs. Dayton had to take in washings to eke out this slender
income into something faintly resembling a minimum living for the family.
Several persons we have contacted for information about the Dayton family,
tell us that they remember helping them out with furniture, clothing, and other
items; they were universally liked in Henry, and people begrudged them nothing,
needy as they were, through no fault of their own.
Mrs. Dayton died May
23, 1914, and was also buried in the Hoyt cemetery. Two simple marble upright
slabs mark their graves, about the least expensive that could be purchased at
that time.
The next previous war
veteran burial to Nathan Dayton's was that of a young man, only 22 years of age,
who had the misfortune to be captured by the Confederates, and to conclude his
short life in the infamous Andersonville (Ga.) prison, about which a recent book
has been published, and widely read.
He was James E. Elston, about whom
we wrote an article in the Henry News-Republican in the summer of 1953, in the
series of "War Heroes of Former Years," not suspecting at the time that he had
living relatives in Henry. (They didn't know it, either, at the time, but do
now.) He was a member of Company E, 112th Illinois Infantry regiment, the only
one we know of from Henry – and that was likely because it was made up of men
largely from Stark and Henry counties.
It was mustered at Peoria on Sept.
20, 1862, and saw plenty of action in Kentucky and Tennessee; some of its
members were among the units which raised Confederate General Bragg's siege of
Chattanooga, Tenn., and then took part in the later battles of Lookout Mountain,
Missionary Ridge, and the Northwest Georgia campaign.
Still later, the
whole regiment joined in Sherman's march from Atlanta to Savanna, Ga., well
remembered by all concerned.
Somewhere along
its route of march and action – likely in one of the early battles of the
Georgia campaign in the late spring of 1864 – young Elston was taken prisoner
and sent to Andersonville, where he died on June 21, 1864, at the age of 22
years, 4 months, and 4 days (according to his stone, also prison records which
were eventually published), which establishes his date of birth as Feb. 17,
1842.
At the bottom of the same badly-weathered small marble headstone
which marks his (possible – see below) grave in the old Henry cemetery (though
in the inclosed Hoyt portion of it), is another inscription, for a twin sister,
Nancy A. Elston, who died Feb. 6, 1853, at 10 years, 11 months, 19 days, just 11
days before her 11th birthday, which would have been Feb. 17, 1853.
(We
have been told, though not on unimpeachable authority, that James Elston is not
actually buried here – but his grave remains in the Andersonville prison
grave-yard; that the stone is only a memorial. We do have some reason to doubt
that, however, as his name appears on many of the earliest lists of veteran's
graves decorated by the former G.A.R. post in Henry. We think he is buried
here.)
Shortly after the original story on
James Elston was published in August 1953, we had a phone call from the present
Mrs. Tessa (Baker) Skinger Haun, to tell us that she had Elston ancestry, and
wondered if perhaps he might have been a relative of hers.
Nothing
further came of it at the time, but with both that, and writing up this
cemetery, in mind, we paid her a recent, very pleasant call, to inquire further
into the matter. It then developed that her mother, Elizabeth (Elston) Baker,
wife of the late Josiah Baker, had told her of a borther (?) who had died in the
Andersonville prison, that the family had originally lived in the region where a
part of James Elston's 112the Illinois Infantry regiment had been recruited
(Start county, near Wyoming), and that her mother had had a sister Nancy.
However, several points in the story do not quite agree: Elizabeth (Elston)
Baker was a daughter of Jesse and Hannah Elston; James and Nancy Elson were twin
son and daughter of E. E. and M. Elston. Also, the Nancy buried in this cemetery
died in 1853; Mrs. Haun's mother's sister Nancy married and went to Nebraska,
where she spent her married life, died, and was buried. Obviously, James was not
a brother, nor this particular Nancy a sister, of Mrs. Haun's morther Elizabeth.
Who were they, then?
Mrs. Haun states that her
grandfather had a brother who lived and raised his family around Cambridge, in
Henry county, still within the territory from which the 112the Illinois was
recruited. But what would compel that family to bury two children in Henry in
Marshall county, when none of them had ever lived here?
We rather suspect
that this will eventually prove the solution to the apparent mystery of who
James E. and Nancy A. Elston were: not children, not nephew and niece, but very
much younger brother and sister of Mrs. Haun's grandfather Jesse Elson, who
after their parents' deaths, probably made their home with Jesse and Hannah, and
seemed more like brother and sister to the latter's own children, than uncle and
aunt. (In those days of much larger families than are usually found today, often
as much as 25 years elapsed from eldest to youngest. People frequently had
uncles and aunts younger than they were.)
If what we have suggested in the preceding paragraph was the case, the
presence of these two graves – particularly Nancy's – in a Henry township
cemetery is easily explainable.
Mrs. Haun says she knows for a certainty
that her mother was born in Stark county (on Oct. 20, 1847), but that as a young
child, did live for "several years" in Henry. (She and Josiah Baker were married
on Dec. 24, 1871, but that could have taken place after the family left Henry
for the Wyoming-Castleton area – Mrs. Haun did not know just when they did so,
however.) Nancy A. Elston died in Henry in 1853, when Mrs. Elizabeth Baker was
but 5-1/2 years old – and at that time was living in Henry with her parents.
It was a good nine years later – in the early spring of 1862 – when James E.
Elston was inducted into the Union army – almost certainly in Stark county. But
undoubtedly the reason his remains were (if they actually were) finally interred
here, was, the fact of a twin sister, also unmarried, being buried in Henry,
while the family did live here.
Only one Union soldier by the name of Elston is listed as ever having died
in the Andersonville prison: this very James E. Elston, of the 112teh Illinois
infantry. So, he could not have been a brother of Mrs. Elizabeth (Elston) Baker
– he must have been of another relationship, either a very young uncle, or, far
less likely, at the most distant, a cousin.
At any rate, James Elston of
the 112the Illinois regiment, the Andersonville prison, and what was once "Lot
68" of the South block of the "old Henry" cemetery (according to Illinois Roll
of Honor records), now inclosed as an incidental part of the (since 1914 or
1915) Hoyt cemetery, does have living relatives in Marshall county: Mrs. Haun,
and three children of the latter's eldest brother, the late Frank W. Baker and
his widow, Mrs. Retta Baker of Saratoga; Charles Baker of Sartoga; Mrs. Stanford
Rickey of Toluca; and Mrs. Otto Trobaugh of Henry.
(In part two of this
installment, will be considered the once large and prominent Hoyt family, with
two allied branches, the Lockes and Fergusons, all of whom played a most
important part in Henry's earlier history. From two living descendants of the
Locke portion of the Hoyt family, Mrs. Ella Jenness, of Fairless Hills, Pa., and
Mrs. Latha Nesbit of Winona Lake, Ind., both granddaughters of Hannah L. (Hoyt)
Locke, we have received enough information for a very complete story, which will
be presented next week. Included in it will be what we know about one more Henry
township grave-yard, the old Webster burying-ground. Then, a final article on
the Merdian-Weis-Apfel cemetery, will conclude this Whitefield-Henry township
portion of this series. As announced last week, it will be resumed, probably in
about mid-January, by other writers.)
Published under the auspices of the Marshall County Historical Society
The third Civil War veteran buried in this/these cemetery/ies
(for we are still considering the original joint, though inter separated, nature
of the set up) was George Washington Locke, born Feb. 25, 1838, died May 24,
1863, though where, how, and under what circumstances, we have never learned.
The date of his death could mean any of about three things: killed in action,
died of wounds, or died of disease – for that date was, of course, during the
war period itself.
He was a member of the same regiment, the 47th Illinois infantry, as was his far-better-known cousin, George Monroe Locke, who survived him by close to 63 years. He was about three years the elder of the two. Because of the proximity of his birth date to that of the first president of the nation, it is rather easy to guess why he bore the name he did.
George Washington Locke was not a part of the Hoyt family, although closely
associated with it. He was a son, probably the second such of John and
Catherin (Tucker) Locke, both of whom lived at the time of his birth, in New
York City, where his father, the sixth of eleven children of John Locke
(Sr.) and Mercy (Dame) Locke, was a carpenter by trade. (The latter were
both natives of New Hampshire.)
John and Catherine (Tucker) Locke had
seven children, according to the former's obituary published after his
death, in Henry, on Sept. 4, 1878. However, the wife and mother had
previously passed away, probably in New York City, in 1848. How John Locke
and his family happened to come west to Henry will be related a little
further on in the story.
One other childe of this family is buried in
the newer Henry City cemetery, Kate E. (Mrs. James G.) Hull, who died Jan.
6, 1871. Their married life together lasted only about 4-1/2 years. She lies
buried on a lot owned by a nephew, John Alonzo Locke, presently living in
Wenona, whose first wife, Eugenia L. (Pulsipher) Locke, who died Dec. 30,
1919, is also buried there.
There are two other children of John and
Catherin (Tucker) Locke buried in what is now the Hoyt cemetery, Sarah
Elizabeth and Franklin Alonzo Locke. No dates of birth or death appar for
them on what markings their graves have, which are merely names inscribed in
the proper places on the concrete coping which surrounds the northerly lot
of the two.
While considering Civil War veterans' graves in this cemetery, perhaps we
should pause a moment to note at least the names of two, or possibly three,
additional ones, whose graves were moved as a part of the extensive exodus
of graves which took place following the opening of the newer Henry City
cemetery, as noted previously on May 12, 1867: Roswell M. West, William H.
Atkins, and Jesse F. Underwood.
All three now lie buried in the
present Soldiers' block of Section C – South of the newer cemetery. The
first two named were moved, probably within the first 20 or so years after
1867; the last-named, we have learned from some local residents who actually
helped with it, less than 30 years ago (about 1828, as near as their
memories can place it).
We know very little about any of the three –
their deaths all occurred in the period before newspaper files began to be
kept in Henry. West's date of death, which we do not know from any other
source than the Honor Roll published by the state Veterans commission, is
said to have been Feb. 25, 1862. The only other reference we have ever found
to this family is a very brief obituary of his mother, Mrs. Roxana P. West,
a native of Vermont, who died in Henry on Dec. 9, 1865, at the age of 65.
She was the widow of a clergyman, denomination not given but presumably
Congregational, as most Vermonters were of that particular one; two other
children, a son George and a daughter, Mrs. Burnett, survived her; and the
story, in one of the very earliest issues on file in Henry, refers to the
"tragic circumstances" of the death of her other son Roswell "about two
years ago." (Actually, it was nearly four years earlier, if our date is
correct.)
No hint, however, is given of what the "tragic
circumstances" may have been. Dying in February, 1862, could mean several
things, killed in action, died of wounds, or died of disease. He, too, as so
many others of Henry and Whitefield's Civil War soldier lads, was a member
of the 47th Illinois infantry; he was a private in Company D, along with
Ransom Gregory, George Monroe Locek (the company's Sergeant-Major), Jacob A.
Melick, and John C. Townsend, its captain.
Though we do not know of
sure, we have an idea the Mrs. Roxana P. West lies in an unmarked grave in
the unenclosed portion of the old cemetery.
The second of three names, William H. Atkins, we have never been able to
find the slightest published records about. However, the name itself is well
represented in the Putnam area. Perhaps some of these folks could give us
some information about this veteran, since Henry and Putnam were as closely
associated 90 years ago as they are today, and his grave may have been moved
into the Henry City cemetery's Soldiers' block from somewhere in that area.
We do not know for certain if this grave came from the "old Henry" cemetery
or not.
The third-named, we are sure, did – we have been told by two
men who helped move it, that the late Taylor Smith, well known in Henry as a
former sexton of the newer cemetery, and two of his sons, did the actual
moving of Jesse F. Underwood's grave from a location near the south end of
the unenclosed portion of the old cemetery, to its present resting place in
the newer cemetery's Soldiers' block, the last (until very recently) actual
burial in it, about 1929.
(Our reason for so dating it is as follows:
as has been noted several times in our articles, the present Henry City
cemetery makes use of a positive, fool-proof system of grave identification,
the only one in this area we know of which does: the installing of a
numbered brick at the foot end of every grave in it, regardless of type,
origin, or date of death. The number of the brick marking Jesse F.
Underwood's grave is B28. Although these numbers were not ben being assigned
in strict serial order, the "B" series was being used in 1929-30-31, the
portion of the series in which that number occurs, probably mostly in 1929.)
Just why and how Jesse F. Underwood happened to have been buried in the old
Henry cemetery originally, is something we have never been able to
determine. He was not a native of these parts; he was born in the area from
which he enlisted, which is given in state veterans' records as Loami, in
Sangamon county, Illinois, about 15 miles southwest of Springfield. These
records state that he was 18 years of age when he enlisted on April 19,1864
(which would make him born in 1845 or early 1846), a farmer, a private in
Company B of the 30th Illinois infantry, was severely wounded on June 18,
1864, and discharged from service on June 29 of the same yar at Louisville,
Ky., for that reason.
His death took place within a few months after
those dates, but were, we have never learned.
There were Underwoods
in Whitefield township at that time: a John D. Underwood, who lived and
operated a combination farm-blacksmith shop-tavern on what is now the
Western avenue road, close to the exact center of the township. Both he and
his second wife, Olly (formerly Mrs. Lewis Martin – each was the other's
second spouse), are buried in the Henry City cemetery, though were moved
there from elsewhere about 60 years ago, by the late Jay Barnes, probably
from the now extinct Burson cemetery in Whitefield. The name is far from
being a common one; there may have been a close association somewhere, but
if so, Jesse F. Underwood would have had to be a son of John D. Underwood's
first marriage. (The latter and the former Mrs. Martin were married in about
1849, several years after Jesse Underwood's birth.)
At any rate, the
removal of these graves from a badly unkempt cemetery to one which will
always be assured of excellent care, was a most commendable thing.
Thanks to the foresightedness of George Monroe Locke, his sister, Mrs.
Eugene H. Hutchins, and several members of the Hoyt family, the present Hoyt
cemetery will never become the shambles that the portion of the old cemetery
surrounds it on three sides has, and will quite likely always remain. Some
45 years ago, these people contributed, generously to a fund which not only
fenced the inclosed portion, but also left a sizeable fund for perpetual
care, which is now administered by the Henry City cemetery board, and its
sexton, Charles Johnson of Henry, taxes as meticulous care of this little
cemetery as he does the much larger city cemetery. Hoyt and Locke
descendants can well be proud of their record in providing the necessary
funds to make this possible. It sets a good example which should be followed
by others all over the county.
In this connection, it should be
mentioned that this once very large and influential family were among the
early pioneers in the Henry area, and left behind them a remembrance of
being conscientious, honest, God-fearing, and thoughtful citizens who were a
credit in every respect to their adopted community.
Of this large
relationship, the only remaining member, to our knowledge, who calls Henry
his home, is Gordon H. Downey, a member of the fifth generation of the
Hoyts, whose three children also live in Henry. One other, John A. Locke,
still lives at an advanced age in Wenona, though a member of the Locke
family which had no Hoyt blood lines in it – as noted, he was a grandson of
John Locke via his first marriage, his second was to his widowed
sister-in-law, Hannah Langford Hoyt (Mrs. Silas) Locke.
The Ephraim Hoyt, Sr., family were among the first two dozen, or less,
settlers to come to Henry. Although published records do not quite agree as
to the actual date, it appears to have been about 1835. At any rate, they
built the first frame house in Henry, which was located on what is now
School street, near the Henry end of the Illinois river bridge.
We
learn this from a quite lengthy and most interesting letter recently
received from Mrs. Latha Nesbit, of Winona Lake, Ind., a
great-granddaughter, who does not identify the house itself, but believes it
is still standing. She relates that some years ago, it was about to be torn
down, but upon coming to its framework, it was found to have been of black
walnut, pinned together, and the owners thereup decided to restore the
house, with new siding.
(Either its present owners do not know its
history, if it is still standing, or perhaps are overly modest about coming
forward with the information, but we have not up to the moment been able to
identify it.)
Another "first" scored by this structure was, that it
housed Henry's first Sundy school, or "Sabbath school" as such were then
called. Seats were formed by laying planks across sawed logs, and folded
comforters helped the youngsters while away the long hours spent inlearning
the Larger Catechism, all 500 questions and answers, which Mrs. Nesbit says
her father, George Monroe Locke, remembered up until his death at 84, in
1926.
The Hoyt family seems to have originated in the vicinity of Utica, N. Y., or
at least, lived there at one time; their eldest daughter, Hannah, who later
was married successively to two Locke brothers, was born at Remsen, N. Y.,
not far from Utica, on Feb. 5, 1807, and was a young lady when the family
came to Henry.
Among the family members were a number of children,
some grown and married when the family emigrated west, we are not exactly
certain of several of them as regards their exact order, but those of whom
we know, from being buried locally and as given us by Mrs. Nesbit and her
cousin Mrs. Ella Jenness, were as follows:
Chauncey (1804-186, buried
in Henry City); Matthew (1803-1875, buried in Hoyt cemetery); Hanna
(1807-1902, also buried in Hoyt); Ephraim, Jr. (1814 or 1815-1899, buried in
Hoyt); S. C. (name not known, not buried hereabouts, but has one child
buried in Hoyt); George L. (1820-1854, buried in Hoyt); Epliphalet B.
(1823-1854, buried in Hoyt); and William H., not buried hereabouts, but has
an infant daughter buried in Hoyt.
(There were doubtless others in
the family than these; from the gaps in the known years of birth, we suspect
that perhaps they left some infants and/or children buried in New York state
before coming to Henry.)
By the third generation, the family had
begun to scatter widely. Although most of the actual burials in the Hoyt
cemetery after May, 1867, were Hoyts, almost all of even these were brought
in from elsewhere. Insofar as dates on stones can tell us, apparently the
last burial in it was in 1922, that of Miss Hattie Hoyt of Chicago, one of
the younger ones of a family of (probably) twelve children of Ephraim, Jr.,
and Frances Jane (Brown) Hoyt, the next burial preceding hers was that of a
much older sister, Mrs. John G. Ferguson (Clara Hoyt), who died Feb. 27,
1921.
It is quite doubtful if any more interments will ever occur in
this cemetery. No more "name" Hoyts survive anywhere near Henry; and later
generations, of course, have established themselves elsewhere. Also, the
Hoyt lots themselves are all, very nearly full, with no room for many more
burials.
The only portion of the once large Hoyt family which populated Henry to any
great extent in more recent years, was one of two Locke families, that of
Silas Locke, the younger of the two brothers, born Nov. 11, 1807, at
Barrington, N. H.
He did not come directly to Henry, but his wife's
obituary states that he was living in Victoria, in Knox county, Illinois,
previous to their marriage on May 19, 1840, when Hannah, who was about the
same age, had been in Henry for four to five years.
They had four
children (1) George Monroe Locke (April 20, 1840 – March 7, 1926) well
remembered locally, whose daughter Mrs. Nesbit, has supplied us with much of
this information, another, the late Mrs. Miriam Hannah Corbin, wife of Rev.
Paul. I. Corbin, was a missionary in China until her death in March, 1928.
(2) Silas Locke, Jr. (3) Washington B. (buried in Hoyt, and (4) Mercy
Victoria, who became the wife of ____ Horace Hutchins, one of Henry's
foremost businessmen for many years, she was born April 9, 1846 and died
March 30, 1921, their children were Mrs. Jenness, the eldest and only
survivor, and also heavy contributor of information for this story, Clara
Kate (Mrs. Marshall) Downey, Jennie P., and Horace Frank, all of whom have
passed away.
The father of this family, Silas Locke, Sr., an ambition pioneer, according
to Mrs. Nesbit, was busily engaged in helping his neighbors with their
"housing problems" in November, 1848, cutting and hauling logs for more and
more new cabins in the Henry area, when he was caught miles from home in a
freezing November rain, suffered a severe chill, and developed what in those
days was called "quick consumption." His death took place three months
later, on Feb. 2 1849, at the age of 42. He was buried in the old Henry (now
Hoyt) cemetery, one of the very early burials in it.
Not long before,
his older brother John, the New York City carpenter, had lost his own mate,
Catherine. In 1850, he came west, to Henry, and in October of that same
year, the two bereft Lockes were married, combining the two families.
(Silas' children" George Monroe, Silas, Jr., Washington B., and Mercy
Victoria; John's children: Charles, George Washington, Amelia (Camp), Sarah,
Kate (Jull), James T. and Franklin A.)
In the obituaries of both John
(Dec. 11, 1802 – Sept. 4, 1878_ and Hannah (Feb. 5, 1807 – Feb. 16, 1902) is
mentioned a child born to them, in 1851, not names, which died in early
childhood. On the southern portion of the combined Locke lots in the Hoyt
cemetery, is a grave of Harriet Fanning Locke, next south of her mother,
apparently, no dates given, who is more than likely this unidentified child
– there is no place for her except that, in eighter family table as Mrs.
Jenness has given it to us.
Caught by the still rampant pioneering spirit which even many Marshall
county residents experienced after living here for some time, the
re-constituted Locke family left here, in the spring of 1868, for St. James,
Minn., to take up claims in some newly-opened country, formerly a Sioux
Indian reservation recently vacated.
Both Mrs. Jenness and newspaper
accounts tell us that the family remained there only a few years,
experiencing several total crop failures, from a combination of grasshopper
plagues and vengeful raids by the much disgruntled, dispossessed Sioux
Indians, who had vowed to make life so miserable for the new white
immigrants that they would soon depart.
The parents, then well along
in years, did become discouraged enough to give up the venture, and return
to Henry; however, three of the younger generation remained in Minnesota to
"stick it out," Charles H. (April 25, 1836 – Aug. 4, 1904) and James T. (May
10, 1847 – Nov. 23, 1915), both sons of John Locke, and Silas Locke, Jr.,
(1844 – May 23, 1881), son of Silas, Sr.; Charles and Silas both died and
were buried at St. James, Minn., but James T., published reports state, died
at Grantsburg, Wis., and was buried at Long Lake, Minn., about 15 miles west
of Minneapolis, and about half-way on a southwest-northeast diagonal between
Grantsburg, Wis., and St. James, Minn.
Another interesting note in Henry's business life is the fact that the Silas
Lockes, during their early years in Henry, opened up one of the city's first
public lodging houses, variously known in those days as inns, taverns,
hostelries, etc., known as the "Planter House," which was the fore-runner of
the long famous Paskell House, which stood, before the big Henry business
district fire of Jan. 21, 1901, on the present site of the Read brothers'
hardware store.
The old Planter House, so Mrs. Nesbit tells us, was
named for the ship on which their ancestors had crossed the Atlantic to the
New World, some century or so before, from their native England.
Mrs. Newbit's letter tells of how her father, as a very
young lad, "helped" with some of the chores around the hotel. Whenever
travelers drove up, his mother would say, "Boys, get me chickens!" and off
he and his younger brother Silas, Jr., would go, with the family dog for
help. They never returned without as many as were necessary. George Monroe
Locke was quoted as saying, "Mother could dress and prepare chicken the
quickest of any woman I have every known."
(Years later, the old
Paskell House, a worthy successor of the earlier inn, was widely and well
known for the excellence of its chicken dinners.)
(Having already
exceeded our space limitations in this installment, and with still a
sizeable amount of interesting material to publish, there will now have to
be a "Part III" of the Hoyt-Old Henry cemetery story. It may necessarily
have to be delayed until after the Holidays.)
Published under the auspices of the Marshall County Historical Society
In concluding the story of this/these cemetery/ies, we shall consider the
unenclosed portion first, telling what little we know about several people
buried in it; and finally, some very interesting items about some people
buried in the inclosed portion, who happened to be there only because of the
fortuitous circumstance that their "lots" fell within a rectangle bounded by
the outermost of the Hoyt families' holdings, and so came to be inclosed
within the concrete block wall that now separates the two present
cemeteries.
Mention was made earlier in this story of a William W.
Pool, infant son of Simeon and Elizabeth Pool, who died Aug. 8, 1836, at the
age of seven months. Elizabeth herself, at the age of only 43, was another
early burial in the cemetery, dying Sept. 4, 1849. It is to be presumed that
Simeon re-married and left this area, as his grave, unless unmarked, is not
in any local cemetery. As for other children, there may have been several
who did remain around Henry, since a century ago there were Pools a-plenty
in this vicinity, all children of two Pool brothers, Simeon and Guy. These
two were among the early farmers in the Henry area.
(We definitely
know that the majority of the Pools hereabouts, however, were children and
grandchildren of Guy Pool, among them being Mary (Mrs. Jered) Jones (both
buried in Henry City cemetery); Albert M. Pool, father-in-law of T. Frank
McCoy, a prominent jeweler and clock-maker in Henry for many years; and Lucy
Maria (Mrs. John) Black, second wife of an early Henry settler (though
buried at Wyoming, in 1898) whose first wife, Harriet Culter Black, is
buried in the inclosed portion of the cemetery.)
The next familiar name, coming down in roster of burials
in the unenclosed portion, is a well-known one to most old-time Henry
residents, the name York. Lucy Ann York, wife of Solomon, Sr., who died
Sept. 11, 1854, at the age of 43, one of the early deaths in the epidemic of
"black diphtheria" mentioned earlier in this story, and (apparently) two
grandchildren, George (June 30, 1849 – Oct. 17, 1850) and John (Aug. 15,
1851 – Nov. 15, 1854, also in the epidemic period), children of William and
Mary York, lie buried in the southeast corner of the unenclosed portion,
south of and very close to James and Nancy Elston, mentioned earlier in the
story, whose graves are across and inside the concrete block fence just to
the north.
On lot 61 of Section C-South in the newer Henry City
cemetery, are buried five members of the York family, one of them being
Capt. "Sol" York (1846 – 1936), a widely-known river boat captain, who
piloted many of the long-famous side and stern-wheelers up and down the
Illinois in a now bygone but once picturesque era. Another grave is that of
a William York (Jan. 10, 1806 – May 16, 1863), which was moved from
elsewhere into the newer cemetery – undoubtedly from the older one.
Form the ages of Lucy Ann (born about 1810 or 1811) and William (born in
1806), it would seem that the former's husband Solomon was a brother of the
latter. At the moment, we do not which was the parent of Capt. "Sol."
Almost adjoining the
York lot is one apparently belonging to a Cook family, represented by two
graves, mother and son, both of whom died in the "black diphtheria" epidemic
period of 1854. The mother's name is not given in full on her stone, only
the initials "H. M." wife of "J. W." Cook (July 11, 1822 – Aug. 26, 1854);
buried next to her is a 14-months-old son, John M. (Sept. 19, 1853 – Nov.
14, 1854).
Mrs. Guy Wilson of Henry tells us these people are
relatives of hers and her brother, Frank Morgan of Henry, and also of the
late Fred Cook, buried in Putnam.
Of the remainder of the 28 marked
burials still remaining in the unenclosed part of the cemetery, only a few
names have even recent representation in Henry's population. (Only nine of
them were adults.) The late Amza Joyce, well remembered in Henry, has two
older infant sisters, Audella and Ann, buried here; Mrs. Annetta (Hill)
Wanser, who will also be well remembered by older Henry residents, has an
infant son, Charles H., buried here, in 1860; Mr. and Mrs. Loton Frisbey,
among the first farmers in the area (their farm holdings centered around the
Henry-Whitefield-Senachwine township line junction, and included much of the
Samuel G. Chesney farm, sold recently) have an 4-1/2-year-old daughter,
Gleora Minerva, buried here in 1855.
Returning for a moment to the historical motif rather than the strictly
personal, it will be remembered that the land (about four acres, perhaps
five) on which this cemetery stands, was never deeded, conveyed, nor
dedicated for use as a cemetery. No board of directors ever functioned for
it; no lots were ever sold; no money was ever collected for care, either
annual or perpetual. Strictly speaking, it was never a "cemetery," in the
legal sense of the word as understood today – instead, it was simply a
"burying ground," which residents of the Henry area were welcome to use
whenever the need arose.
The land, of course, still belonged in its
entirety to its original "donor," Daniel N. Blood, Sr., who lived at the
time on the land, now the property of Miles Dunnington.
Because of
this rather informal status, with each family responsible only in a wholly
moral sense for the upkeep of its holdings, and in person, rather than
through any authorized "sexton" of the grounds, it was easy to foretell what
would eventually happen, and early newspaper accounts describe exactly what
did happen.
Along in the mid-1860's, Mr. Blood and his family began
to openly deplore the sadly unkempt conditions that their "generosity" had
paved the way for; yet, they hardly felt any personal obligation to expend
their own time and energy, "cleaning up" and caring for earlier graves that
were beginning to be wholly neglected. They can hardly be blamed for feeling
as they did.
One story, wholly hearsay,
however, had it that the Bloods finally announced publicly that all who had
people buried on their land, would kindly move their graves elsewhere; that
they intended to farm the land again. We are not sure that this actually
happened, although we have heard the story many times, so it probably has
some factual basis.
Just when the movement officially began, we have
never discovered in print, but undoubtedly, it took place in 1866, perhaps
slightly earlier or later, because in the spring of 1867, work was
proceeding swiftly to put in shape, a newer, much larger, and far more
attractive cemetery for the Henry community, located somewhat nearer the
city itself.
This one was organized as a cemetery should be
organized; it had a board of directors. It sold and conveyed lots, and it
engaged a regular caretaker. Although "perpetual care" as now defined was
not yet in vogue, it did make annual care charge, for a number of years. The
wisdom of its early founders was such that the cemetery board was largely
self-perpetuating, and its finances today are in excellent condition. In our
opinion, it is one of the most efficiently, yet most economically, operated
cemeteries in a community of this size to be found anywhere.
A
dedication and grand opening was held on May 10, 1867, with a procession of
horses and carriages to the cemetery, and a lengthy program, following which
those in attendance drove or walked through the spacious, well-laid-out
grounds via winding driveways, to remark over and over again of the beauty
of the place.
Just two days later, the
order for the first grave-opening in the new cemetery was place. A Henry
resident named John Hyndmarsh, who lived at the upper end of Main street,
standing too close to a downspout along the side of his home, was instantly
killed when a bolt of lightning struck the corner of his house, and the
charge in traveling down the pipe jumped across to where he was standing on
damp ground.
His widow formerly Elizabeth Heacock, a sister of
Russell Heacock, who was a prominent figure in Henry history almost from his
arrival from his native Canada, in 1841, being mayor, alderman, and assessor
in his lifetime), survived him until 1898.
On May 31, 1867, a public
auction of lots in the new cemetery was held, "largely attended," as the
newspaper account put it. Quite a few lots were sold – a list of them is
given in the issue of Thursday, June 6, 1867, of the (then) Marshall County
Republican. However, from a previous listing of the members of the new
cemetery's board, it appeared that the board members themselves did most of
the bidding, or most of the buying – of the 15 successful bidders, all but a
few were members of the cemetery's own board!
Just what went on at this auction can become an interesting bit of
speculation. Faced with the recorded fact that almost all of the actual
sales were to board members, we are greatly tempted to wonder why. Were they
over-bidding purposely, to try to raise as much money as possible for the
new cemetery's treasury, and "got stuck" on prices they hardly wanted to
pay? – or were they trying to "set an example" by purposely putting the
prices high? We rather suspect the latter – because few actual townspeople,
for all the new cemetery received what we'd call quite a "publicity
build-up: in the local press the issue previous to the sale, bought actual
space at the auction.
Looking through the list of successful bidders
published, and knowing, form our own carefully kept plat of lot-owners in
the cemetery, we note that it was definitely the "choice" lots that went in
that auction. Four were sold at $200 each; one at $250. Quite a few sold for
from $100 to $180. Most of the high prices came early in the sale, if the
list of purchasers, as we strongly suspect it was, was given in exact
chronological order. At the end, are listed two sales, one for $80, for four
lots, and another for $60 for two lots (both sales in a not-quite-so-choice
section), which may have terminated the auction rather abruptly – things
weren't going so well! (Even so, the cemetery realized $2,070 on the sale.)
(The four lots for $80, incidentally, were purchased by the late Elder
(Rev.) William Ray Stowe, a prominent clergyman in Henry a century ago, a
grandfather of the late Mrs. Thomas C. Waterous of Henry, and
great-grandfather of Mrs. Raymond Hunt and Ted Waterous. The two lots for
$60 were purchased by John and Nathan B. Whiteney, brothers, both of whom
would be well remembered locally.)
In the next few years after May, 1867, there is plenty of
evidence of a mass exodus of graves from the old to the new cemetery. As
stated earlier in this story, a total of 131 graves in the latter, bear
pre-1867 dates of death; quite likely, at least 100 of these came from the
older cemetery, possibly as many as 115 to 120.
To attempt to list
all the families which did move one or more graves during that period, would
be almost a prohibitive task, and far exceed our space limitations. Most of
them were re-located in the northerly half of the newer cemetery, in the
sections which on its plat are designated Sections C-North, B-North,
D-North, E-North, and F-North, and the whole of the central circle known as
the A section. (Lots in this last brought the highest prices in the auction
sale reported earlier.) Indeed, these sections were opened up first, and it
was not until some years later that the correspondingly-lettered "South"
sections were made use of to any extent.
(There were two exceptions
to the latter, however: (1) the Soldiers' block, three lots in Section
C-South, was set aside at a very early date, its first non-transferred
burial being in 1874, Charles Bell, a Civil War soldier, father of Miss
Annie Laurie Bell of Henry, who died in quite recent years; and (2), the
westerly end of Section E-South, which lies in the hollow along the south
boundary driveway, at the southwest corner of the "old" portion of the
cemetery – this being used for indigent burials, and single graves. (Unkind
souls would call it a "potter's field.")
For what reason, we will probably never know, but only one
portion of the Hoyt family, who by 1867 had numerous burials in the older
cemetery, ever joined the mass exodus of burials which took place shortly
after that date. This was the Chauncey B. Hoyt family, his widow, Huldah
Hoyt, having his grave moved to the newer cemetery. (He died Dec. 13, 1860,
at 56.) The remainder all elected to have their graves remain in the older
cemetery, and thereupon, bought the space their families had been using,
from Mr. Blood. (This also included the Lockes and Fergusons.) Thereafter,
they continued to keep their thus-purchased holdings in excellent condition,
and likewise continued to bury their family members in them, up to as
recently as 1922, as reported earlier in the story. (We learn in a recent
conversation with a relative, that there will quite likely be one further
burial in it, not many years hence – An elderly daughter of one of the
second-generation Hoyts, living now in Chicago.)
Just when the
transaction mentioned took place, we have never learned, but it was
doubtless while Daniel Blood, Sr., was living. (He died July 11, 1890.)
It was not until many years later, however, that the concrete block
fence which finally divided the original cemetery into tow was built – as
near as we can deduce from what information we have received, about 1914 or
1915. It was built, according to his daughter Mrs. Nesbit, by George Monroe
Locke (at a cost in those days of $50!). The ground it inclosed was almost
square, and included all the Hoyt, Locke, and Ferguson graves – and since
they were not at all contiguous, a sizeable numbers of others as well.
We know of only one single burial subsequent to 1867 in the unenclosed
portion: the (former) Henry Republican, in an issue in May, 1888, records
that a Mrs. Elizabeth Lambright (June 30, 1799 – April 30, 1888) was at her
own request, buried beside her twin sister, Mrs. Mary Shibley (June 30, 1799
– October, 1854, actual date illegible), in the old cemetery; both were
widows, and neither's husband was buried anywhere near Henry.
Inclosed within the concrete block fence, near the
southwest corner, lie several members of a family that played a most
important role in Henry's early history, that of Rev. H. G. Pendleton.
A sizeable volume could, and may some day be, written about the
spiritual and educational contribution made by this worthy gentleman, to the
early history of the North Central Illinois Valley country. For that reason,
we shall have to limit ourselves rather severely on the amount of space
given here to him, much as we regret having to do so.
The earliest
published reference to him was as a young man, a theological seminary
student, coming as a stated supply to the then newly-organized Granville
Presbyterian church, in April, 1839, where he received his ordination as a
clergyman about a year later, by the Presbytery of Peoria. He remained as
pastor of the Granville church somewhat over four additional years, when a
considerable dispute arose over his strong pro-slavery leanings – for
Granville was an equally strong abolitionist community, thanks to the
efforts of Benjamin Lundy of Putnam county and his militant abolitionist
following. Rev. Pendleton left Granville in August of 1844, to become the
pastor of the (former) Lacon Presbyterian church.
During his
pastorate of about a year at Lacon, he succeeded in organized in Henry, a
"New School" Presbyterian church, with 12 charter members (though no
published history we have ever consulted divulges who they were), on March
28, 1845. It was officially recognized and receive into the Presbytery of
Peoria, and functioned as such for about five years, when, for reasons we
have never been able to find in either print of local hearsay, it severed
its Presbyterian connections and became a Congregational church, continuing
as such until February, 1899, when it merged with a later-organized
Presbyterian church in Henry, to continue as the latter.
Rev. Pendleton was pastor of this church upon its
organization, and even though it changed denominations (March 31, 1850),
both continued as its pastor, and as well, his membership in the Presbytery
of Peoria. Meanwhile, he had also organized another Presbyterian church in
Providence, in the Bureau county area southwest of Tiskilwa, which he also
served for four years as a part-time pastor.
Several months after
Rev. Pendleton began his ministerial career as a licentiate (unordained
theological student, licensed to preach and temporarily supply a vacant
church pulpit), there was begun near Henry, what was for about 30 years
known as the "Henry Female Seminary." Written history states that it first
opened its doors (to young ladies planning a career as school teachers) on
Nov. 12, 1839 – only seven years after the first permanent settlers in Henry
established homes here!
The building stood almost across what is now
Rte. 29, (a few rods south, however), from the cemetery which has been the
subject of this story. It is described as being 44-feet square, three
stories high, with an addition two stories high, 16 by 40 feet. It was made
of locally-manufactured brick, and was apparently a "boarding school," that
is, its students resided the whole term on the premises. The building was
completely destroyed by fire on Feb. 15, 1855.
As to just how, and
when, Rev. Pendleton became associated with this institution of higher
learning, is a matter we have not been able to discover; he may have been
the original instigator of the movement that resulted in its founding,
although he would have had to travel much, from his pastorate at Granville,
to have been very active in it, that early. At least, he was on hand when
plans for re-building it (in the summer of 1855) began to take shape.
Just as so often happens, this
disastrous fire turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Funds were readily
forthcoming for rebuilding the fire-destroyed structure, and by the opening
of the 1855 fall term, one unit of the new building was ready for occupancy.
By the summer of the next year, a new main building, almost twice the size
of the older one, had been completed.
Hardly had the seminary resumed
functioning smoothly in its newer, larger quarters, when the Panic of 1857
struck it full blast, and shortly thereafter, it had to close its doors.
Eventually, in the fall of 1869, it was sold to the German Reformed church,
which operated it for a time, but eventually dismantled the building, and
Henry's venture as a center of higher learning definitely came to an end.
But back to Rev. Pendleton's family: at least five member of it lie
buried in the present Hoyt cemetery. First, an infant son, William Henry,
who died in Feb., 1842, at 22 months; next, an unnamed infant daughter, in
October, 1845. (We have reason to think the first-named may have been moved
in form elsewhere.) Next was his first wife, Elizabeth L., who died, at 41,
on Feb. 22, 1850.
In September of that same year, he re-married; but
the following year (1851) was a tragic one for him: he lost successively, on
May 6, a 3-year-old daughter Ann; on June 7, a stillborn infant daughter,
unnamed; and finally, on July 6, his second wife, Sarah W. Pendleton, from
the complications fo the age-old problem of womankind which cost so many
young mothers' lives in that day of lack of medical knowledge.
On her
panel on the Pendleton monument in Hoyt cemetery can be read: "She was for
11 years a successful teacher in Ohio, Ky., and Tenn., and the last year of
her life was principal of the Henry Female Seminary."
If Rev.
Pendleton himself is buried here, there is no mark to show it. We have never
found any reference to his death, date or place, or where buried. But he
left behind him a record of service in many fields of human endeavor that
can be excelled by very few in all of Marshall county's history.
Contributed 2021 Oct 10 by Elizabeth Lachemann lzbth.will@gmail.com
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