Old and New Stone

William Nelson Downing married Delilah Downing [no evidence of them being related has ever been found] and soon departed for service with the 106th Illinois. She was pregnant. He never returned, never saw his son.

He's buried at Downing Cemetery with his father and other relatives. She's buried at Bowers Templeman with her parents, grandparents and other Downing relatives. She and her second husband have an imposing stone. More than 20 years ago some of his descendants decided to give him a better one. His father got a new one also.

Robert and Polly Birks Buckles

These are the stones Robert and Mary "Polly" Birks Buckles at Steenbergen Cemetery, my great great great great grandparents. They are the parents of John Andrew Buckles of the Buckles angel. Robert Buckles served in the Winnebago Indian War shortly after arriving in Logan County, Illinois

The Buckles Angel

This angel marks the Buckles enclave at Steenbergen Cemetery, Mt. Pulaski Township, Logan County, Illinois. Note the "wall" in the background which surrounds this group of stones.

This stone is for John Andrew and Esther Jane Scroggin Buckles, my great great great grandparents. Despite the 1877 date on the stone Esther died December 16, 1904, and John died July 6, 1909.

Thomas Lucas and Wives

The Thomas Lucas Family at Lake Bank Cemetery

The stone on the far right, the tall stone, is that of Thomas Lucas. Thomas had three wives and 17 children. The first wife was Mary Turner. She had 11 children before she died in 1855. Her stone is on the far left. The next stone belongs to her son George. Mary was the maternal grandmother of Lillie Margaret Wood Ryan and sister of Spencer Turner.

Seven of the children were under 15 at the time of her death. This might explain why seven months later Thomas remarried to the widow Harriet Gambrel Lanham. Harriet was 38 and apparently without children. Thomas and Harriet had two daughters before she died in 1867. Her stone is third from the left. Five months later he married the widow Charlotte Bowman East who had three children. Charlotte and Thomas were first cousins through his mother Hannah Bowman. I don't know what happened to her first three children but the happy couple had three children before Thomas died in 1874 leaving a pregnant widow. That child died about six weeks after birth.

Charlotte soon moved to Kansas where she died in 1908 and was buried in Sumner County.

Although his father died when he was 13 Thomas was not a poor man. This may account for his ability to find a new wife so speedily each time.

War of 1812 Veteran Grave Marked

Darrell Eugene Payne, Gayle French Lessen, Thelma Gardner Eisberg, Mary Payne Barringer, Lindsay Erlenbush Maus, Pamela Erlenbush, Phillip Franks French, Brynne Barringer Monier. All are descendants of John Winans Clark whose stone [with wife Ann "Nancy"] is on the left. [Photo by Jane DeWitt]

On June 13, 2009, the Sangamon River Chapter of the United States Daughters of 1812 joined descendants of John Winans Clark and guests at Laenna Cemetery outside of Chestnut in Logan County for a Dedication Ceremony to mark the grave of Clark as a Veteran of the War of 1812.

John Winans Clark served in Captain Jeremiah Martin's Co. in the Kentucky Mounted Volunteers during the Clark migration from New Jersey to Illinois.

Clark is one of at least 28 veterans of the War of 1812 buried in Logan County. He is thought to be the only one buried at Laenna.

Vanishing DAR Markers

Humphrey Scroggin was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Note the DAR markers on his grave in Steenbergen Cemetery, Mt. Pulaski Township, Logan County, Illinois. He also has a flat military plaque. The stone was saved and repaired through the intervention of Dalen and the late Sandra Shellhammer, genealogists who oversaw the cemetery operations for years.



Literally just a few feet away is the stone for Revolutionary War veteran Abraham Lucas. The above picture was taken in 2001. Note the edge of the DAR marker. This Memorial Day that marker was no longer there. There is no military marker. You would not know Lucas was the forefather of many DAR members.

Who Is Buried in Biedler's Mausoleum?

In Mt. Pulaski Cemetery there is a brick mausoleum. It is unique in that it is the only mausoleum in the cemetery. It is not attractive. But it is more unique because it is sealed tightly. For years I thought it was an abandoned storage building, not realizing it was the mausoleum in my grandfather's story.



This is the mausoleum of Henry Beidler who died in December 1888. I know very little about Mr. Beidler. He escaped mention in the local histories, both contemporaneously with his life and the more recent ones. He comes from a family that married a daughter of Jabez Capps, one of the founders of Mt. Pulaski. Other members of his family were involved in publishing the local paper. He did marry and have heirs because one of them contacted me and basically wondered if I knew who is buried in Beidler's tomb.

All I could relate is a story my grandfather told me long ago. A man was buried in the mausoleum in a coffin containing alcohol. It was supposed to be a preservative. Someone broke into the mausoleum. Officials went into the structure, opened the coffin and noted that the body was well preserved, sealed the coffin and then sealed the mausoleum. Presumably relatives were involved. That was all I knew.

Only one coffin was mentioned. The story, and the mystery, is related on the the Logan County Genealogy blog. Maybe you know something that will help a descendant find the answers.

Photos by Jane DeWitt