Ron Bryant <bryant@qconline.com>To: ILHANCOC-L@rootsweb.com <ILHANCOC-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, January 20, 2000 6:09 AM; Subject: [ILHANCOC] cemetey location Can someone give me driving directions to the Webster cemetery in Fountain Green township. Ron.. ------------------------ Dear Seekers: in response to above query, the location of the cemetery according to the Fountain Green Twp. plat shows County Road 17 (traverses east to west) goes thru/divides Webster in two parts...north and south parts. Country road designators show that Webster is between 2600E and 2700E - and by 1800N and 1900N. These designators with the E and N were made necessary/mandated by state (emergency) fire/ambulance laws in accordance with using the 911 emergency system. I know the above reads 'complicated', but when driving out on the country roads, you will see the 'green street signs' at crossroads. I doubt there is even a "cemetery" sign, but if need be, stop at any farm house and ask...just watch out for farm dogs! the following is from the "1968 History of Hancock County, Illinois. I am NOT in possession of the complete above cited 'History', but have just a few pages...quoting from what I have. NOTE: Please keep in mind that this is from back in 1968 - QUOTE - CEMETERIES: The Fountain Green Cemetery was surveyed and laid out July 30, 1856. It is a free burial ground. Edwin Meyers is the trustee. The Webster Cemetery is a free burying ground. Myrtie Allen is the trustee. Also included in this part of the 'history', is the McConnell Cemeter. Fountain Green, Webster, and McConnell Cemeteries are now the responsibility of the township for perpetual care [note: no date is given for when the township took over the responsibility. Now - don't get real excited about perpetual care. So many of the small county/country cemeteries are so hard to reach, and perpetual care may only be a 'tractor mowing' once or twice a year. Webster Cemetery, Fountain Green Township, Hancock County, Illinois: Webster Cemetery is located about a quarter mile north of Webster, Illinois, on a pioneer road which but a little farther on, if followed by the curious motorist, takes him or her into miles of hills and bottom lands. It is one of the oldest and best known burying grounds of Hancock County. It was in use previous to Morman times in the County. Webster was an incorporated Morman city with a population of about 600 set up by them in 1840. It had previously been called Perkins Settlement. It was renamed Ramus by the Mormans, and a year or so later, again renamed by them (Macedonia this time). After the Morman times in the County it was again renamed by non-Mormans who replaced the Mormons here (this time Webster). This cemetery was opened for use when the town was called Perkins Settlement. The first white people deceased in what is now Fountain Green Township, Pattillo Perkins, 1834, sleeps death's sleep here. The grandfather of the writer of this (Warren L. Van Dine is writing this and the date of writing is Nov. 7, 1965), Frederick V. Salisbury, told Warren before his death in 1934, that the Webster Cemetery extended farther to the east prior to 1860, taking in what is now the road described above. He said he was born in 1850, and he was ten years old in 1860. He told about watching road men that summer, move the road from where it was then aways west, to where it is today. He related how in the grading operation, they unintentionally cut into several graves at which no stones had been placed by the families of the deceased, one being the grave of a woman with red hair. The cemetery is, in reality, the high ground at the top of a north to south and west to east grade or hill. It slopes down to the beginning of a descent to a creek on the north and west. There are woods and broken pasture land on both these sides. It is a rectangular plot hardly a city block long the long way which is north and south. Fencing is very old farm field wire fence. Some time in recent years, a small triangular parking lot has been provided at the southeast corner of the grounds by cutting off and adding to the road, a corner where there are no graves. There is an ornamental iron fence with a four feet wide gate here. At one time there was a driveway through the cemetery from south to north. This can be traced easily by the lowered grade. There are no graves on this also. But the north entrance to this has long since been fenced across, with the bridge, which must have been maintained across the ditch by the highway removed. Use of this cemetery driveway was probably discontinued as long ago as the Turn of the Century (1900). This list was compiled by Warren L. Van Dine, Oct. 31 and Nov 4, 196-[looks like a 1 after the 6 in the year], with Allan Geddes of the prominent Geddes family of the Township assisting the first day. On the west side of the gravel township road, just north of the town of Webster, is historic Webster Cemetery. Here a pioneer couple who helped found the town of Plymouth, in St. Marys Township, Wilkins J. Salisbury and his wife, Catharine (Smith) Salisbury, are buried. He was a young New York attorney when at age 21, he met Catharine Smith, one of the three sisters of Joseph Smith [my note: the Morman Prophet]. After their marriage, in January of 1831, he became a prominent Morman minister, a charter member of the Quorum of Seventy in 1835. He worked as a blackmith in Webster, and died of typhoid fever there, October 28, 1853. Mrs. Salisbury died forty-seven years later, in 1900. UNQUOTE >From the 'history of 1968' above, an added tidbit on Fountain Green Twp.: QUOTE: Other cemeteries are the Lincoln, Section 34; Hadley, Section 27; Yetter, Section 32; Alton, Section 23; Roberts, Section 35; and LaCrosse, Section 7. The last six cemeteries have no care whatever. Some are not fenced. There are more Lincolns, near relatives of the President, buried in this Lincoln Cemetery than in any other cemetery in the nation. UNQUOTE So far as I know, there are no cemetery lists - as we think of lists - for the above cemeteries. In most of the "cemetery narratives", there may be a surname or two but no real list. So many of the original stones, if there were, indeed, stones at all, have disappeared with time due to age, weather, and in some cases, even vandalism, I feel sure. So - if you believe your ancestor died/is buried within Hancock Co., IL, suggest you submit a letter to the county courthouse and request a copy of the death certificate. It is 'smart' to always send along a SASE for a more prompt response. Good hunting - good luck! Have great days and peaceful nights! Shirley: bobert@panacom.com