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Photographs Taken by Leroy Getz - March 2007 - Notes and Comments by Alice Horner
The first burials were victims of a small pox epidemic which hit the small community in 1853. Caralee Aschenbrenner, reporting in her April 20, 1988 column of Please Don’t Quote Me in the Lanark’s Prairie Advocate newspaper, describes Benjamin and Mariah Jacobs, who founded the village of Jacobstown, as establishing a graveyard high on the ridge north of the blossoming village “for the public use, with the exception of a perch square around the grave of their child.” Caralee said their child was Jacob Jacobs, who had died of small pox and he was only 6 years old. Several children of the A. H. Atherton family died then but no tombstones for them remain. Also buried in 1853 was Catherine Markley, who died December 15, 1853; she was the wife of Peter Markley.
The cemetery was officially established on April 1, 1854. It is reported that there were as many as 25 burials in Jacobstown Cemetery but either no tombstones were placed or they were stolen, lost, or destroyed. These cemetery transcriptions were made in the 1970s by longtime Jacobstown historian, Grace (Downing) Getz (1903-1992). The cemetery was cleaned when she was doing her transcriptions and the broken tombstones gathered together to form a sort of monument (refer to the photo).
Since then, vandals destroyed or stole tombstones in the Jacobstown Cemetery and much of what people tried to preserve in the 1970s has been lost. The cemetery is now part of the Mt. Carroll Township Rural Cemetery Maintenance District.
According to Grace Getz’ transcriptions, these people are buried in the Jacobstown Cemetery:
J. W. Atherton, Civil War Soldier, Co. D, 153rd Il. Inf., b. May 26, 1848, d. Oct. 18, 1865
Maria Atherton died in 1859, wife of A. H. Atherton
Several children of A. H. Atherton
Gideon H. Carr died May 18, 1862, age 47 years 10 months 3 days
Slohn Coats – had a large stone that has disappeared
Two (2) male Douglas children were buried in late 1890, no stones exist.
Jacob Jacobs, age 6, died in 1853 of small pox, son of Benjamin and Mariah Jacobs
Christopher Kelly, died 6 months, 21 days, children of Thomas & Eliza Kelly
Mary Isabel Kelly, died 1 year, 9 months, August 18, 1854
Catherine Markley, died December 15, 1853, wife of Peter Markley
Charity P. Markley, died May 11, 1859, wife of M. Markley
Sarah Markley, five days old died Dec. 31 1861, daughter of P. & H. Markley
Joseph D. Riddiough, drowned Feb. 26, 18__, age 24 years, son of W. & Grace Riddiough
William Riddiough, died Nov. 23, 1855, 47 years old
Sarah Turneham, died March 22, 18__, wife of G. T. Turneham
The more recent burials are:
Chester Yantzy Derrickson born 1907, died 1985
Glen T. Gable
Timothy A. Gable
J. W. Atherton mustered out (of Company D of the 153th Illinois Infantry) sick in February 22, 1865. This information is according to the History of Carroll County, Illinois published by Kett in 1878, I couldn’t find the maiden name of Maria Atherton, who died in 1859. A. H. Atherton, her husband, was probably Alexander Atherton. They do not appear on the 1850 US Federal Census for Carroll County (or anywhere else I could find), They apparently moved from New York to Carroll County, Illinois between about 1850 - 1854 because Alexander Atherton does appear on the 1860 census for Mt. Carroll Township, living with 4 children, the 9-year-old having been born in New York and the 6-year-old in Illinois. The Gideon H. Carr property adjacent to the Jacobstown Cemetery would be just to the east of the cemetery. Gideon H. Carr married Mary Downing on December 21, 1853 in Carroll County. She was born in 1837, and was the first white child born in Carroll County (per page 253 of the History of Carroll County, Illinois published by Kett in 1878). Her parents were Nathan Downing and Rachel (Cochran) Downing. They had a child named Mary Carr, born about 1858. (Contact Alice Horner if you have information about this family.) The spelling of Slohn Coats’ given name certainly seems to be wrong. I couldn’t find this name in any of my Carroll County sources or online either. However Grace Getz got that information in a letter from another Jacobstown historian, Jessie Sweitzer, so it may be correct. (Again, please contact Alice Horner if you have information about this family.) I don’t have the names of the two male Douglas children. Mrs. William Siedenburg, their sister, was Ida Douglas, daughter of George A. Douglas and Elizabeth Ritenour. Caralee Aschenbrenner also notes that Jacob Jacobs was apparently first buried “near the gate at the corner of their home,” meaning his parents home in Jacobstown, so his body would have been moved to the Jacobstown Cemetery. The 1850 US Federal Census for Mt. Carroll Township doesn’t show a Jacob Jacobs living with the Benjamin Jacobs family or any Jacob Jacobs at all. He should be there if he was 6 when he died in 1853.Benjamin Jacobs had a son named Benjamin who was 2 years old in 1850, but he’s alive and 12 years old on the 1860 census.. There is a female child 6 months old in September 1850 (when the census was taken) who doesn’t appear with the family on the 1860 census. This child’s name is hard to read but might be Caudiz. Christopher and Mary Isabel Kelly’s parents were Thomas & Eliza Kelly, both of whom were from England and appear on the same page on the 1860 Carroll Township census. Catherine Markley, the wife of Peter Markley, was Catharine Kane and they were married on March 20, 1845 in Fulton County. She was 34 years old on the 1850 census for Woodland Township, Carroll County. Charity A. Markley, the wife of M. Markley, is Charity Ann Kane, who married Michael Markley on September 7, 1845 in Fulton County, Illinois. The biographical paragraph on Michael Markley in Kett’s History of Carroll County states he lived in Ohio 15 years, came to Fulton County in 1836 and to Carroll County in 1850. The 1850 census shows them living in Carroll County in September 1850 when the census was taken, and his occupation as Sawyer. Caralee Aschenbrenner’s story says he ran Jacob’s Mill in Jacobstown. A 3-year old child George Morton, was living with them in 1850; I don’t know if or how he was related. He also appears with Michael Markley on the 1860 census. Michael Markley married Mary Petty on December 19, 1861 and she is the only spouse of Michael Markley named in Kett’s History. Charity and Catharine Kane were both born in Ohio and very likely sisters, but I can’t prove that. I did find an Ancestry.com family tree which shows Peter and Michael Markley to have been brothers, sons of Joseph Markley (who died in 1840 in Fulton County, Illinois) and Catharine M. Thomas. Two other siblings of Michael Markley married people with a Cain surname, but there is no indication the Kanes and Cains were the same family. This tree is the “Garlets, Silva and other related family lines;” I have no idea how correct it is. Sarah Markley’s parents, P & H. Markley were Peter and Helen Markley. She was the second wife of Peter Markley, Helen Dombleton, and they married in Carroll County on December 10, 1857. I found a family tree on Ancestry.com, “Carrolls From Ireland to Grant County Wisconsin,” which provides extensive information about William Riddiough and his family. It gives the same date of death for William Riddiough, but says he was born in 1815 in Yorkshire, England, which would make him 40 years old at his death, not 47. It gives the date of Joseph D. Riddiough’s death as 1867, and says he was “drowned in 1867 near Savanna, Illinois. He was 24 years old. Joseph and his fiancée were coming home from a dance in a bad storm and while crossing the creek, they were swept away. Joseph was found with a piece of his fiancée’s dress in his hand. He tried to save her. Their horses were found two miles down stream, dead.” This account doesn’t name his fiancée. William Riddiough’s wife was Grace Demaine Riddiough, who was born in Liverpool, England in 1825 and died in 1890 in Neosha Falls, Kansas. I couldn’t find anything on the Turneham family.
I have many of these people in my Rootsweb.com family tree,
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The Jacobstown Cemetery is located in Carroll County, Illinois in the northwest quarter of Mt. Carroll Township’s Section 4. It’s in a remote timber on a dead end road and on private property.
