Appendix Article 7 Remarks at the Dedication of the Marker for the Old West Cemetery. Athens, Ill., Sunday, May 24, 1981 the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the city. + The firing of the salutes to John Overstreet, a Corporal in the 10th and 14th Virginia Continentals, of the American Revolution, reminds us that the first military funeral in Athens, Illinois was held for him at his death in 1848 at this very spot. This man, in many ways, is Athens' most distinguished veteran, as he was in the Battles of Germantown, Brandywine, Monmouth and Stony Point. He was at Valley Forge and at Yorktown. He served five full years and three enlistments in the Revolution. Cpl. John Overstreet was the father-in-law of Abner Hall, the man who gave Athens this plot of ground for its burial place on his death bed in 1843. This place had been used for burials prior to that time, some may have been as early as 1830. This Abner Hall, my great-great grandfather, in his final years here at Athens was a cabinet maker, not only running a shop but also a saw mill to prepare the lumber. He may well have been the first funeral director in the community, as, no doubt, he made coffins for those early burials. Town After he gave the three-acre plot, more ground was added by gifts from Corydon Clark, Abner Hall's son-in-law, and Abraham Primm who had married a daughter of Abner's brother, Elisha Hall. Clark's brick and tile yard was just to the West of the present cemetery limits. In the years that followed, burials were frequent in this spot as the pioneers succumbed to the various plagues - especially cholera - which swept the Athens community during the 1850s. Then came the Civil War, with many of the burials in Old West recording the tragic stories associated with that War. In epidemics, they buried without markers, the old wooden markers rotted away, the stone markers softened and weathered away; until today there are many unmarked graves in this cemetery. In it, though chiefly unrecorded, lies buried the real history of Athens community and the pioneers who made it. It's neglect over the years is no compliment to the citizenry of the town. The grave of Abner Hall is unmarked today - if it ever was - and this marker is to be considered his gravestone as well as a 'thank you' for his contribution to the City of Athens. City Abner Hall is to be remembered for something else. It is: he platted and named your town. Along with his business associate, Harry Riggin, they, in the year 1831 secured the services of the county surveyor and had the area platted - developing the city lots. Those of you who live here can look at your abstracts and the plat of the community and you will see the names of Abner Hall and others of his family on the various additions to the city. This again is a memorial to him; although not so visible as this stone marker. There had been attempts from 1820 to develop a town here but it remained for the work of Abner Hall and Harry Riggin in 1831 to bring it to reality. Of course, they had something in mind. There was a chance at that time that this community would become the seat of a new county that everyone wanted formed. Springfield, the seat of Sangamon county in which this area was then located, was too far way for convenience and in addition there was the Sangamon River to cross - a formidable obstacle during the Spring months. Athens didn't get the county seat. If it had, perhaps it would have boomed. Athens then lagged along as a farming center until the coming of the railroad and the opening of the coal mines a half-century later. Today, it is a bedroom community for Springfield. But --- remember this. Athens is today, the oldest surviving town in Menard county - perhaps this, too, is a tribute to its founders. Name How did Athens get its name? Your guess is as good as the next one. My guess --- from the fact that Cantrall was formerly Antioch and in the area between here and Petersburg was a settlement called Macedonia. What would be more natural than Athens - another city on St. Paul's journeys be given a scriptural name, by people and in a time when thought centered around the New Testament? The people were proud of this new town in 1831. They made it their own in a unique way. They abandoned the classic pronounciation of Ath-thens - it became different and distinct. They called it - A -Thens. To me, this marker is also a tribute to my father, born and raised in this community, he loved it and he honored its history. We are descended from the following group of families that in reality founded this town. They journeyed from Virginia, to Ohio, and finally to this spot in the Sang- ga - men Valley where they stayed. They stayed, all of them, forever --- for nearly all of them are buried in Old West Cemetery. Pioneers Here is the group that came here - they started in 1820 and were all here by 1827: Cpl. John Overstreet, Sr., and Nancy Dabney Overstreet, his wife Rev. John Overstreet, Jr., and his wife Sussanah Roberts Overstreet. (The Athens Methodist church should honor this man!) Dabney Overstreet and his wife Jennie Rogers Overstreet, and their family. Abner Hall and his wife Jane Overstreet and their family. Elisha Hall and his wife Nancy Overstreet and their family. James Hall and his wife Eleanor (?) and their family. Old John Overstreet and Nancy were parents of John, Jr., Dabney, Jane and Nancy. The Halls, Abner and Elisha, had married the Overstreet daughters. Jane and Nancy, respectively. With their large families, some with as many as fourteen and fifteen children they inter-married with the other pioneer families of the area and we are akin to nearly all the old-timers buried here. This cemetery is truly a pioneer memorial. Reminder When Abner Hall gave this land for a burial ground, he stipulated that anyone who was a citizen of Athens could be buried here for free. This was taken advantage of - thus, the lack of markers, the neglect over the years. He did not mean it to be a 'pauper' burial ground but a place of rest for those who lived in the community. The notion of perpetual care and tax-supported upkeep was far beyond his thinking. It was a contribution to the community, just as the erection of a church or the establishment of a school. This marker will stand for a long time - as stone is lasting. As it is passed by, day after day, and the inscriptions noted, I do hope that it will be a reminder that this community has a history and that history was made by the people who lived here. Within these grounds is the real history of Athens - one that should be as meaningful to the children as I hope it is to their parents. The townspeople should be able to walk along its paths and 'point out' - there lies the man who built the first mill here; there lies a woman who braved the Cholera to help her sickened neighbors; there lies a man who fought in the Revolution and was at Valley Forge and Yorktown; there lies a man who founded your town and gave it its name. Here lies a man that was a Captain in the Civil War; here lies a man that survived Andersonville Prison. Here is your pioneer doctor…your pioneer preacher…your pioneer teacher…these are the people who gave you your heritage… Final Athens has a history, a good one, and an interesting one. One that should be cherished and told and re-told so that when the young become old they in turn can tell the next generation the town history and see that it is perpetuated …. Wording of the Marker: ++ The marker is a block of Georgia granite approximately 8' x 4' and was made possible by a gift from Mr. Hall and the City of Athens, Ill. +This talk with photos is to be found in the July, 1981 issue of The Menard County Review. ++ photo in file, Ill. State Historical Library, Springfield.