WPA - Woodburn Cemetery, Bunker Hill
Township,
Macoupin County IL
A Transcription of the WPA Record in Macoupin
County Archives, Carlinville, Illinois
transcribed by Mary McKenzie
Woodburn Cemetery Section 17 T7N R8W Bunker Hill Township Macoupin County
Indexed by WPA ca. 1939-1940
*The following historical items were extracted from several loose
notebook sheets compiled by the WPA workers ca. 1939 – 1940.
The Woodburn Cemetery is located about ½ mile south-west of Woodburn
and it is the oldest cemetery in the county. This cemetery has a
new iron fence on the east and a barb wire fence on the west, south and
north which is in fair condition. There is a fair drain running
through the south-west part. There is also a driveway that can be
used, but is in poor condition. It needs another driveway so cars
can come in and go around-a-bout way out. A public road passes on
the east.
On the 23rd of February, 1858 Messrs. B. Br. Tompkins, J. Z.
Pennington, and Wm. Bailey were elected trustees of the Cemetery
Association for the ensuing five years. It was recorded on March
2, 1858, in Book P.P., page 656. Another cemetery association was
organized in 1867 and in 1870 the care of the cemetery was given up to
the town authorities.
In 1935 a new cemetery association was formed. The committee
members were: President – Wm. Scheldt; Secretary – Alvin Greer;
Trustees – Laura Heal, Laura Jones, Clara Festerman, Henry Miller, and
Herman Ellis.
A charter was recorded December 16, 1938. At this time the
cemetery is made up of about 15 acres. As a public cemetery, lots
are sold and the money is used for taking care of the cemetery.
The sexton is John Bostic who gets $90.00 a year. The caretaker
is hired by contract and the job goes to the lowest bidder. Current
cemetery association members: William P. Scheldt, President;
Herman Ellis – Vice President; Mrs. W. W. Head, Henry G. Miller, Miss.
Cora Fensterman – Trustees; Alva Greer – Sec. Treasurer.
The town of Woodburn was laid out by B. F. Edwards in 1834. The
Rider family (relatives of Mrs. Judge/Frank Burton) started a small
burying ground in the northwest corner of the cemetery and the village
of Woodburn bought a plot of ground for a cemetery. There were
two additions – old and new. Mr. Huggins owned land on both sides
of the cemetery. According to Mrs. Tunnell he gave the front part
(next to the road) which was a little more than ½ of the
cemetery. That is the new part.
There are about 1578 graves in this cemetery, but some of the old
graves have no markers. There are 175 stones needing recutting
and 148 stones need resetting or rebuilding. The oldest grave
found is the grave of David Pennington, died Sept. 25, 1844, aged 24
yrs. & 11 days. Forty-two soldiers are buried here and all
have government markers, except one, R. O. Wood.
The people of Woodburn put up a monument in the City Park in
commemoration to three soldiers who died in the World War. It
sets in the north-west quarter of Sec. 17. The names and rank are
as follows:
George Partridge, Co. B. 1st Kas. (?) Regt. Killed
in action at Banthville Wood on Nov. 1, 1918. He was buried in
France.
Dietmich A. Rust, Co. A. 5th Fld. Service Regt.,
died at Camp Grant, IL on Oct. 3rd, 1918.
Alfred Heine, Hdg. Co. I, 14th Bnf. A.R.D. Bat C.,
died at Camp Taylor, Kentucky Oct. 7, 1918.
*Editor’s note: There were many loose “rough notes” sheets in
this file, some with additional names of trustees in other years, and a
few with conflicting info. If you have any questions, you can
find the original WPA Woodburn Cemetery file stored at the Macoupin
County Archives, Carlinville, IL.
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