Kate's & Foxie's adventure on a Sunday afternoon.

     This is an update to the Harper Cemetery listing page on my site.  I have to tell you from the beginning.  Kate, my daughter, and I set out on Sunday, October 16th, 2005, to find the Harper Cemetery.  According to the directions given to me from another person and then going online and getting a topozone map and such which we ended up we had forgotten my pouch that is generally in the car at all times with the Knox county twp. map in it, plat map of Knox county, and then other little things I pick up to guide me along the way. We set out going to the place where we thought it would be taking Knox county road #8 south out of Knoxville; we traveled clear to the end where it ends in a T and you either go west or east.  We headed east towards Maquon.  Upon coming to a road that was marked 1000E which actually runs north and south and we thought this might be the road.  We took this road which we ended up heading North of where we should of been going South.  We stopped and asked.  A very nice farmer said he didn't know of it or had never heard of it but there was two other gentlemen living not far away and he gave us directions to their farms which we stopped at.  The first was not home.  So, on to the next guy.  He had never heard of it and has taken care of the cemeteries in his township, which was Orange.  We were in the wrong township.  By going north we had left the township we should of been in. So, we head back over to where we had started out.  And came to another place where we thought it might lead back to the cemetery.  The mistake in being the said Harper Cemetery was a 1/2 mile from the road.  The place where we turned off south to head to what we thought would be the cemetery was into a cornfield.   We drove over the darnedest road until it came to and end and then branched out towards three or four different directions.  I called my very dear friend, Sally.  She thought we were on the right road.  So, Sally says we have to angle left and then back again and the cemetery should be there.  Well, we angled left over a very treacherous mud road with ruts we or rather I had to drive on top of them or the bottom of my car would of dragged the bottom.  We came to another clearing and then in between the cornfield was like another road.  So, we decide with Sally's help to drive down it only to have it lead us to the Spoon River that flows through the pasture and the cornfield.  I had to back up about a half a mile or more because there was no place to turn around.  We finally decided to go to Sally's house which isn't far and she had her plat book.  We looked at it and then Sally told me to call Todd he knew where the cemetery was and such and might be able to show me.  So, we look his phone number up and I finally give it a try only to get an answering machine.  So, I leave a message..... Next step is to call on the people who own the property which I did and am not naming them as they are the ones who destroyed this cemetery with weed cutters, bull dozers and only the Good Lord up above knows what else.  I told him what I wanted and he told me where and how to get to the cemetery and gave permission for me to go as long as I closed all the gates.   So, from Sally's house here we are off again in pursuit of the Harper Cemetery.  Along the way, Todd returns my call and ends up meeting us at the Harper Cemetery.

To be continued........

The background for web page is photo taken on October 16, 2005, and made into a background photo.  It is of a pile of broken up tombstones. 

Help! Help! Help!

feed my doggie with emails.... he'll love you for it...

This Cemetery is very much in need of some help. If you would care to donate your time, donations to help with repairs, have family buried here, or anything you could do to help in the renovocation of this cemetery either click on my doggie to email me or write me at

Foxie Hagerty
RR #2 Box 63
1635 Sherwood Road
Dahinda, IL 61428

Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

more at a future date....

 Todd Walter's Research on HARPER CEMETERY

Contributed by Todd Walter.... Thanks, Todd.

 South East Quarter Section Three, Chestnut Township

    This cemetery is located five miles West of Maquon on County Hwy 20, and about 100 yards South in a pasture. It was damaged by a tornado in May of 1995 and was pretty much completely destroyed by the current owner with a bulldozer. Some stones had previously been shattered with a large weed mower. With the damage that has been done it will be impossible to know which order the stones were in, that is if all of them are ever found, or if the transcript done earlier contained any mistakes or omissions. I have compiled the following using the transcription that was done for the "History of Maquon and Vicinity" in 1976. It was done by Charles Briggs, but not published in the book.  I have added any other information I could find.

 Todd Walter; December, 2001 

 Tombstones Inscriptions:

William Cramer       Apr 24, 1875 Age 70y 3m 29d  (WILL)

Sarah A. (Shutes) Cramer     Apr 24, 1871 Age 65y 7m 11d

Charlotte B. (Morris) Cramer, Wife of R.S.  No Dates

Their tombstone has been plowed down and in a bunch of timber brush.

This was before Todd & Kate dug out their tombstone the above and below photos.

Putting these here So you know what they actually  look like and what farmer did to them. These are of the William Cramer family.  down in a ravine before Todd & Kate dug out.

Francis Minekva Cramer daughter of

Maude Briggs, Dau of Judson Willmont and Priscilla (Jones)  No Dates

Peter Jones, Father               No Dates

Sarah (Sally) H. Jones, Mother       No Dates

George M. Smith  Feb 9, 1829 - June 14, 1913--------

Rachel E. (Jones) Smith, Wife of G. M.    1836 - Sep 8, 1876

Priscilla I. Smith, Dau of G. M. & R .E.   1857 - 1859

Galesburg Evening Mail. June 16, 1913 MAQUON PIONEER TAKES HIS LIFE Mike Smith, 85 Years of Age Committed Suicide Saturday Night Was found Hanging in a Peach Tree Used a Razor  Hit His Head With a Hammer and Finally Hung Himself With a Clothes Line      Maquon, Ill., June 16 - Tired of living, despondent because his age and ill health prevented him from taking an active part in the work of his farm, George Michael Smith committed suicide at his daughter's home west of here last Saturday evening.       His daughter, Mrs. Leslie Wolf, and the other members of the family were away from home on Saturday evening and when they returned late at night they found the old mans bed empty. At once a search was started and after looking about the place Mr. Smith's lifeless body was found swaying from the end of a rope attached to a limb in a large peach tree. TRIED OTHER MEANS       A razor and a hammer near the lifeless body testified to other phases of the tragedy. Apparently the old man had attempted to slash himself with the razor, but his nervous hands had failed in this trial. Cuts were found on his head and across his abdomen. Marks on his head showed that he must have made an effort to end his life by striking his head with a hammer. Although his relatives had not noticed anything peculiar in the actions of the old man of late, it is believed that despondency preyed upon his mind until he became mentally deranged. The futile attempts made with a hammer and a razor testify to an unbalanced mind of a very determined conviction that the best thing for him to do was end it all. He had been sick for several years with stomach trouble.      It is thought he left the house with three implements of suicide, a razor, a hammer, and a rope, with the intention of trying them all until his aim was accomplished. The rope, nervously tied to the peach tree limb, finally allowed him to accomplish his purpose.         Mr. Smith was 85 years of age. His wife has been dead many years. He leaves a daughter, Mrs. Leslie Wolf, of Maquon and another daughter in Iowa. His two sons, Arthur and John, live in this county.     The funeral will be held tomorrow morning at ten o'clock from the home. At the coroners inquest held yesterday, the jury decided that Mr. Smith came to his death by his own hand, having been prompted to take his life because of his suffering from stomach trouble and other ills. I have a copy of this article in doing research on the Smith's for a lady in Texas; which I think I also put this on the obituary page awhile ago.

 

Uzzi Nickerson         July 3, 1789 - Feb 13, 1874

Elizabeth (Plumb) (Sweetser) Nickerson, Wife of Uzzi Dec 4, 1797 - Feb 16, 1887

James J. Hearn     Dec 3, 1859 Age 27y 11m 6d

James U. Hearn, Son of L. R. & M.  Dec 3, 1847 Age 10m 2d

Samuel Hearn  Died May 30, 1852 (No Age)

Josiah Tucker    Aug 14, 1879 Age 53y 9m 24d (PROBATE)

Catherine P. (Baughman) Tucker, Wife of Josiah    Jun 1, 1863 Age 33y 9m 19d

          (This date is possibly 1862, Josiah remarried Oct 8, 1863)

Laura Tucker, Dau of J. & C.   Jun 1, 1862 Age 2m 2d

Zachariah Stevenson   May 11, 1848 Age 66y 11m 24d (WILL)

A very probable burial is that of Sarah (Stevenson) Stevenson, wife of Zachariah, July 29, 1786 - ca. 1863.

Jemima (Stevenson) Conner, Wife of G. W. Jul 16, 1856 Age 36y 8m 29d

Emily Conner, Dau of G. W. & J. Sep 2, 1856 Age 10m 7d

Lynda M. Conner, Dau of G. W. & J.      Apr 10, 1855 Age 1y 9m 25d

Sarah (Conner) Snell, Wife of J.    Jul 26, 1856 Age 17y 7m 28d

Estella E. Jacobs, Dau of C. P. & R. A.   Sep 7, 1872 Age 1y 5m 22d

Clara L. Wainright, Dau of D. & E.  Oct 7, 1862 Age 1y 8m 3d

****We found this tombstone that is not on any list.

John Bearmor died October 06, 1870 AE 56 years I did research for another and this Bearmor his sister had married into his family & I couldn't find his burial place.  What luck this was...

 
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