Illinois Saving Graves
by Foxie Hagerty102 County Page
"Illinois
Saving
Graves is dedicated to providing leadership, education and advocacy in
preserving and restoring endangered and forgotten cemeteries statewide"
Our Motto "PreservingIllinoisGravesOneGrave@Time!
Christy Cemetery of Lawrence County, IL
Abandoned
Cemetery.....
is lostis lost
and needed to be found....
& has been found!!!
Photo
taken by Mac & Virgie Christy who also had the sign made & put up. I didn't
get a chance to go down this past Oct 17-19, 2008 when they were down there.
Below are a few pictures we took in the fall of 2007,
November, when I was down there & helped them out.
Overview
of the cemetery after we had cleaned it up the brush & debris. it had many
thorns from the hedge trees there which got caught in your shoes, clothing,
your skin.
This family cemetery is in the middle of a cornfield on a working farm. It
is located right outside of Sumner. Coming from Lawrenceville, highway 50
is divided, right before it goes back to a combined highway and near a
bank is where the farm is located.
Christy Cemetery dates back to 1829 on land originally settled by Andrew
Christy, who is buried here. and a son William Y Christy. Nearly all of
the burials were made in the mid 1800's. There is the Clubb family was
interned here too due to cholera or some other influenza in 1851. Of the
seven children, three lived on to adulthood. Three members of the Christy
family died between
March and July 0f 1842.
All
photos below were contributed by Mac Christy a direct descendant of Andrew
Christy. Mac lives in the state of Kansas but is trying his best to give
the last resting place of his ancestors some dignity. Thanks so much for
sharing this with us, Mac.
Above Mac Christy with his ancestors
tombstones he has dug up out of their old burial ground.
Foxie:
My wife and I have just returned from a trip to work on the
Christy family
cemetery in Christy Township, Sumner IL.
The cemetery needed much work to get into, and the one day
there allowed us
only to clear some brush and start to identify markers to be
restored, etc.
We plan to return to the site in late November and re-set my
GG grandfather
William Y. Christy's monument and repair my GGG grandfather
Andrew Christy
and his wife Elisabeth Christy's markers.
The cemetery is in a farm field belonging to the Piper family
who bought the
land from the Christys in the 1870's.
Andrew Christy took up the land in 1821 and died there in
1835.
Mac Christy ENC USN (RET)
Elisabeth Sept 24, 1768-`Oct
27, 1829
Aged 61ys 1mo & 3ds
Joseph R. Christy Dec 12,
1812--March 21, 1842
Aged 39ys 3m 8ds
Andrew
Christy born Feb 11, 1769-- Apr 19, 1835 Aged 67ys 2m 8ds
So would have one of Andrew's
who first Settled in Lawrence Co., IL in the early 1800's I
cropped it from the one of above. Also, lying on the right hand
side of Mac in the photo above, 1st photo, is one with the name of
Samuel on it. close up of it below.
The photo on the right was taken this past November in
the Christy Cemetery. as you can see much work was done while I was
there with Max & Virgie Christy. Brush had been cleared and boy did we
have to pull thorns out of clothes & shoes from the hedge trees which
were in full more like a huge maple trees they looked like than hedge
trees. I plan on a return trip with Max & Virgie in the spring will be
posting some more photos on an adjoining
Photo
taken by Mac & Virgie Christy who also had the sign made & put up. I didn't
get a chance to go down this past Oct 17-19, 2008 when they were down there.
Overview
of the cemetery after we had cleaned it up the brush & debris. it had many
thorns from the hedge trees there which got caught in your shoes, clothing,
your skin. 
Andrew
Christy born Feb 11, 1769-- Apr 19, 1835 Aged 67ys 2m 8ds
