Mound Cemetery Visit

Previously, I posted about wanting to visit an Illinois cemetery where many members of the Yockey family are buried.  Prior research had shown that many of my husband’s ancestors are buried in Mound Cemetery near Hunt City, Illinois.  I had also used the internet to determine the exact location of this cemetery, which was just south of Hunt City in Jasper County.  I visited this cemetery while visiting Illinois this past September.  On Ancestry, I had even found a picture of his grandparents’ headstone.  This picture gave me an idea of what I would need to look for once I got there.

Unfortunately I had a cold when I began my Illinois vacation, but I was determined not to let this stop me from doing the research that I had planned.  Before traveling to Illinois, I had done a GoogleMap search for driving directions to Mound Cemetery.  After looking up where Hunt City was on a road atlas, I calculated that it would take about 2 hours to get there by car.

My husband and I mentioned our planned visit to the cemetery to my husband’s mother and she told us that she had taken photos of many of the graves in that cemetery a few years ago and had put them in an album.  With her permission we borrowed the album for the trip.  I studied it beforehand and found more pictures of graves that belonged to my husband’s ancestors.  The one grave that I was very interested to find was for John M. Yockey and his wife Emily Riley.  I didn’t see that in the album my mother-in-law had made.

On Tuesday September 12^th in the early afternoon before starting out, I packed up my sleuthing kit, which included a camera, directions to the cemetery, the photo album, and because of my cold-a couple of packs of tissues.  I had never been to this part of Illinois and was surprised by the hills and numerous trees that encompassed the landscape, as we got closer.  When we were more in the vicinity, the trees became less numerous and gave way to a rolling prairie of cornfields and a lone pumpkin patch.

We followed the directions that I had printed out, but by this time we were both in need of a rest stop and unfortunately there wasn’t one to be found.  The directions seemed to be wrong, but it seemed as if we should have been in the general area of the cemetery.  We decided that we needed to take a break and headed into the nearest town, Newton to use the restrooms and eat a late lunch.

Over our lunch we reviewed the directions and the road atlas.  The only conclusion that we could come to was that the directional street names (North, East, etc.) were wrong.  We started back out on the road and headed back to the same area that had given us problems earlier.

This time when we came to what should have been listed as E 2100^th St. in the directions, but according to Google was N 2100^th St. there was a sign that said Mound Church and Cemetery, Burl Ives gravesite and memorial.  I knew that Burl Ives was buried in Mound Cemetery before heading out, but didn’t imagine that there would be a sign about it nearby.  I think that our distraction over needing a restroom contributed to our not noticing this sign on our previous visit.

We turned onto the road and over the next ridge was a church, but no cemetery nearby.  My husband felt that this might be the area where the cemetery was, but I didn’t think so because the name on the church didn’t say it was Mound Church.  I pointed this out to him and he drove down a road that we had passed on our way to this church.  Again, over the next ridge was a church and this one had a cemetery.  In fact, it was the Mound Church and Cemetery.

We parked in the gravel driveway.  I grabbed the camera and we went in.  The cemetery was pretty much surrounded on three sides by cornfields.  I walked around with my camera and spotted the gravesite and memorial of Burl Ives almost immediately.  My mother-in-law had helped me to draw a map of where my husband’s grandparents’ (Courtland M. and Nora R. Yockey) grave was located in relation to the church and Burl Ives’ grave. I was able to find their grave and took a picture of it.  I tried to locate other graves, but went back to the car to get the photo album my mother-in-law had made to try to find the others I was looking for.

Using the photo album and wandering around the cemetery I was able to find my husband’s great grandparents’ (Jasper and Zona Yockey) grave.  I took a picture of that but was still missing my father-in-law’s younger brother, who died as a baby and my John M. and Emily R. Yockey’s grave. 

By looking at the pictures in the album I was able to determine that my father-in-law’s brother was buried next a large square topped stone.  Near this stone was a tree.  I realized that the tree in the photo might not be there now.  My husband had now joined me in my search for these graves.  He agreed with my suspicions about the tree.

We were standing a few rows away from the church and propane tanks which were behind it.  Off in the distance I saw what could be the tree stump we were looking for.  As we walked toward it, I found what might be the two headstones I was looking for. 

The grave for my father-in-law’s baby brother was now tilted slightly on earth that had bubbled up slightly.  Possibly this was due to the tree being removed?  Next to this grave was the grave for my husband’s great-great grandparents, John M. and Emily R. Yockey.  The stone was nearly illegible because the engraving on it had eroded most of what written away.

I took photos of both headstones.  My husband came up with the idea to shoot a video of how to get to these gravesites.  We started at the entrance gates to the cemetery and my husband made a video of me talking and leading the viewer through the cemetery to the graves of Richard Yockey (my father-in-law’s brother) and John M. and Emily R. Yockey.

Research at the Illinois State Archives

When I first heard that the FGS conference would be held this year in Springfield, IL my first thought was that I could get in some research time before and after working the conference.  Ideally, I wanted to do some Brennen family research.  I thought about the logistics of researching them and came to the conclusion that Massac County was along way to go from Decatur where I would be staying after the conference.  My Womble research was pretty much finished for Illinois; however, I realize that I could always delve into the life of my grandmother’s brother, Ben who lived in Peoria, Rock Island, and Moline, Illinois.  I decided against researching him because again there was the distance factor. 

After much contemplation, I came up with doing as much research as possible at the Illinois State Archives and then visit a cemetery in Illinois where many members of the Yockey family are buried.

Before leaving for my trip, I researched what records pertinent to the families I’m researching were available at the state archives.  I found that not much is available at the Illinois State Archives in Springfield.  I was very interested in viewing their death certificates that are on microfilm. 

On a blustery Wednesday morning I started out from my hotel in Springfield with my sleuthing kit slung over my shoulder for the State Archives.  I had visited there when I was researching a family story and was basically engaged in what I like to refer to as guerilla genealogical research.  I found that the State Archives had changed and not exactly for the better, IMHO.  There was a security guard with an x-ray machine and metal detector all of which I thought was a plus.  I tried to follow all the rules and left my purse, jacket, and sleuthing kit in a locker.  The only items I took into the research room with me were a pencil and some pieces of paper that had information that would help me in my search.

When I had visited the archives before there had been a wonderfully helpful man that worked there, unfortunately it seemed that he had moved on to a higher plane.  Plenty of people wanted to help me, but I really wanted to explore the place first, since when I was there originally I hadn’t done this. 

What I learned in my exploring was that most of the records at the State Archives in Springfield pertain to the early years of the state of Illinois.  My husband’s family seemed to have settled there in the latter part of the 19^th century and so many of the records available at the archive weren’t pertinent to his paternal line. 

After exploring the place, I asked one guy about the death certificates and he seemed to want me to go off to the regional repositories.  I didn’t much care for this attitude, but after telling him that I had been there before and had looked at these records he was more helpful. 

I used the computer there to look up the exact dates for some of the deaths that I wanted to get.  Then he told me how to look up what microfilm roll the record would be on in some binders that kept that information.  He did mention that after 1935 or so that the records aren’t very well organized on the microfilm rolls.

He set me up at a machine and kindly told me how to load a microfilm roll and operate the machine.  The death certificates are arranged alphabetically by county on the rolls and then typically in alphabetical order by surname for the deceased. 

The death certificates I was looking for were: Jasper Lorenzo Yockey, death date: 14 July 1925; Zona Louisa Downey, death date:  8 June 1933; Richard Yockey, death date: 16 June 1925; Henry E. Brinnen, death date: 29 Oct. 1935; and Charlie Brinnen, death date: 3 Oct. 1935.

I had no trouble locating Jasper Yockey’s death certificate.  The information in the binder said that it was on roll 193 and it was!  I moved on to Richard Yockey.  His death certificate was supposed to be on roll 192, but I couldn’t find it.  I looked on both rolls 191 and 193 and still no Richard.  I decided that possibly his death certificate may have been recorded elsewhere since he died when he was 3 days old.  Maybe the government had categorized his death as a stillborn and it’s with those records.  I had a bit of a deadline with the amount of time that I could spend researching so I decided to put a period at the end of that line of research and move on to another relative.  I searched for Zona Yockey’s death certificate and this was supposed to be on roll 377, but I found it on 376 instead.  

The guy who helped me had said that the records for around 1935 and onwards weren’t in proper order and he really wasn’t joking when he said that.  Since I had found what Yockeys I had hoped to find I moved on to the Brinnen or Brennen family, as I know it to be spelled as.  In a previous post I had mentioned a bit about this family and how they’re connected to my Womble line.

I searched for Henry Brinnen as he was listed in the State Archives Death Index database.  His death certificate was listed as being on roll 431, but of course I didn’t find it there!  I felt that it had to be there and searched on the next roll 432 and he still wasn’t there.  I decided to try the roll prior to 431, which was 430 and couldn’t locate his death certificate.  I was determined not to give up looking for Henry in the death certificates, so I searched for him on roll 433 and finally had success! 

I considered searching for Charlie Brinnen’s death certificate, but since I couldn’t locate it with Henry’s and taking into account that they died around the same time, and that my research time was running out I decided to call it a day.

Copies are typically paid for at the end of your visit.  When I left I asked another person about the cost of them and he asked how many copies I had.  I showed him the three copies of the death certificates that I had made and he told me that there wasn’t any charge.

All of the death certificates stated where the deceased were buried.  I knew that it would be too far to travel to Massac County, IL to locate Henry’s grave, but I did want to visit Mound Cemetery where many Yockeys are buried.  In another post I will write about my visit to this cemetery.

What's New!

I completed the correspondence genealogy course at the end of August.  I had been working on this course since August 2009.  One of my co-workers suggested that I write a series of blog posts about my experiences working the course.  I definitely need to send the organization’s blog master an inquiry as to if they would even be interested in posting my experiences on their blog.  Nevertheless, if it doesn’t pan out--these articles will definitely be posted here! 

Worked my organization’s booth at FGS in Springfield, IL.  I really enjoyed meeting students and graders in person there.  The president of my organization purchased the genealogy social networking book that I blogged about previously. It was great to see someone else having an interest in how that plays into the world of genealogy.  I had wonderful to talks with various organizations that gave me some new ideas/clues to look into with my research. 

Took a much needed vacation after the conference and visited my family in Decatur.  Unfortunately after the conference, I caught a cold so this put a bit of a damper on my visit with the family.  I refused to let the cold keep me from working on my afghan and doing genealogical research. 

I have completed embroidering another strip while I was in IL.  However, I’ll be honest work on the afghan has suffered and I’ve been feeling unmotivated to work on it.  Since I finished my genealogy course, I’ve picked up trying to finish the Spanish course I’ve been doing on my own.  Years ago, I had enrolled in a Spanish 101-Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish course at my local community college.  Even though I was really enjoying the course and doing really well at it, I dropped it due to insomnia.  I decided to try to complete the course on my own and have worked on it off and on for many years.  Currently I’m on lesson 49 out of 52 lessons, so I very close to completing this.  The end portion of this course involves writing alot of compositions in Spanish.  I realize that I should focus on my afghan and then concentrate on the Spanish once I’ve finished it.

Before the conference started, I visited the Illinois State Archives to do some planned Brennan and Yockey family research.  I’ll post more about my visit in a later post. 

One of my plans was to visit Mound Cemetery near Hunt City, IL while I visited my family in Decatur.  After the conference and while feeling under the weather, my husband and I drove to the cemetery.  I had wanted to visit it because so many Yockeys are buried there.  I took pictures of many of the graves that I found and even shot a video of the location of Emily and John M. Yockey’s grave.  I’ll post more about this visit in a later post.

I need to scan and send the documents I found to my brother-in-law as well as post them to my WeRelate page as well as document my research in my research log.  Additionally, send him the video I made and post it and the gravesite photos to WeRelate .  I also made some time at the very last minute before I left IL to do some ‘home research’ and in the process I took a few Womble family items from my family’s house-with their permission of course!  One of these items I discovered that I had been referring to it incorrectly and will need to change this in my genealogy source citations that refer to this document.  Another reason to accurately cite your sources!!