52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy: Week 9 - Cemeteries

Week 9 – Cemeteries: Genealogists understand the full value of cemeteries and appreciate them in ways most others can’t see. Share a cemetery or cemetery experience for which you are most thankful. What makes this place special? What does it mean to you and your family history?

Right after I posted my week 10 entry for this series, I realized that I never got around to doing one for Week 9. D'oh!

The cemetery that means the most to me is one that is located in the middle of a cornfield near Henry, Marshall Co., IL. This is where my great-great-grandfather Evert Huigens is buried as well as his mother-in-law, my 3 x great-grandmother Maria (Schmitt) Toemmes. I wrote about my great-great-grandfather's broken tombstone in this post. The tombstone was knocked down and broken by vandals in 1925, according to a Henry newspaper article I have a copy of. 

Here is a satellite view of the cemetery. You can see how it sits in the middle of a corn field just of of IL highway 29. I worry about the long-term future of this resting place for my ancestors.