Monday, October 26, 2009 10:02 PM CDT
Cemetery offers a glimpse into Mattoon's diverse past
By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com
MATTOON — Dozens of people took a tour through this town’s diverse history Saturday morning.
Held in Dodge Grove Cemetery, the walking tour sponsored by the Coles County Historical Society brought some long-buried stories back to life. Some of them are entertaining, others are tragic.
Consider the story of William Moore, father of five daughters hanged by a lynch mob in 1888. He has no grave marker because he is buried in Potter’s Field, a section of the cemetery where the homeless or poor people were laid to rest at public expense.
Moore was an African-American accused of raping a white woman near today’s mid-town business district of Mattoon. A mob, including Mattoon and surrounding community residents, forced their way into the jail holding Moore and then took him to a railroad water tank to hang him.
Ned Lunt of Charleston told the story to a mostly silent crowd involved in the walking tour. He quoted newspaper accounts from the time telling how Moore sang a religious hymn, and many of his executioners joined in on the chorus.
When asked if he had committed the crime for which he was never tried in court, Moore responded, “I expect to be in heaven shortly, I did not do it.” Later, some residents agreed Moore was not capable of the crime and they regretted the black mark on the town’s history.
Paul Baumann, who helped organize the walking tour through Dodge Grove, explained the event was designed to tell stories of influential and average people from Mattoon’s history.
“We were looking to tell the story of different parts of the community like railroaders and lawyers or people who helped develop the town,” the high school teacher said.
The tour told the stories of early Mattoon settlers like Charles M. Dole, who built and operated the Dole Opera House and Dole House, an early hotel, and John Cunningham, who helped start the first bank in Mattoon 151 years ago.
Thomas Donnell left his mark on the community and cemetery as a stone cutter through his management of the Mattoon Marble Works. Henry Wright is one of many railroaders buried in Dodge Grove, which started as a public cemetery during the Civil War just a few years after the founding of the railroad town.
Many children are buried in the graveyard, but Juanita Fae and Wanda Mae Lenz were known around the world soon after they were born in 1929. The Siamese twins gained international headlines when they were one of four pairs of such twins alive in the world at the time. They died after only nine weeks.
Baumann pointed out a sparse section of ground surrounded by headstones near the center of the cemetery. It is where the tornado of 1917 carried away many headstones from graves.
“Some of them were found several miles away. A cemetery record book was also carried away and it was found in a farmer’s backyard about a mile away. They know where the graves are but no headstone have been replaced there,” Baumann said.
The cold weather forced the presenters, also including Paula Randall of Charleston, Alex Ruggieri of Tuscola, Larry Bates of Charleston, Cal Smith of Charleston and Gerald Baumann of Arcola, to skip wearing period clothing to the event.
“We had to think of their health with the cold out there,” Baumann said. Eastern Illinois University student volunteers did not participate due to a scheduling conflict with events that day at Lincoln Log Cabin Historic Site.
Next year, a cemetery walk is planned in a group of rural cemeteries to offer a glimpse of history from another time, Baumann said. He also hosted the stylistic tour Saturday that explained symbols and monument designs from the last two centuries.
“We want to make this a cycle to learn more about our history through these walks,” Baumann said.
Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.
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