There’s one bit of family history & genealogy work one can do outside – visit the cemetery. Last Memorial Day Weekend, I convinced my kids and my parents to zip down to Rockford for the day to wander through some old cemeteries. It was family day at the cemetery! My family is from Rockford, Illinois, and both my mom’s side and my dad’s side of the lineage has lived in the Rockford area for several generations.
Based on my parents’ recollections and some Internet research at sites like FindAGrave, we identified eight cemeteries in the Rockford area where our ancestors were interred. That was too much for one day, so we narrowed the list to four: New Milford Cemetery, Willwood Burial Park, Owen Center Cemetery and Rockton Township Cemetery.
New Milford Cemetery
We drove all the way to New Milford Cemetery first, working our way back up the western edge of Rockford to visit the others. In New Milford, we found some Cunninghams and Elwoods from my mother’s mother’s side of the lineage.
- George Cunningham, 1825 – 1900
- Ann [Jameson] Cunningham, 1840 – 1918
- William Cunningham, 1862 – 1905
- Ella Cunningham, 1873 – 1905
- William H. Elwood, 1856 – 1926
- Jennie [Geddes] Elwood, 1864 – 1956
- Harriet M. [Elwood] Jensen, 8 Sep 1901 – 22 May 1996
- Arthur L. Jensen, 13 Aug 1895 – 24 Mar 1973
My mother’s grandparents (more Cunninghams) are in New Milford, but no luck finding them.
Willwood Burial Park
Lots of Boyds and more Cunninghams are here, plus my dad’s parents. We didn’t manage to find everybody, but we did pretty well considering this is a huge cemetery.
- Robert Boyd, 1863 – 1935
- Emma [Caldwell] Boyd, 1877 – 1969
- Glenn Boyd, 1904 – 1995
- Agda [Bourkland] Boyd, 1900 – 1984
- Gale A. Boyd, 26 Feb 1913 – 7 Mar 2008
- Mary A. [Blissard] Boyd, 16 Sep 1916 – 9 Nov 2011
- Infant Daughter Boyd, 21 Oct 1949
Lucille spotted the marker for the infant daughter. She was not known to any of us.
Owen Township Cemetery
Owen Center Cemetery is very small, and the kids got a laugh out of how many familiar names they could spot even before we got out of the car. Many generations of the extended Liddle and Brewster families are here (my mother’s father’s family). Once again, the markers we expected to find easily – those of my mom’s parents – eluded us.
- Joseph Brewster Sr., 9 Feb 1814 – 26 Feb 1899
- Elizabeth [Willmer] Liddle, 6 Jul 1819 – 15 Jan 1893
- Joseph Brewster, Jr., 1 Dec 1845 – 9 Jun 1916
- A. Elizabeth [Smith] Brewster, 14 Mar 1854 – 18 Apr 1884
- Janet A. [Patterson] Brewster, 9 Nov 1857 – 2 Jul 1929
- David F. Brewster, 1877 – 1947
- Leonora A. [??] Brewster, 1880 – 1962
- Isabelle [Brewster] Seal, 1900 – 1988
- Finch N. Seal, 1902 – 1974
- George Liddle, 1 Sep 1833 – 7 Jul 1917
- Maria [Brewster] Liddle, 21 Sep 1842 – 6 Jul 1911
- Lyle J. Liddle
- Lesley Liddle
- Brewster H. Liddle, 1864 – 1935
- Ida M. [Bondelid] Liddle, 1880 – 1912
- Roy H. Liddle, 1883 – 1956
- Kenton C. Liddle, 4 Nov 1932 – 13 Nov 1932
- Nora M. [Bondelid] Liddle, 1883 – 1967
- William Liddle, 14 Feb 1835 – 18 May 1918
- Hannah M. [Melton] Liddle, 28 Sep 1848 – 20 Jan 1928
- William T. Melton, 13 May 1845 – 31 Jan 1901
- Elizabeth [Mayer] Melton, 1864 – 1910
- William B. Milton, 1 Nov 1812 – 3 Oct 1890
- Mary A. [Willmer] Milton, 1816 – 1912
- Mary J. Liddle, 25 Jun 1878 – 25 July 1895
- Leslie J. Liddle, 19 Mar 1881 – 17 May 1945
- Mabel [Kelley] Liddle, 16 Mar 1889 – 3 Apr 1965
And then it started to rain. Interesting that the Milton/Melton difference jumps back and forth across the generations. We never did find my grandparents. We’ll have to go back.
We ended up skipping Rockton Township Cemetery to make it back in Madison for other plans. Having spent a day in cemeteries, I learned it’s much more difficult to find markers than I’d expected. Next time, I’ll leave even more time and tackle fewer places. We’re already making plans to got back for more in the autumn. Summer has been brutal this year – best to wait for some cooler weather.
