In honor of Jonesboro’s bicentennial, local storytellers will be featured in a special tour of the Jonesboro Cemetery which is planned on Saturday, Oct. 13, starting at 10:30 a.m. Taking the roles of several of the town’s most important and prominent residents who are now buried there, actors and historians will bring the history of Jonesboro to life with tales from their characters’ lives and the influence they had on Union County. Some of the people participating in the event are, from left to right, Barb

'Cemetery walk' planned during bicentennial

A “cemetery walk” is one of the events which is being planned for the City of Jonesboro’s bicentennial celebration.

The walk is planned from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Jonesboro Cemetery.

Visitors will be able to walk the cemetery at their leisure, to go among the graves of past generations of Jonesboro citizens and listen to them tell their unique stories. Each presentation is about five minutes in length.

In the event of rain, the event will be moved to Jonesboro Elementary School.

Here’s a look at the historic figures visitors will have an opportunity to meet:

Ellen D. Ashley 1825-1885 (portrayed by Pam Van Alstine): Her husband surveyed the Illinois Central route through Southern Illinois and when her three sons died in 1853, only weeks apart, she took extreme measures to protect them from grave robbers. 

Lucinda H. Brooks 1800-1881 (portrayed by Carol Palmer): She settled in Jonesboro in 1820 with her fun-loving husband, Dr. B. W. Brooks, the town’s first resident physician and a state representative. 

Winstead Davie and Anna Willard Davie (portrayed by Barbara and Marland Throgmorton): He was a prominent Jonesboro merchant, walked with the use of crutches, entertained two Cherokee chiefs in his home during the Trail of Tears, and named the town he founded after the wife he loved. 

John Dougherty 1806-1879 Catharine James Dougherty 1808-1882 (portrayed by Pete Housman and Lillian Milam): Jonesboro’s most prominent politician, he served as lieutenant governor from 1869-1873 and President Lincoln said his services during the Civil War “were more important to the government than if he had been the head of an army.” Catharine came to Union County when she was 3 in 1811 and was guide to her 10 children to all that was best in life. 

Christian G. Flaugh 1821-1887 (portrayed by Bill Littrell, with Emily Boyd-Meyer as his daughter): He operated a water mill and distillery at Flaughtown, two miles south of Jonesboro, one of Union County’s most important industrial enterprises. He closed the distillery when he converted to the temperance cause and was clerk of Clear Creek Baptist Church 38 years. 

Betsy Milliken Hacker 1795-1853 (portrayed by Terri Bryant): She taught her husband to read and do mathematics in the evenings by candlelight and from there he went on to befriend Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas and to hold state and national office. 

Abram Hunsaker 1764-1841 (portrayed by Steve Haldeman): Said to be the first white settler in Union County, he helped establish a “Dunkard” Colony about 1808 west of Jonesboro, but left the church in 1819. 

Mary Miller (Mrs. John) McIntosh 1796-1883 (portrayed by Pamela Rich Turner): With an infant in her arms, she and her husband and two other families arrived in one wagon from Tennessee in 1817 and saw Jonesboro grow from a farm on a hill to a thriving town and county seat. 

James Provo 1814-1864 (portrayed by Lance Meisenheimer): He was a prominent Jonesboro businessman who was murdered on Main Street in Anna in 1864 by a Civil War soldier and wrote of his family’s “peculiar situation” in his will. 

Ben Smith 1888-1951 and Belle Miller Smith 1888-19__ (portrayed by Brad Stamp and Kristin Nance): He quit school at 13 to support his family, but rose to national prominence as the poet from Berryville. He wrote poems since he was “knee high to a grasshopper” and his first book was titled Lincoln at Jonesboro. 

Kitty Mae Sams Keyser Hoss Tanner 1865-1898 (portrayed by Diana Scherer): Jilted by her fiancé to marry another woman, she found them in Cairo, killed him with a Colt revolver, and used one of the earliest insanity pleas in her trial. Guilty or not guilty? 

Silas C. Toler 1831-1863 (portrayed by Bobby Toler): Postmaster of Jonesboro, he was removed by President James Buchanan for supporting his rival, Stephen A. Douglas, in 1858. He was promoted to brigadier general during the Civil War, but he died before he could accept the commission. 

Henry L. Webb 1795-1876 Mary Ann Edmonds Webb 1799-1874 (portrayed by Jim Brown and Irma Kelley Brown): His father held the Bible for George Washington when he was sworn in as our first President and Col. Webb’s military career spanned four wars. His wife watched him leave for war each time and for the gold fields of California in 1849 and raised 10 children through it all. 

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Elijah Willard 1803-1848 (portrayed by Mark Kirk): One of the first merchants in Jonesboro, he was shrewd and energetic and amassed a great fortune the old-fashioned way: through honesty and hard work. 

Dr. Sidney S. Condon 1811-1875 (portrayed by Brent Gordon): He settled in Jonesboro in 1836 and established the most widespread medical practice in Southern Illinois. He died while caring for a sick patient in Anna, but what happened next was ghastly. 

Ella Jane Pickles Sanders 1882-1967 (portrayed by Barbara Bauer): A prim and proper school teacher, with a passion for teaching, she taught over 50 years in Jonesboro, and appeared on the TV show, “I’ve Got a Secret.” Discover her secret. 

Eva Katharina Pfeifer (Mrs. Philip) Ditter 1845-1907; Augusta Ditter 1876-1958 (portrayed by Tricia Gardner Moehring and Diana Gardner Robertson): Born in Germany, “Kate” immigrated to America in 1867 and married her husband the same year.  They settled in Jonesboro from Boonville, Ind., before 1900 with five daughters, including Augusta, and two sons, and were active members of Kornthal Lutheran Church south of town.

John P. Law 1819-1863 (portrayed by Scott Harris): He came to Union County to work on the Illinois Central Railroad and was deputized by Provost Marshal D.L. Phillips in 1863 to arrest army deserters.  He was killed in Union County trying to make his arrest and the marker over his grave reads: “He lived and died for his country.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
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