FULTON TOWNSHIP CEMETERIES
There are two cemeteries in Fulton, Fulton Cemetery and Calvary Hill Cemetery. They
have been in use for many years. On July 1874, a petition filed with the Illinois Secretary
of State was formally approved for the organization of the Fulton Cemetery Association,
a not-for-profit corporation with a capital stock of $500. A certificate was issued on
August 20 making the group a legally organized corporation.
Stock was sold at ten dollars per share and officers were elected. In September and
October, 1874, five acres of ground were purchased and added to the old part already in
use. The tract was platted and roads were laid out. Later trees were planted. The site
chosen had been used from the very first settlement of Fulton. An early map showed the
hachures of the high hills and suitably identified the area with a skull and cross-bones.
The cemetery was enlarged with a gift of 12 city lots in 1905 by Miss Florence Fellows
and purchases were made at later dates. Care was given to lots on which a small fee was
collected; the remainder received little or no attention. In 1947, a solicitation was made
and roads were black-topped. In 1958, the township board accepted title to the cemetery
and a board of trustees was elected. The entire cemetery was renovated. In 1960, the
attorney general for the state petitioned the court to dissolve the corporation called Fulton
Cemetery Association. The action was taken in Sangamon County Circuit Court.
About 1876 soon after the grounds were surveyed and platted, the Dutch Reformed
Church bought lots 267 to 295 inclusive. They were located on the sunset slope in the
southwest part of the burial grounds. A special price was made to the church society,
Title of the grave spaces was kept by the church and members of Fay Funeral Home had
the only list of the burials made during the many years it was used. The first recorded
burial was made on March 27, 1888, about 12 years after the tract was purchased. The
last was made July 13, 1956. Few markers were erected and no record was kept of the
location of the graves. Most of the 142 or more bodies lie in unmarked resting places.
In 1967, the cemetery extended from Sixth Street to Ninth Street between Third and Fifth
Avenues. There is also an addition, a block that is bounded by Eighth and Ninth Streets
and Second and Third Avenues. It is separate from the larger part. Most of the elms
have died from the elm disease. There have been plantings of various evergreens as
replacements. In the old part of the cemetery there are maples and oaks that probably
date back to the original planting made in 1876. Little was done in earlier years in the
way of pruning and tree surgery. The neglect produced cavities which have been used for
many seasons by wood ducks. Residents in the neighborhood and the custodian take a
friendly interest in the beautiful birds and protect them as much as possible. The
hazardous trip to the river by a mother and her brood has been, on occasion, interrupted
when inexperienced young-ones toppled into an open grave. They were rescued and
started on their way as soon as discovered.
Fulton Catholics were buried in Holy Cross Cemetery west of Lyons, Iowa, when the
township was first settled. Difficulty in crossing the river brought the establishment of a
cemetery on the Illinois side of the river in October, 1863. At that time, the Rev. John
Daly purchased two acres of farm-land at the northwest corner of the northeast quarter of
the southeast quarter of section 35, township 22 north, range three east, from Orrin T. and
Hannah Allen. The Allens agreed to give a right-of-way to the burial plot and the Rev.
Daly agreed to keep a gate or bars in good condition.
Distance and bad roads made the cemetery unsatisfactory and, on July 17, 1865, the land
was sold back to the Mr. Allen. There were few graves in the plot and they were lost as
the years passed. On February 25, 1865, the first part of Calvary Hill Cemetery on north
Fourth Street in Fulton was purchased. The two and one-half acres cost $100. Single
spaces were sold for five dollars and lot 12 feet by 16 feet for ten dollars.
In 1884, the Rev. Maurice Stack purchased an additional 13 square rods of ground. The
following year, he had erected a large crucifies and supervised landscape plantings. At
the time, it was told that the white cross with the life-size Christ was visible to passengers
on riverboats. The cross was about 16 feet tall. Maturing evergreens hid it from distant
viewers but it is still located on the side of the hill.
An association was incorporated in 1920 to care for the cemetery. In 1927, the steep
drive up the hill was paved. More ground was added to the east end of the necropolis. In
April, 1966, vandals did major damage to the water system in the cemetery and tipped
over about 21 monuments, some of which were broken. Patient detective work by the
local police affected the arrest of six young men from Clinton, Iowa. At a trial of three of
them, the judge ordered to make payment of $2,400 for damage to Calvary Hill
Cemetery.
There is a tiny, “lost” cemetery along the bluff north of Fulton. The graves were perhaps
all for victims of small-pox. The first burial there was probably that of “Andy” O’Brien
who was removed from the city to a so-called pest-house along the bluffs. Mr. O’Brien
died in November, 1881, in a small shack and was buried “decently and kindly on a
nearby hill about four o’clock in the morning.” About then or a short time later, the
family of Abner Sibley was stricken with the dread disease. Mr. Sibley was a
government light keeper and lived in a house-boat near the mouth of the slough. Mrs.
Sibley, small Willie and another boy died and were buried along the bluffs. The small
cemetery was fenced for a time but was reverted to wilderness.