Historical Society members talk while you walk the cemetery walk
History takes time to write. And when it's written, it takes time to research.
No one knows that better than Dundee Township Historical Society members when they are researching the people for their cemetery walks.
Months are spent reading death certificates, wills, newspaper articles and probate records to make sure they get their facts straight about the people featured in their walk, said Marge Edwards, society president-elect.
"We want to be accurate, so we look at any records we can find," she said. "In probate records we can find heirs, where children were living at the time of their parents' deaths and what the people did for a living. Sometimes probate records will tell us many things and sometimes, they tell us little."
Members also look at census records and church documents. When all the information is collected, props and clothing of the times are sought. Actors are lined up and a date for the walks are set. This year, it will be from 1-3:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18 at the Dundee Township Cemetery West, along Route 31 in West Dundee. A $5 donation is requested.
The lives of six people buried in the cemetery will be portrayed. They are:
• Caroline Steinwart, a Red Cross nurse during World War I
• Luncinda Bosworth Edwards, wife of Alfred Edwards
• Isaac and Sarah George, who owned a farm in Centerville along Randall Road.
• Edgar Hoxie, who worked for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad
• Dewitt Adams, a member of the old Dundee Baptist Church
"We also get some of the information from obituaries," Edwards explained. "There was a time when obituaries were chatty and told a person's life story."
Historical society members will be near their graves and tell their stories. Those who stop and listen will learn the tales behind the tombstone inscriptions.
It never can be the complete stories: many of them have been buried with their owners. But it will be just enough of the story to give the listener an idea of how they lived, how they died, who they loved and where they worked.
Telling the entire story of someone's life would take a lifetime to research, she said.
Historical society members sponsor the cemetery walks every two years. During that time, more characters are researched and their lives are uncovered on yellowed documents. The one-acre west cemetery, which is the oldest of the two township-owned graveyards, holds the early residents and stories of the northern Fox Valley. It was started in the early 1800s.
The Dundee Township Cemetery East, along Route 25 in East Dundee. was started later, also in the 1800s.
"We'll hold the walk whether it rains or not," Edwards said. "If the weather is bad, then we'll move it to the society's museum."
The museum is behind the cemetery, along Highland Avenue in West Dundee.
During the walk, Edwards will also discuss epitaphs seen on grave markers across the country.
"They range from the inspirational to the humorous," she said. "Cemeteries from the old west have some pretty interesting epitaphs."
Cemeteries in the east do as well. Along with the names of the deceased, some hold the cryptic words, "I told you I was sick".