Fairchild Cemetery - Vermilion County Illinois
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Cemetery Name: Fairchild Cemetery Also Known As: Fairchild Cemetery Savanna, Brick Church Cemetery Location: Blount Township, North-West of Danville GPS Location: 40.21723 -87.71154 (link to Google Map) Description: Fairchild Chapel was once located next to this cemetery. Today, this cemetery is now a nature preserve with wild grasses that can grow over 6 feet tall during the summer months. (I revisited in August 2008 and took a few pictures of why you don't visit in the summer - 1 is below, the rest are located on the last page of the picture page). Best time to visit the cemetery is March or early April - after the snow packs down most of the "dead" grass and before the next batch starts to grow. PLEASE NOTE: Even though I visited the cemetery in early April to take my pictures, I was still unable to get a picture of all the stones - some of the stones were so deep in the brush - I could see the stones, but no way without major "yardwork" could I get near those stones (which being a nature preserve, that would not be allowed). This cemetery is in bad shape since it is no longer kept up, some stones down the small hill & creek also. Pictures: I took pictures of [almost] EVERY stone in this cemetery in April 2008 (with some updated pictures August 2008) Link to Pictures: 590 pictures (50 on a page, 12 pages)
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Pictures #203-206 appear to be of the same stone and appear to read Delcena on first line and Whitsett on about the third line, if so it is
Delcena Whitsett daughter of Newton and Ann (Baxter) Whitsett , born 25 Aug 1851 died 15 Jun 1857. This is the only note we have of this family being in Vermilion County. Wonder if another daughter Eliza might have married and remained there?
Does anyone know the history of the church that was associated with this cemetery?
With it being about a mile from Bethel (Blount Township) and with many of the names in the 2 cemeteries being the same, it would be good to have those histories. We might be able to distinguish the names on the eroded stones with that.
My interest in this, and in Bethel, is that my Great Grandparents, James William and Mary Ann (Jenkins) Handley lived at Snider, and according to the Pape Mortuary database, were eulogized at Bethel, but no-one seems to know where they were buried. Their daughter, Maggie May (Handley) Claypool is my grandmother. It's a "mystery" we would love to solve.
All that to say, having walked Fairchild many times in the past 2 years, even after the burn-off last year, I'm impressed with your tenacity and diligence here.
Thanks!
Joe Hittle
1. From Fairchild Footprints, August 1988: ...Probably the most memorable Fairchild in Vermilion County was Rev. Daniel Fairchild, Jr. He was a noted Methodist minister. His wife, Lucy, and Orman Fairchild's wife, Hannah, hand-made the bricks from clay quarried from Daniel's farm. These bricks were used to build the first Fairchild Church which was built across the road from the Fairchild Cemetery. The church, built in 1849, was 30 feet by 36 feet and stood in this location until 1880 when it was razed and the bricks were then used to build the foundation for a new Fairchild Chapel, about one-quarter mile east of Daniel and Lucy's home which still stands (1988) a mile north of Snider Corner and about one-half mile west of the Henning Road, on County Road 2400N.
2. Excerpts from an undated newspaper article: Descendants of Old Chapel Members to Hold Reunion at Lincoln Park (Danville IL). ...Fairchild Chapel, once one of the foremost houses of worship in the country northwest of Danville. It was located half way between Henning and Hillery...
Our family will be at Mann's Chapel in late October to bury my parents' ashes. Plan to make a trip over to the Fairchild Cemetary to show the kids where their great-great-great Fairchild grandparents are buried. Hope we can get to the stones. Last time we tried was several years ago in the late summer...not good timing!
When I drove by there a few weeks ago, there is a gentleman who is trying to make easier access to the stones...he is mashing down the prarie grass around the stones clearing away some brush to get to the markers...so maybe in a few more months you will be able to get in there...my son and I did looking for some family members but there were still a few we couldn't get to yet...maybe soon.