FORD COUNTY CEMETERY RECORDS
Pleasant Grove Cemetery
[aka Old Frame Cemetery]
Button Township
(burials prior to 1964)

This was a hand-typed, hand-bound book which did not bear a copyright date, but was probably compiled by the Governor Thomas E. Ford Chapter of the DAR c. 1963. Many thanks to Gail Hahn Hutchcraft [ladybug@arends-sons.com] for finding and transcribing this document for the benefit and free use of all Ford County, Illinois researchers.

The names in the book were presented in "close-to" alphabetical order, meaning they were placed within the proper letter group. I've gone a step further and alphabetized the whole list. There are 58 burials listed here. Additions to the DAR information have been contributed by Betty Schroeder.... her sources include obits and other records, as well as walking the cemetery herself.

March 17, 1850 was a Sunday, and the earth was cold and barren. From where the few people stood they could see the bent and broken prairie grasses extending endlessly to the earth. To the east the timberline was almost two miles away, but to the south and west a wall of oak, hickory and maple stood against the wet grey sky.

At their feet lay an open grave, not neatly done as the hard prairie sod did not break in measured pieces. Nearby was the small pine coffin, rough sawn, made by hands used to fashioning water troughs and crude shelters. Inside wrapped in a nearly colorless homespun cloth lay Joshua Lucas, infant son of Robert Lucas. His mother, Elizabeth, nearly 24, was gravely ill and would lie by his side in 14 days.

John P. Dopps read the 23rd Psalm, led the group in prayer for the soul of baby Joshua, the grave was closed and the little group, dressed in somber colors of a frontier Sabbath, left by horseback or wagon on the badly marred track that ran north and south Most made their way to cabins in the timber that in a few years would become the south and east border of Ford County. A lonely and desolute business leaving a new-born child to lie there in what was to become the Pleasant Grove Cemetery. In the years ahead, Pleasant Grove would be used quite often by the families of what was becoming a well-populated farming community. In 1867 a church, later called the Old Frame, was built and an iron railing put around the burial ground. The Old Frame was dismantled in 1916 when the new Pleasant Grove Church was built to the south and east. Many graves were never marked in early days, and a number of family plots had been plowed over, their marking stones tossed into fence corners. Pleasant Grove fared a little better. The road leading to the Old Frame church and cemetery to the west was closed and a new road leading to the cemetery from the north was opened, but it has not been taken care of. Many of the tombstones have fallen and were unreadable. Only 55 inscriptions could be copied. (DAR recorded the cemetery 1962-1963) Believe it has been in the process of being restored. Button Twp, where the cemetery is located, collects a cemetery tax but funds are limited. Button Twp. is located east of Paxton, Il. The cemetery is the second oldest in Ford County (Contributed by Betty Schroeder)

PLEASANT GROVE (OLD FRAME) CEMETERY