For more than 20 years, the Evergreen Cemetery Walk has brought to life the voices of McLean County's history. Costumed actors portray individuals representing all walks of life from the county's past on the beautiful grounds of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. To date, we have featured 172 different individuals whose stories illustrate the impact the people of McLean County have had– locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. One of the lasting legacies of this educational program are the biographies that have been written about each and every single person that has been featured on the Cemetery Walk. We hope that you will enjoy this glimpse into our local history and find these a useful resource too.
The 33rd Illinois Volunteer Regiment was raised by Charles Hovey, the first...
Read moreDr. William Henry Harrison Adams was born on March 30, 1840 in Effingham County, Illinois. He...
Read moreJames Allin was born on January 13, 1788 in North Carolina. He was the son of Isaac and Sarah...
Read moreChampion of temperance, abolition, the rights of labor, and equal pay for equal work, Susan...
Read moreGrace Merrill Jewett Austin was born on January 12, 1872 in Laconia, New Hampshire. She...
Read moreMaria Sophia (Koehler or Kahler) Bach was the wife of pressman and political dissident, William...
Read moreEdwin Wells Bakewell was born in Wellsburg, Brooke County, Virginia (today located in West...
Read moreLucinda Robinson Barton was born on January 18, 1838 in Washington Co., Missouri. When she was...
Read moreAugusta Becker, known as “Gussie” to most, was born in Berlin, Germany on November 13, 1882, to...
Read moreReuben Moore Benjamin was born on June 29, 1833 in Chatham Center, Columbia County, New York...
Read moreJudith Major Allin Bradner was born on May 9, 1814 in Bourbon County, Kentucky to Mr. and Mrs....
Read moreAbraham Brokaw (he preferred to go by Abram), was born November 6, 1815 in Somerset County, New...
Read moreThomas Jefferson (T.J.) Bunn was born on August 29, 1832 in Xenia, Green County, Ohio. He was...
Read moreAt the turn of the twentieth century, when the public reception of visual arts in Bloomington,...
Read moreJohn Howard Burnham was born on October 31, 1834 in Essex, Massachusetts....
Read moreFrancis Cahill, Jr. was born on April 5, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the oldest of four...
Read moreMatilda Bell Heaston entered the world on November 30, 1910. Born to Jake and Doshie...
Read moreNapoleon J. Calimese (pronounced Calimeez) was born February 18, 1890 in Irvine, Kentucky. He...
Read more“‘To write, or not to write: whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to sit and scratch your pate...
Read moreOwen Lee Cheney (1846-1911) was a quixotic man in his quest...
Read moreAnnie May Christian (who went by May for most of her life) was born on November 28, 1866 to...
Read moreElizabeth Jane Mitchell, called Lizzie, was born on July 16, 1842 at Stout’s Grove near Danvers...
Read moreBelle Blue Claxton was born in Bloomington, IL on April 30, ...
Read moreCelestia Rice Colby was born on December 19, 1827 in Andover, Ohio. ...
Read moreJune Rose Colby, known to friends and family as Rose, was born at Cherry Valley, Ohio on June...
Read moreJames M. Cotting was born on March 18, 1825 in North Chatham, New York. He married...
Read moreEugene Gray Covington was born in Rappahannock County, Virginia on August 1,...
Read moreJune W. Crandall was born in 1878 in Richmond, Kentucky. In 1896 June moved to Illinois...
Read moreElmer Ray Davis was born in Bement, Piatt County, Illinois, on October 6, 1888. He was the...
Read moreDavid Davis was born on March 9, 1815 at Mercer Plantation, Maryland to David and Anne Mercer...
Read moreSarah Woodruff Walker Davis was born on September 4, 1814 in Lenox,...
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Read moreJulius R. Dietrich was born in September of 1858 in Heinichen Saxony, Germany. He spent...
Read moreEllis Dillon was born on March 25, 1816 in Clinton County, Ohio to Jesse and Hannah Pugh...
Read moreFlora Pennell Dodge was born on September 14, 1868 in Normal, Illinois. She was the...
Read moreUlysses Freeman Doubleday was born on December 15, 1792 in New Lebanon, Columbia County,...
Read moreAlverta Duff was the oldest child of Peter Charles and Fannie E. (Walker)...
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Julia Edith Duff was born on June 5, 1895 in Normal,...
Read moreMary Elvira Elder was born in Bloomingburg, Fayette County,...
Read moreEliza Davis Esque was born around 1845 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Little is known...
Read moreLloyd Eyer served as physical director of the Bloomington YMCA for twelve years from 1905 to...
Read moreLura Mary Eyestone was born in Bloomington, Illinois on October 14, 1872 to Theodore Riley...
Read moreHester Vernon Fell was born on March 2, 1819 in Little ...
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Read moreGoodman Ferre (pronounced Ferry) was born on January 27, 1806 and died on September 24,...
Read moreLouis FitzHenry was born in Bloomington on June 13, 1870. He was the oldest son born to Hiram...
Read moreSarah Raymond Fitzwilliam was born and raised in Kendall County, IL. She attended Illinois...
Read moreElizabeth “Lizzie” Irons was born in about 1862 in Peoria to Charles and Ettie Maria English...
Read moreHenry “Teddy” Frank was born in Pennsylvania sometime in 1840 or 1841 and remained there...
Read moreBenjamin Franklin Funk was born on October 17, 1837 to Isaac and Cassandra Funk. Benjamin...
Read moreFlorence Mae Risser Funk (1871-1923) was one of McLean County’s most renowned...
Read moreThe life of Dorothy Louise Gage, although brief, was certainly meaningful, leaving an impact...
Read moreLinus Graves was born in Williamstown, Vermont on April 2, 1815 one of eleven children born to...
Read moreMary Enos Gridley was born in Onondaga Hollow, Onondaga County, New York on March 18, 1818....
Read moreDavid Haggard was proud of his family tree. David was a descendant of Sir Andrew Ogard, a...
Read moreHelen Ross was born on September 15th, 1846 in the village of Kenagh, in County...
Read moreKate Waterman Hamilton was born on November 12, 1841 in Schenectady, New York the only daughter...
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Carter Harris was born April 15, 1856 on a small plantation in Red Bank, Mississippi. A son of...
Read moreMary J. Hartmann was born on October 13, 1845 on a farm in Franklin Township, Washington...
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Julia Bee was born in Illinois on March 29th, 1863. It is not known who her parents were but...
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Edwin C. Hewett was born November 1, 1828 in Worcester County, Massachusetts. He was the first...
Read moreDr. William Hill (1829-1906) was a talented surgeon and one of Bloomington’s...
Read moreThe Bloomington lawyer and Civil War cavalry commander, Harvey Hogg (originally from...
Read moreJulia Montrose Holder was on born December 24, 1884 in Bloomington, Illinois to Dan and Kate...
Read moreWilliam (Bill) Horine was born to Adam and Sallie (Mason) Horine on March 3, 1840 in Jessamine...
Read moreAt the turn of the twentieth century, when the public reception of visual arts in Bloomington,...
Read moreSophia Roundtree Huggins was born in Kentucky on May 4, 1832. According to Sophia her...
Read moreLewis E. Ijams was born on November 21, 1841 near Zanesville, Ohio. His parents were...
Read moreJohn Adams Jackman was born March 22, 1816 in Boscawen, New Hampshire, where his...
Read moreSarah Farnum Sargent Jackman was born on December 18, 1816 in Boscawen, New Hampshire. She was...
Read moreEva Mae Gaiter Jones was born in Frenchmans Bayou, Arkansas on March 15, 1930. Her parents,...
Read moreNot much is known about Luella Kimball, sometimes known as Luella Rankin. Luella was the fourth...
Read moreMuch of the information about Charles Kirkpatrick’s life comes from an autobiographical...
Read moreCarl Wilhelm (C.W.) Klemm was born on May 1, 1845 in Haynrode, Saxony, Germany. His grandfather...
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Edward J. Lewis was born to Enoch and Lydia Jackson Lewis in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on...
Read moreMarie (pronounced Maria) Litta, born Marie Eugenia von Elsner, was born in...
Read moreSigmund Livingston was born on December 27, 1872 in Giessen, Germany. He was one of eight...
Read moreSigmund Livingston was born on December 27, 1872 in Giessen, Germany. He was one of eight...
Read moreBeulah Baker Locher was born on January 7, 1881 in Gibson City. She was the daughter of Frank...
Read moreEmily Hanks Loomis was born October 18, 1837 on a farm in Hickory Point Township, four miles...
Read moreHarrison Clay Lott was born August 16, 1848 in Madison, Indiana. When Lott was fifteen...
Read moreDr. Margaret MacGillivray was born in Dunfermline, Scotland on October 21, 1845. She was a very...
Read moreAt the turn of the last century, when newspapers ruled the media roost and Bloomington had two...
Read moreWilliam Trabue Major was born on March 1st, 1790 about three miles from Frankfort,...
Read moreSimon Booth Malone was born into slavery on December 18, 1842 in Tippah County,...
Read moreMary Ann (Cheney) Marmon (1837-1908) grew up in a log cabin on the Illinois...
Read moreAaron Mayers was born in Manheim, Pennsylvania in about 1827. It is unknown when exactly Mayers...
Read moreJohn Edward McClun was born on February 19, 1812 in Frederick County, Virginia. He was...
Read moreHenry McCormick was born on February 5, 1837 in Belmullet, County Mayo, Ireland. He spent...
Read moreWilliam McCoslin (1830-1878) was born in Vandalia, Illinois on July 27, 1830....
Read moreWilliam McCullough was born on September 11, 1811 in Flemingsburg, Kentucky. He was the son of...
Read moreMary Arenz Merchant was born on February 28, 1841 in New Berlin, IL the fourth of ten...
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Asa Harvey Moore was born on October 20, 1820 in Rutland, Westchester County, Massachusetts. He...
Read morePalma Moratz was born on April 6, 1879 in Bloomington, IL to German-born parents, Hermann and...
Read morePaul O. Moratz had a passion for building and design that started at a young age. For 34 years...
Read moreLouise Muxfeld, known as “Lizzie” by all, was born as Johanna Louise Catherine Tobecksen on...
Read moreEdith Neville, one of Bloomington’s most wealthy and eccentric citizens, was born in...
Read moreRose Whipp Northrup was born on September 27, 1850 in Beardstown, Illinois. She was the...
Read moreNancy “Nannie” McCullough Orme was born on October 23, 1834 in McLean County. In 1853 she...
Read moreWilliam Ward Orme was born February 17, 1832 in Washington, D.C. William’s parents died...
Read moreMaria Dawson Paist came to Illinois with her family in 1822 at the age of five. The Dawson and...
Read moreAlpheus Pike was born to Harrison Wallace Pike and Susan A. Mayberry Pike in Casco, Maine on...
Read moreArthur L. Pillsbury was born in Bloomington, Illinois on November 29th, 1869. He grew up in...
Read moreIda Porter was born on September 19, 1863 in Normal, Illinois. She was the daughter of...
Read moreJohn Joseph Price was born on October 16, 1835 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Little information is known...
Read moreEzra Morton Prince was born on May 27, 1831 in Turner, Maine. His parents were Job Prince...
Read moreCharles Radbourn was born on December 9, 1854 in Rochester, New York. He was the son of...
Read moreMelinda Rankin was born in Littleton, New Hampshire on March 21, 1811. She attended and taught...
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Read moreMartha H. Baker (Rice) was born in Richmond, Kentucky on September 4, 1817. Her parent’s...
Read moreCaptain Christian Riebsame (1839-1913) was a German-born citizen who came to the United States...
Read moreWilliam John (Wilhelm Johannes) Rodenhauser (1842-1919) was among a large...
Read moreThe story of Minnie Saltzman-Stevens is a Cinderella story of the musical arts. She rose from a...
Read moreIsaac Joshua Beasley Sanders was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 17th,...
Read moreSusan Augusta Pike Sanders was born in Maine on March 25, 1842. She was the third of seven...
Read moreHerman Schroeder was born on May 22, 1821 in the town of Althandensleben, near Magdeburg,...
Read moreCharlotte Ann Perry was born on September 18, 1831 in Athens, Tioga County, Pennsylvania. ...
Read moreJohn Milton Scott was born on August 1, 1823 in
Julia Green Scott was born to privilege and distinguished ancestry on February 14, 1839 in...
Read moreLeonard Seibert was born on August 18, 1831 in Koenig, a borough of Essen, Germany. He came to...
Read moreImage Courtesy of Circus World, Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Read moreDr. Lee Smith was born on May 8, 1832 near Havens Grove, Illinois. He was the first child born...
Read moreA devout Democrat in a staunchly Republican district, Adlai E. Stevenson I managed to be twice...
Read morePolitics was in his blood. Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was a member of the two most...
Read moreHelen Louise Davis Stevenson was born in Normal on September 17, 1869. She was the...
Read moreLetitia Barbour Green Stevenson was born in Alleghany City in Western Pennsylvania on January...
Read moreGrace Huddleston Stewart (1910-1996) became known throughout Bloomington after...
Read moreGeorge Washington Thomas was born in Wisemantown, Kentucky, around 1860 or 1861. At that time...
Read moreJane “Jennie” Lynd Thompson was born on October 28, 1860 in Bond Head, Canada—located in the...
Read moreThomas Foster Tipton was born to Hiram and Deborah Ogden Tipton in Franklin County, Ohio, on...
Read moreGeorgina Trotter was born on August 15, 1836 in Drogheda, Ireland to John and Ann...
Read moreGrace B. Wagner was born on May 1, 1890 to Henry and Nellie Spafford Wagner. The family...
Read moreJennie MacDonald Wickizer was born on December 31st, 1852 at Knightswood, Scotland, located...
Read moreAugustus “Gus” Williams was born in Jacksonville, Illinois on September 22nd, 1892. He was the...
Read moreAllen Withers was born on a farm in Jessamine County, Kentucky about seven miles from...
Read moreSarah Rice Withers was born to John M. Rice and Patsy (Polly) Johnson Rice in Jessamine County,...
Read moreJulius Witherspoon was born in Arkansas in about 1860 and spent his first twenty-four years...
Read moreJohn Wolcott was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts on August 30, 1808. He learned...
Read moreEbenezer Wright was born in either 1830 or 1831 in Ludlow, Massachusetts to Rev. Ebenezer and...
Read moreGerald “Jerry” Wunderlich (sometimes spelled Wonderlich) was born on August 25, 1889 in...
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