Shabbona Township
HISTORY OF OLD ENGLISH CEMETERY
Aka West Shabbona Cemetery
Old English Cemetery, also known as West Shabbona Cemetery,
is located in Section 18
Township 38 N Range 3 E. The entrance to the cemetery is on the North side
of Highway
30 just west of Shabbona, Il. near Tower road. Caution should be used when
parking along
this road or pulling into the driveway due to the heavy traffic along this
state road.
The property
was first owned by George Glossup, in 1851. Septimus Story and his wife Mary
owned the property where a church and cemetery were located in the Southeast
corner of
Section 18 and a school in the Southwest corner of Section 17 for this community
of English settlers.
“By Warranty
deed, Septimus and Mary Story, his wife, of Dekalb County deeded to Reuben
Challand, Robert Mullins, Thomas Wright, Wm. Cutts, James Fowler, Trustees
of the Methodist
Episcopal Church of West Shabbona and their successors in Trust, in consideration
for the sum
of Twenty Five Dollars the following parcel of land, situated in the Town
of Shabbona in the
County of Dekalb and State of Illinois, to—wit;
Commencing the
South West corner of East half of South East quarter Section Eighteen (18),
thence North ten (10) rods, thence East eight (8) rods, thence South ten
(10) rods, thence
West (8) eight rods to the place of beginning in Township number Thirty-Eight
(38) North Range
Tree East of the 3rd P.M. containing one half acre of land more
or less.
Septimus Story
Mary
Story
D.
D. Stevens, Justice of the Peace
dated 6th February 1865
Filed for record 25th
day of May A.D. 1869, at 3 o’clock P.M.
Book 46 pg 203.”
“State of Illinois, Office of
the Secretary of State.
To all, to whom these Presents Shall Come, Greeting:
Whereas, a Petition,
duly signed by John Houghtby, John L. Storey, Robert Mullins, Arthur Cutts,
Wm. Mullins and Chas. D. Hunt, having been filed in the Office of the Secretary
of State, on the
Fourth day of March, A. D. 1919, for the organization of the “The West
Shabbona Cemetery
Association”, under and in accordance with the provisions of an act
entitled “An Act to provide
for the organization, ownership, management and control of Cemetery
Associations”, approved
May 14, 1903, a copy of which petition is hereto
attached,
I, Louis L.
Emmerson, Secretary of State of the State of Illinois, by virtue of the powers
and duties
vested in me by law, do hereby certify that the said “The West Shabbona
Cemetery Association”,
is a legally organized association in accordance with the provisions of the
above named act.
In Testimony
Whereof, I hereto set my hand and cause to be affixed the Great Seal of the
State
of Illinois. Done at the City of
Springfield, this 4th, day of March, A. D. 1919, and of
the
Independence of the United States the one hundred and
43rd.
seal
Louis
L. Emmerson,
Secretary of State, State
of Illinois)
County of DeKalb)
ss To Louis L. Emmerson, Secretary
of State,
Springfield,
Illinois:
We, the undersigned,
John Houghtby, John L. Storey, Robert Mullins, Arthur Cutts, William Mullins
and Charles Hunt, desire to organize a Cemetery Association under the provisions
of “an Act to provide
for the organization, ownership, management and control of Cemetery
Associations”, approved May
14th, 1903, in force July 1st, 1903, and all Acts
amendatory thereof, and for the purpose of such
organization we state as follows, to—wit:
1. The proposed name of such Cemetery
Association is “The. West Shabbona Cemetery
Association.”
2. The location of said proposed organization is in the Township
of Shabbona, County
of Dekalb and
State of Illinois, and the Post
Office address of the Secretary,
officers and trustees of such
Association
will be Shabbona, Dekalb County, Illinois.
Dated at Shabbona, Illinois, this
10th day of February, A. D. 1919.
John
Houghtby
John L. Storey
Robert
Mullins
Arthur Cutts
Urn.
Mullins
Chas D. Hunt
U.
H. Ray, Notary Public. Misc. 8k H pg 2.”
The church and
the school house have been removed for many years, but the cemetery is well
maintained in the peaceful countryside.
“A Cemetery Trustee’s Deed
was Issued:
This indenture,
made this 5th day of April, 1955, between the West Shabbona Cemetery
Association,
a corporation, organized under the laws of the State of Illinois for the
purposes of operating and maintaining
a cemetery, party of the first part, and the Township of Shabbona, an
incorporated Township situated in
DeKalb County, Illinois, party of the second part.
WITNESSETH:
That, Whereas,
in pursuance to a resolution unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Trustees
of the
West Shabbona Cemetery Association held in Shabbona, Illinois on October
7, 1953, the President
and the Secretary of the West Shabbona Cemetery Association were authorized
to convey said cemetery
lot, more fully described below, to the Township of Shabbona, DeKalb County,
Illinois, for use as a
public grave yard.
Now Therefore,
in consideration of the acceptance of this conveyance and the assumption
of the control
and management of said cemetery by the party of the second part, the party
of the first part does hereby
convey unto the party of the second part the following described real estate,
to-wit:
Commencing at
the Southwest (SW) corner of the East One-Half (El/2) of the Southeast Quarter
(SE1/4)
of Section Eighteen (18), Township Thirty-Eight North (38N), Range Three
East (3E) of the Third Principal
Meridian; thence North Ten (10) Rods; thence East Eight (8) Rods; thence
South Ten (10) Rods; thence
West Eight (8) Rods to the place of beginning, containing one-half acre more
or less, situated in the
County of Dekalb, State of Illinois:
to have and to hold said real
estate, together with the improvements
thereon, unto the party of the second part, it’s successors and assigns
for the purpose of maintaining and
operating a public grave yard.
Book 268 pg
293.”
WITNESS the hands and seals of the
party of the first part the day and year first written
above.
West Shabbona
Cemetery Association,
Party of the First
Part, Howard Mullins,
President of said Board
Ezra G. Houghtby, Secretary of said Board
STATE OF
ILLINOIS)
COUNTY OF DEKALB) –ss-
I, the undersigned, a notary
public in and for
the County and State
aforesaid, do hereby certify that Howard Mullins and Ezra
Houghtby, personally
known to me to be
the same persons whose names are subscribed to the foregoing
instrument appeared before me this
day in person arid acknowledged that they signed, sealed and
delivered said Instrument as their free
and voluntary act, for the uses and purposes therein set
forth.
Given under my hand and notarial
seal this 5th day of April,
A.
D., 1955.
Daniel L. Cliffe,
Notary Public
Filed for Record in Recorder’s
Office 3rd day of May, 1955 at I0;43 o’ clock A. M. and duly
recorded in volume 268 page 293.
Bk. 268 pgs 293,
294.” |