Jasper County Facts and Findings

---

If you know of any interesting facts about Jasper County and its people, please let me know.  I'm especially interested in finding buildings that are on the Historical Register, information about the monument to the pilot on the Courthouse Lawn in Newton, any veterans' monuments, etc. Your information will be added to this list for others to see (and you'll be given credit, of course!).  For more information on the people listed below, why not "Google" them?  Some of them have very intriguing stories!

---

Burl Ives,  famous balladeer, stage and screen star (1909-1995)

Born in Hunt, Jasper County, Illinois, Ives sang folk songs from an early age, many of which he learned from his pipe-smoking, tobacco-chewing grandmother. In 1930, Ives dropped out of college and hitchhiked across the country learning folk songs from miners, cowboys, hoboes, and evangelists. It's hard to say which song or performance is the most memorable in the career of Burl Ives. Broadway boasts of his role in the 1950s as Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Millions remember Ives from the 1962 television special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which still runs every Christmas season. Children sang along with his records on such classic tunes as, Holly Jolly Christmas, and Little White Duck. On the big screen, Burl's performance in The Big Country, won him an Academy Award for best supporting actor. Burl Ives died of cancer on April 14, 1995. He was 85. He is buried in Mound Cemetery, Hunt City, Jasper County, Illinois.

---

Irene Hunt, (1907-2001) author of "Across 5 Aprils" (based on the life of a Jasper County family during the Civil War).

Irene Hunt was born to Franklin P. and Sarah Land Hunt in Pontiac, Illinois. Her family moved to Newton, Jasper County, Illinois when she was young. Her father died when she was seven years old, and she moved in with her grandparents. During this time, Ms. Hunt listened to her grandfather’s stories of when he was a boy during the Civil War, providing the background for what would be Hunt's first novel, Across Five Aprils.
The time between her father’s death and her graduation from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1939 were Hunt's "quiet years." Though she had originally been interested in writing after receiving her Master’s Degree from the University of Minnesota in 1946, Hunt did not write any literature until she'd completed thirty-nine years of teaching. She taught French and English in the Oak Park, Illinois public schools for fifteen years, psychology at the University of South Dakota for four years, and language arts in the Cicero public school system.

Hunt wrote Across Five Aprils when she retired in 1964 at age 57. This book won seven major awards, including a Newbery Honor in 1965. Her second novel,, Up a Road Slowly, received the Newbery Medal in 1967, marking it the most distinguished children's book in America that year. In all, Ms. Hunt won sixteen awards for five of her seven novels.

Ms. Hunt died on May 18, 2001 at age 94 in Champaign, Illinois.

---

Know of anyone else?  Please contact me and I'll add them.

---

The iron frame Embarras River Bridge in Newton has been named to the National Register of Historic Places. This bridge is also known as the Old Mill Bridge and is located just west of the Old Mill Inn and goes over the Embarras River.  The north side of the bridge connects with Wade Township Road 164, which continues through farm bottom land.

The bridge, built in 1890, is still is use by traffic. It was built by the Chicago Bridge Company and is one of the oldest and largest Pratt through truss bridges remaining in Illinois.  The road north of the bridge is the old Palestine to Vandalia road, connecting Palestine (the first city in Illinois) and Vandalia (the second capital of Illinois).

---

Interesting Fact (submitted by Lawrence Kestenbaum)

Did you know about the juxtaposition of Jasper and Newton that takes place in (I think) nine states. Either it's Jasper and Newton counties side-by-side, or a Jasper County with a Newton county seat, or a Newton County with Jasper as the county seat.

The "American Heritage" magazine had an article about this, probably about 25 years ago. Jasper and Newton were war heroes (Revolutionary War or War of 1812). A friend of mine reports that his Methodist-minister father has an expression of "like Jasper follows Newton".

---

At one time, Jasper County had 2 legal distilleries......1) Kraus Brothers in Bend; and 2) Gen. Dobell in Wheeler. There are no distilleries in Jasper County now (at least none that I know of)..

---

Jasper County Civil War Units

During the Civil War, Jasper County men served in the following units:

• 8th Illinois Company K
• 21st Illinois Company K
• 32nd Illinois Company K
• 38th Illinois (2 companies; no further identification at this time)
• 54th Illinois
• 59th Illinois
• 63rd Illinois Infantry
• 97th Illinois Company D
• 97th Illinois Company E
• 98th Illinois
• 123rd Illinois
• 155th Illinois
• 9th Missouri

---

* = "CW" is on their tombstone; no further information is known at this time.

---

Jasper County Cemeteries:

(Note:  Information on Crooked Creek Township and Fox Township cemeteries provided by Rhonda Swisher.  Thanks, Rhonda!!!)

• Andrews Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
  
• Aten Cemetery - Near Hildago (Jasper County, Section 6, just north of Route 13 on 130.  Section Road is 2175 North).  (Thanks, Nancy Boyd and Dick Aten!!!)
• Baily Cemetery - North Muddy Township (south of Wheeler) (Thanks to Jeanne Wagner)
  
• Bethel Cemetery - Fox Township
• Brockville Cemetery - Southwest of Hunt, Hunt Township
  
• Brooks Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
• Calvary Cemetery
  
• Coad Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
  
• Diehl Cemetery - (Thanks, V. Frazier)
• Devore Cemetery (near Bogota) - (Thanks, Charles R. Thompson!)
• Fairfield Cemetery - Grove Township (Thanks to Jeanne Wagner)
• Hays Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
  
• Headyville Cemetery (formerly McQueen Cemetery) - near Headyville in Muddy township. It is 2 1/4 miles west of Latona, then 5 miles south, then 1/2 mile east.
• Honey Cemetery (just outside Bogota) - (Thanks, Charles R. Thompson!)
• Hunt (Cummins) Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
• Kilgore Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
  
• Lost Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
• Mound Cemetery - Hunt Township
  
• McFadden Cemetery - Yale, Grandville Township
  
• New St. Peter Cemetery
• Old Harrisburg Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
  
• Old Kibler Family Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
  
• Old St. Peter Cemetery
• Plainfield Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
• Pleasant Ridge Cemetery - Smallwood Township (Section 28 just off East 600th Avenue between North 800th Street and North 900th Street)  Thanks, Patty Huston!!!!
  
• Riverside Cemetery - Newton
• Ross Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
  
• St. Mary's Cemetery (Ste. Marie) - (Thanks, Lela Curtis!)
• Shiloh Cemetery - West of Willow Hill, Hunt Township (Thanks, Charles Jenkins!)
• Slate Point Cemetery - North Muddy Township (Thanks to Jeanne Wagner)
• Songer Cemetery (Rose Hill) - (Thanks, Mary Perkinson!)
• Swick Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
• Swick Family Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
  
• Todd Cemetery (just north of Willow Hill in Willow Hill Township) -(Thanks, Ken Hesler!)
• Trexler (formerly Tolandor Kedron) Cemetery - North Muddy Township
  
• Vanderhoof Cemetery (just outside of Newton) - (Thanks, Peggy Hinshaw!)
• Ward Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
• Wheeler Cemetery - North Muddy Township (east edge of Wheeler) (Thanks to Jeanne Wagner)
• Wilson Cemetery - Crooked Creek Township
  
• Woods Cemetery (just outside Bogota) - (Thanks, Charles R. Thompson!)
• Yale-Dillman Cemetery - (Thanks, Earl Dillman!)

Please, please, add to this list.  If possible, include the location. As you can see, I don't have locations for several cemeteries listed above.

---

---

Linda (Kralman) Lambert (ktlkate@avantek.net)
Copyright © 1997-2008 All rights reserved.
Updated Tuesday, 12-Feb-2008 15:33:31 MST