Virtual Family Cemeteries

Virtual Family Cemeteries
(Click on the cemetery below you would like to visit)

After researching much of the family history (an effort that began in June of 2000), I decided to begin visiting parts of the country in search of the graves of our ancestors and their many descendents. The first leg of this tour began in Iowa and Illinois in May of 2001. Snapping photos at every opportunity, my uncle Dennis Mulford and I visited the first 3 cemeteries in Iowa: Maynes Grove Cemetery in Bradford, Hillside Cemetery in Sheffield and Rockwell Cemetery in Rockwell. My wife, Karen, daughter, Ashley, and I continued on to Illinois to locate the family buried in Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Crete and Skyline Memorial Park in Monee. These two cemeteries primarily house my maternal grandmother’s side of the family whereas the cemeteries in Iowa contain my father’s side.

During the same trip to Iowa and Illinois, I was planning to visit Little Rock, Arkansas to find the tombstone of my great-great-great grandfather, Thomas Mulford. My father, Floyd R. Mulford, knew that David Eastin (Marsha’s son-in-law) had family around Little Rock and thought he might be able to help. So, before my trip to Iowa, Dad contacted him and David agreed to visit the National Cemetery in Little Rock in my stead. David’s pictures of that cemetery and the headstone of Thomas Mulford are included herein. I owe David considerable thanks for saving me about 10 hours of driving on my 10 day vacation.

Later in October of 2001, I returned to Iowa and visited a number of the cemeteries I had missed. On that trip uncle Dennis and I visited Oakhill Cemetery in Bristow, Dumont Cemetery in Dumont, Union Cemetery in Iowa Falls and Eldora City Cemetery in Eldora. I also took a trip to Quasqueton, Iowa with my daughter Ashley in search of a more distant family connection on the Mulford side. What I found outside Quasqueton was Fairview Cemetery near Winthrop, Iowa.

In May 2002, Karen and I decided to visit her parents in North Syracuse, New York. While there I thought it might be interesting to verify some of the notes my great-grandma Amendt wrote about father’s grandparents who lived in Westfield, New York. In her notes, she stated that her great-grandfather, William Strain, was buried in Westfield. She further indicated that his tombstone read "William Strain of Wood Grange, County Down, Ireland, died Jan. 10, 1871 age 72 yrs. 2 mo. 5 days."

Then in July 2002, my grandfather, the one who inspired me to take an interest in our family’s heritage, went to be with God. He was laid to rest in Florida National Cemetery. After grandpa’s passing I continued to accumulate more information on the family. In 2003, I received photos from the Johnsons who had visited Bible Cemetery in Coshocton, Ohio where Henry Mulford and his wife Hannah Bible are buried. Henry was one of Thomas Mulford’s brothers. (Remember Thomas is buried in Little Rock). Later in March of 2004, I returned to Iowa with my grandmother to attend my cousin Tim’s wedding. During that visit I returned to Oakhill Cemetery as well as visited Hickory Grove Cemetery in Quasqueton, Iowa and UCC Salem Cemetery in Lena, Illinois for the first time.

In September of 2004, I returned to Illinois with my mother to visit my Aunt Sharon and some other family. On the way up, we stopped in Campbellsburg, Indiana and visited Hop Cemetery, Saltillo Cemetery, Cavetown Cemetery and Mt. Carmel Cemetery – all in and around the town. This archive contains images from 3 of the 4 cemeteries. Saltillo is excluded since I was unable to find direct family connections in that cemetery though I am told some are buried there.

Once we made it to Illinois, we visited Chicago Heights, Steger, Monee and Crete. In Steger we met up with Charles “Chuck” Noyes and his wife and visited Evergreen Memory Gardens. At the end of the week, I stopped at Chenoa Cemetery in Chenoa, Illinois and found more descendants of those buried in Campbellsburg, Indiana.

The virtual cemeteries below contain most of the photos taken during these visits. These cemetery records have been very helpful in verifying portions of the information contained throughout this archive. As you will see, many of the headstones are in wonderful condition, but others are not. I have been able to include over 165 stones below representing over 250 members of our family. Someday these photos may be the only available record of some of these headstones. If you have photos of headstones or pictures of family you would like included in this archive, please contact me at [email protected]. I hope to add more cemeteries to this virtual archive as trips are taken in the future.