Located in Pike County, Illinois, on the east side of Newburg Township.
The following article is reprinted from the "Pike County Express"
Section A, page 20 of the newspaper, dated July 5, 2000. The article was
written by Carol McCartney. This article has been reprinted without permission.
My many thanks to Jane Bonny for sending this article to me so that it could
be shared with everyone else. Jane Bonny has been dedicated to seeking and
sharing information about the Wing family. Thank you so much Jane.
STORIES OF THE PAST...By Carol McCartney
Cousins care for family burial plot
You could pass by on the gravel road a hundred times and never see it, the
small neat burial plot bordered by shady trees and tucked in rolling fields
on the east side of Newburg Township. What a history the 34 graves of Pettis
Cemetery tell - a Revolutionary soldier, a captain of the War of 1812, to
Civil War Veterans, and down to the relatives who care for it today.
I learned of it's remarkable attributes only a month ago and walked up
the grassy bluff to see the cemetery. The impressive stone "Stephen Pettis"
was very white with easy-to-read print, despite the age. I thought it was
(1855). It was a fitting stone for a military person, precise and proper.
Two distant cousins, Ruby Mink of Pittsfield and Dwight Ringhausen of Hardin
furnished the Pettis Cemetery information.
My view of an austere Col. Pettis was dispelled by Ruby Mink. Chuckling,
she said, "Old Stephen had 4 wives and 21 or 22 children. The first wife
died in childbirth out East, the 2nd, too, before he came here. I'm descended
from the 2nd wife and Dwight from the 3rd. Finally, Pettis married Catherine
Hosford, who outlived him but he was out surveying one day, caught pneumonia
and died. Wife #4 inherited everything, sold the ground except deeded "one
acre for a family burial plot." She then moved to Minnesota."
Family names in the cemetery included Dunham, Barnum (Civil War), Davis,
Kelly, Liddle, Moran, Ham, Hosford, Field, Chappell, Wing and Charles Pettis
(Civil War). "There is documentation that a Revolutionary soldier is buried
there too," Ruby noted. "There's no marker, but the E.D. Hatch stone is his
son and he must be next to him."
Ringhausen agreed there are unmarked burials. "I found pieces of broken stone
that didn't match any that are there." Both Mink and Ringhausen speak of
the condition of the forgotten plot before they investigated their family
roots.
"I first saw the place about 12 years ago, but I couldn't see from one side
to the other for all the briars and brambles, trees and junk." Dwight said.
"Hogs crawled under the fence and you know what they can do."
Ruby added, "You should have seen all the trees I had cut out of there. Then
we hired the stumps to be dug out. It cost quite a bit, but when my mother
and grandmother were able, they used to have to work days out there and take
a picnic lunch."
Ringhausen appreciates help from Newburg and Detroit Township road commissioners
- dirt to fill holes and work camp prisoners' clearing fence rows. He travels
from Hardin and mows, but would like to hire someone closer. "My sisters
and I have garage sales with the proceeds going for gas and resetting stones
and one time we had a food stand at a farm sale." They would appreciate monetary
help for ongoing maintenance.
He found that Amy Wing, whose stone is in Pettis, was part of the nationwide
Wing Family Association that meets annually. They have a 300-year-old house
in Sandwich, Mass., that is the oldest one in the country with the same family
continuously living in and owning it.
Ruby explained the white government marker of Stephen Pettis, "One day
it just appeared. Dwight and I didn't know where it came from." Using detective
skills, she "finally called cousins in Minnesota (Bob and Lenore Larson and
Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Pettis). They had brought it down in the trunk of their
car but there are mistakes on it - death date should be Jan. 6, 1855, instead
of June. He was a captain, not a colonel."
Cemetery discussion ending, Dwight asked, "Do you know where the township
got it's name? Was it for a town in New York?" The 1872 Atlas confirmed it
- Newburgh, New York, named by Capt. Westlake for his birth place. "Did you
know that location was where General Washington's winter headquarters were
with the last Continental Army?"
I thought of how these tidbits of information tied Newburg Township to the
Revolutionary War, the one that brought Illinois territory into the United
States. Then came Stephen Pettis, veteran of War of 1812, who claimed his
bounty land grant in Pike County, and his son who fought in the Civil War.
How rich in history is this little cemetery on an ordinary gravel road in
Pike County, with it's roots reaching from Independence of 1776 to year 2000.