April in Lake County -- then and now

Seven score and eight years ago this month, the most noteworthy visitor in Lake County history arrived by train. Abraham Lincoln traveled from Chicago to Waukegan, according to "The Lincoln Log" (a daily chronology of the life of Abraham Lincoln). The date was April 2, 1860, just 11 years after the founding of the town of Little Fort (later Waukegan).

The Log says the soon-to-be 16th president of the United States was in court in Chicago, but afterwards delivered a speech in Waukegan "at the earnest solicitation of citizens of Lake County."

It is thrilling to think that the great man walked our streets one spring day a year before the outbreak of the Civil War and five years before still another April day that saw the end of that war. Then two weeks later, Lincoln was dead.

Although the Flynn family didn't move to Lake County until 1969, other Lake County families can trace their ancestors back to the year of Lincoln's visit, and even earlier. In St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery on Waukegan's south side and the adjacent Oakwood Cemetery on Genesee Street/Sheridan Road, Lake County citizens of a different era rest in peace in hundreds of graves. Some were born and died before the Civil War.

Names on headstones include such Waukegan families as Hardy, Drew, Upham, Wysocki and Connelly.

Many nationalities are represented: "Juzef Skowkowskj March 1916, Pranciskus Gustai 1866-1914, Vincentas Gustai 1902-1913."

Other names noted: Colgan, Guerin, Brewster, Zewe and Wershoven. Then there were Utpatel, Dempsey and Bomkamp. One grave marker was etched in a foreign language. I could understand only the date: 1927.

One of the oldest headstones (worn almost unreadable by unblocked winds off nearby Lake Michigan) commemorates an Irishman, born on St. Patrick's Day: Patrick Spellman, born March 17, 1802, died Aug 6, 1892. The engraving includes his origin: "Native of County Mayo, Ireland." Mr. Spellman was 59 at the start of the Civil War, and he lived to 90 years of age.

On several headstones there was evidence that husbands outlived their wives:

Edward W. Upham, May 30, 1834 - July 19, 1906; Mary Whitney, wife - March 11, 1835 - July 6, 1893

On another family's headstone:

MOTHER Margaret Dody 1846-1921. FATHER James Dody 1842-1924

DeMuth, Magdalene wife of John DeMuth died Jan. 1895 age 70 -- John died Nov. 5, 1905 age 85.

Josiah M. Truesdell - 1821-1870, Lucy M, his wife 1826-1854. (His second wife, Melissa, was born the same year as Josiah. She died in 1907.)

Appropriate to the spring season, there was a Green buried next to a Brown.

Some first names are uncommon today:

Olwia Anderson 1864-1949.

MYRICK, Mother Alberta 1880-1955 - Father Pearl 1880-1968.

AVERY, Ebinezer, 11-23-1802 - 3-7-1878 - Ryphena, 10-6-1808 - 9-3-1890.

Alzada Lamb, 1841-1918. Uziel Yates, 1794-1867.

I didn't find as many military men buried there as I expected:

William Stone - Illinois - CMM U.S. Navy - World War I, Born Feb. 20, 1896 - Died June 21, 1921.

One well-worn marker read simply: Bergt, William - Cook, 59th Ill. Infantry.

Walking through an old cemetery (no graves had flowers on them) is not something I do regularly. I felt at peace there, but saddened at seeing the gravestones of children. Those would have saddened Lincoln, too. Two of his sons preceded him in death.