Kirkman-Wyatt Cemetery, Morgan County IL

Cemetery transcription by members of the Jacksonville Area Genealogical and Historical Society



This burial site is listed as "Unknown Name" on page 3 of "A Guide To Cemeteries of Morgan County, Illinois, Volume One". Although the compilers of this volume have known of this cemetery as long ago as 1972, it was not possible to pinpoint the name until June 16, 1976 when Mrs. Sanford (Florence) Hutchison found a warranty deed to the property.
On August 28, 1856 James Kirkman conveyed to Thomas Wyatt 60 acres of land, with the exception of the grave yards upon the said tract, containing "half an acre in a square form, and having the Vandalia road on the north line . . ." (Deed Book LL page 368). The reader should not be confused with Vandalia Road ending a short distance east of Nichols Park. In earlier times Vandalia Road extended from Jacksonville to Vandalia, the state capital.
On March 7, 1866 James Kirkman deeded the half acre of land containing the cemetery to the County of Morgan. The warranty deed in Deed Book 2, page 121, describes the burial site as being "for the use of the family of George Kirkman, deceased."
It is known that the tombstones were still in place over the graves about 1956. They had been stolen or otherwise removed before 1972 when a neighborhood teenager, Tom Reed, took the compilers of this book to the site. At that time only one tombstone base could be found in the dense brush.Legal description of the burial site is in the southeast quarter of Section 35 in Township 15 N Range 10 W.







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