Barclay Cemetery
aka
Park Cemetery

Menard County, Illinois
   
Before (initial cleanup work) Pictures of Barclay Cemetery & the gate to Barclay Cemetery
   

Making lots of progress (compare the difference in the gate pictures)

Click here to see cleanup work and results of all the hard work.
This reading was completed on the 23rd & 25th of November 2001 by Stan & Jeanie Lowe with grandaughter, Kelsey and Duane & Betty Albert. Barclay cemetery is located North of Petersburg. Follow Rte. 97 through Petersburg, right at the North Petersburg Road past the fair grounds, turn left on the first road which is past the fair grounds and go about 1/2 mile to Grosboll Road. Turn right on Grosboll Road and you'll find the cemetery just a short distance down Grosboll Rd on the left side of the road and in the middle of a field.

A note from Jeanie: On November 10, 2001, Stan & I with a couple of friends went cemetery hunting. After searching through a couple of cemeteries in Tallula, Illinois, our friends, Duane & Betty Albert, mentioned an old cemetery outside of Petersburg where they thought some of their ancestors were buried. They proceeded to the cemetery which is located north of Petersburg. They found the cemetery in very poor condition with tall weeds, stones knocked over and other stones which were leaning badly (see before picture). We wrote down the names that we could find and began our research to find out if these individuals were related to Duane Albert. It turns out that Duane is a direct descendent of William and Rebecca Finley, who have the largest stones in the cemetery. Duane and Betty made up their minds that they wanted to clean up the cemetery and put it in respectable order. Betty contacted the farmer whose field we walked through. He was very gracious and said it was fine to clean up the cemetery - and our work began. We all went back to the cemetery on November 23 and November 25th. Most of the weeds are now cut down and we can now see the work of putting the stones back in place will be a big undertaking. Some of the stones are too large to lift - the men are currently trying to figure out how to get them back up. She ended her note by saying that they will continue to work on this cemetery until it is in good condition. Our granddaughter, Kelsey, has helped with the reading and the cleaning and is, at only 8 years old, a budding genealogist. This is Duane Albert's first involvement in genealogy and I must say, he's been bitten by the genealogy bug. Betty is busy collecting birth, death, and marriage records for the individuals buried here and we hope to obtain obits in the very near future. I've included the reading we've completed so it can be put on your web site for the free use of others who may be related. You may include my email address as a contact for other descendants since Duane & Betty do not yet have an email address Jeanie Lowe.

And a note from me: Thank heavens for interested and industrious people like Stan & Jeanie Lowe, Kelsey, and Duane & Betty Albert. Because they have devoted themselves to reading this cemetery and to cleaning it up, they are helping to insure that it won't go the way of so many other old cemeteries in Central Illinois. Sharing their work may help someone else searching for ancestors to make a connection or break through a brick wall. Thanks so very much for all of your work and thank you especially for sharing the results of your labors with us.

Click on the linked names below to see pictures of tombstones.
Name Born Died Age Additional Inscription/Information
ANDREW, William McCrey 31 Dec 1867 21y 9m 22d
BARCLAY, Anna - (Obit) 5 Aug 1887 86y 6m 21d Wife of Arthur Barclay
BARCLAY, Arthur 27 Mar 1862 62y 7m 18d
BARCLAY, Elizabeth 8 May 1823 25 Mar 1896 72y 10m 17d Dau of Arthur & Anna Barclay
BARCLAY, Jane 21 Jan 1870 44y9m16d Dau of Arthur & Anne Barclay
BARCLAY, Janet 10 Aug 1873 70y Dau of J. & J. Barclay
BARCLAY, John A. 10 Sep 1817 26y 2m 14d
FAITH, Agnes 22 Oct 1896 21y 6m Wife of Henry M. Faith
FINDLEY, John 12 Sep 1865 1d Son of W. & Rebecca Findley
FINDLEY, Rebecca P. 30 Nov 1865 16y 11m 25d Dau of W. & Rebecca Findley
FINLEY, Malcolm 1834 21 Oct 1893 Born in Scotland;  Died in Menard Co., IL
FINLEY, Rebecca 12 Dec 1911 68y 11m 19d In Loving Memory
FINLEY, William 14 Apr 1899 62y In Loving Memory
KEARNS, Thomas Co. K  114 Ill. Inf
KEARNS, Winnifred 16 Mar 1881 Wife of Thomas Kearns; Born in Ireland
MCCREY, Hugh 22 Mar 1869 73y
MCCREY, Margaret Craig 18 Jul 1871 72y Wife of Hugh McCrey
PARK, Andrew 10 Oct 1857 3y 1m 2d Son of Matthew & Ellen Park
PARK, Barbara 19 Oct 1857 64y 1m 3d
PARK, Catharine A. 28 Oct 1875 12y 5m 25d Dau of M. & C.W. Park
PARK, Catherin 29 Oct 1830 1 Aug 1914
PARK, Ellen 9 Dec 1880 58y 7m 23d Wife of Matthew Park
PARK, Hugh 6 Sep 1858 1858 Son of John & Catharine Park
PARK, Infant Daughter 8 Mar 1898 Child of John & Elizabeth Park
PARK, John 20 Apr 1829 15 Jul 1905
PARK, John 29 Mar 1852 8 Aug 1860 Son of John & Catharine Park
PARK, John 21 Jun 1856 52y
PARK, John William 15 Aug 1894 2m 4d
PARK, Margaret G. 16 Mar 1851 1860 Dau of John & Catharine Park
PARK, Matthew 4 Apr 1873 57y 3m 28d
PARK, Rebecca E. 20 Oct 1899 14 Sep 1901
PARK, Thomas 29 May 1898 81y 4m
PETERS, Ann 8 Sep 1863 7m23d Dau of Wm. & M.J. Peters
Cemetery Index Page
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