As the DeWitt County Genealogical Society began to document the soldiers interred in the Soldiers' Plot at Woodlawn Cemetery, they started to uncover stories related to those laid to rest there. This is the account of Evan Richards' voyage from DeWitt County to the Civil War and ultimately to his burial site in the Soldiers' Plot.
The Vespasian Warner Library is excited to announce that Terri Lemmel, President of the DeWitt County Genealogical Society, has kindly agree to write local history blogs for our website. This first series of blogs authored by Terri will center on the soldiers interred in the Soldiers' Plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Clinton, IL. We extend our gratitude to Terri and the DeWitt County Genealogical Society for their dedicated efforts in preserving these stories for the benefit of future generations.
Sometimes people ask us here, at DeWitt County Genealogical Society, “What’s new?” but a better question might be “What’s old?” Lately, we have been working on a binder about the soldiers buried at the Soldiers’ Plot at Woodlawn Cemetery. Much research has already been done about these men by DeWitt County Museum Director Joey Long, and a few years ago, Joey’s husband, Tony Long, made an excellent video on the subject. This video is available on YouTube – The Soldiers' Burial Ground Part 1, The Soldiers' Burial Ground Part 2. While some of these profiles may be old, they might be new to you!
Not long ago, it came to our attention that many of these gravesites are not listed on the Find-A-Grave website or on the City of Clinton’s GIS map. (For easy access to the name-searchable aerial map of the city cemetery, go to Clinton Cemetery Viewer.) We believe the reason for this is that the tombstones are military issue and contain only the individual’s name and the company and battalion in which they served. They are lacking dates of birth and death. Our ultimate goal is to get these gravesites entered online, but while searching for those dates, we started to uncover stories…
The most celebrated soldier buried there is probably Evan Richards. He was born in Ohio, but his family came to Illinois when he was a young boy. He grew to become a medical doctor and opened a practice in Mount Pleasant (the original name of Farmer City). He was well respected and was chosen to be the first Grand Master of the new DeWitt (County) Masons Lodge. When a company was raised in DeWitt County to go to war, he volunteered, despite having a thriving medical practice and a wife and five children. His courage and leadership brought him up the ranks all the way to Lieutenant Colonel. On 12 May 1863, he was wounded in the battle of Raymond, Mississippi during the Vicksburg campaign and died within an hour.
Richards’ body was returned to Clinton for burial, his services becoming a 3-day community event. At the Soldiers’ Plot, his military marker can barely be read and leans to one side. At some point, another bronze marker was placed in his honor, though the S is missing from his surname and his year of death is incorrect.
There are more profiles to come of soldiers who were lower in rank but important, none the less. After all, “History remembers only the celebrated. Genealogy remembers them all.” – Laurence Overmire.
-Terri Lemmel for DeWitt County Genealogy Society
Sources: DeWitt County newspapers on microfilm, The Soldiers’ Plot at Woodlawn Cemetery
Terri Lemmel was born and raised in DeWitt County near Kenney. Upon completing her education at Clinton High School, she lived in Bloomington for several years before returning to Clinton in 1990. Her interest in genealogy was piqued in the mid-90s when she found unidentified obituaries in her late grandmother's scrapbook that family members could not identify. While she initially dabbled in the subject, it wasn't until her retirement in 2018 that she jumped in with both feet. Terri joined the Genealogical Society and has been serving as its President since 2022. Research is a passion of hers, and there are lots of interesting stories to uncover! You can find Terri in the DeWitt County Genealogical Society room at the Vespasian Warner Public Library every Thursday completing research and helping others with their family and local history research.
To learn more about the DeWitt County Genealogical Society, feel free to reach out to them via phone at 217-935-5174, email at dewittcgs@gmail.com, their website, or their Facebook page.
The Vespasian Warner Library, located at 310 N. Quincy St. in Clinton, IL, features an extensive collection of local history and archives. To learn more, visit our Local History Page on the website or stop by in person! We are always excited to showcase our local history resources and discuss DeWitt County's local history.
Until Next Time Library Friends!
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