Pickens Cemetery, Hancock Township, Hancock County, IL
????, Infant 24-Jan-1877 25-Jan-1877 d/o ???? & ????
????, James M. 18-Jul-1881 04-Sep-1881
????, Lewis E. Died Aug. 28, 1866 (or 8?) Aged 2 ys 5 ms 13 ds
????, Richard F. Died Aug. 20, 1866 Aged 1 y 1 m 6 ds
Austin, Infant Died June 2, 1880 (?) s/o Winfield Scott Austin & Margaret Ella Smith
Austin, Margaret Ella (Smith) 22-Oct-1857 06-Jun-1880 w/o Winfield Scott Austin
Booz, Joseph Milburn 21-Nov-1876 01-Jan-1877 s/o J. & N. E. Booz
Booz, Josie 21-Nov-1876 31-Oct-1893 d/o J. & N. E. Booz
Booz, Pollyann 11-May-1859 02-Sep-1860 d/o J. & N. E. Booz
Bryant, Sarah died 23-Mar-1879 age 21 yrs this is probably Sarah Johnson (w/o Ambrose Bryant)
Carle, Infant died Sunday, March 12th, 1916 s/o Mrs. Bessie Carle
Corder, James (?) 04-Apr-1856 18-Sep-1878 s/o A. S. & J. A. Corder
Corder, Julia A. 08-Jun-1837 20-Jul-1891
Dale, Francis 01-Apr-1837 ??-Sep-1839
Dale, George Whitfield 04-Apr-1801 28-Aug-1863 h/o Martha Ann Booz
Dale, James 04-Jul-1832 16-Dec-1908 18-Dec-1908 s/o George Whitfield Dale & Martha Ann Booz
Dale, Martha Ann (Booz) 20-Feb-1806 12-Feb-1881 13-Feb-1881 w/o George Whitfield Dale
Downey, S. H. 1816 1877 (probably Samuel H. Downey)
Gibson, George W. 03-Mar-1853 19-Nov-1903 s/o James M. Gibson & Mary Jane Dale
Gibson, James M. 25-Mar-1823 09-May-1885 h/o Mary Jane Dale
Gibson, John D. 29-Apr-1861 16-Sep-1862 s/o James M. & Mary Jane Gibson
Gibson, Mary Jane (Dale) 25-Aug-1825 27-Nov-1903 w/o James Coker w/o James M. Gibson
Gibson, Nancy E. 04-May-1857 09-Feb-1860 d/o James M. & Mary Jane Gibson
Gibson, William Franklin 15-Jul-1848 24-Dec-1908 26-Dec-1908 h/o Rebecca Hamilton
Gillinwater, Joseph S. Died Sept. 24, 1866 Aged 21 ys s/o (?) Gillinwater
Gillenwater, Martha (Huff) ??-???-1819 11-Dec-1885 12-Dec-1885 w/o Pleasant Gillenwater
Gillenwater, Pleasant -- not sure about this one. He should be interred here because his wife is.
Harnest, John Died Oct. 12, 1864 Aged 67 ys 22 ds
Harnest, William M. (Rest of inscription unreadable)
Harper, Leonidas E. Died Feb. 13, 1855 Aged 1 y 1 m 7 ds child of H. P. & M. E. Harper
Harper, Mary A. Died Nov. 17, 1857 Aged 1 y 8 ms 7 ds d/o H. P. & M. E. Harper
Huff, Cora V. Died Nov. 11, 1873 Aged 1 y 1 m 17 ds d/o W. N. & M. A. Huff
Johnson, George Washington 24-Aug-1847 31-May-1934 02-Jun-1934 h/o Harriet Harter h/o Malissa Dill
Johnson, Harriet (Harter) 1851 1886 w/o George Washington Johnson
Lane, James F. Died Sept. 4, 1858 Aged 35 years h/o Dicey Pryor
Maxwell, Carline Died May 9, 1863 Aged 1 m 3 ds d/o Wm. & Elizabeth Maxwell
Maxwell, Elizabeth (????) died 18-Apr-1863 Aged 30 ys 11 ms 2ds w/o Wm. Maxwell
Picken, Herman G. Died Sept. 29, 1871 Aged 1 y 7 ms 23 ds s/o G. L. & E. W. Picken
Porter, Orleana (Lane) 03-Mar-1850 03-Jan-1890 w/o Allen Armstead Porter
Rhea, Calloway Lafayette 1827 1887
Smith, Dicey (Pryor) 09-Jan-1832 12-Nov-1918 14-Nov-1918 w/o James F. Lane w/o Caleb Booth Smith
Smith, Frances H. Died Feb. 19, 1857 Aged 6 ms 15 ds d/o L. & N. Smith
Smith, James Guthrie 07-Oct-1828 01-Feb-1879 h/o Martha S. Pryor
Smith, Martha S. (Pryor) 22-Oct-1829 19-Aug-1914
Smith, Mary F. 14-Aug-1855 23-May-1873
Modern driving directions:
This cemetery is located in Hancock Township about Section 30 (near the Carthage Township line). To get to it, take Highway 136 east out of Carthage to county road 2450. Take county road 2450 south about one and one-half miles. Turn east (left) and drive across the township line into Hancock Township. Stop. Walk north across a field to a strip of woods about a quarter mile away. Just inside the woods in Pickens Cemetery.
Original driving directions:
This cemetery is located in Hancock Township, about Section 30.
To get to it the motorist takes Illinois State Highway No. 136 east out of Carthage, driving east between four and five miles almost to the Carthage Township - Hancock Township line. Turn south down a gravel side road at the corner with the signboard "crushed rock for sale" (that is off to the north) and drive south a mile and a half. Then turn east again, also on a gravel road, and drive across the township line into Hancock Township.
The township line between the two townships is not a road down here as it is in the north top half of the two. One has to extend this line down south with an imaginary line drawn across a broken wooded area and some cultivated fields.
After parking on the west-east gravel road just inside Hancock Township one has to walk north across a cultivated farm field to a strip of woods about a quarter of a mile away. There among trees, some of them big evergreens, just inside the woods is Picken Cemetery, a rectangular plot about as big as a family sized vegetable garden.
The cemetery is fenced with substantial farm field wire fencing, old now but standing well. This is in pleasant contrast to some farm cemeteries of the County where the fence if there ever was any is down and the place has been pastured anywhere from a year to a century, with about all monuments knocked off their bases by horses, cattle, and hogs.
There is no fence between the wooded area and the cultivated field here indicating this area has not been pastured much if any here in recent years anyway. Maybe just a month or so in the fall to let livestock clean up corn dropped in the field in harvesting. But if this is ever pastured here any the fence around the cemetery is substantial enough and still standing in good enough shape to keep out any livestock of western Illinois.
There is just one gate, a yard type of gate just wide enough for a person to walk through. But as the cemetery is very small and without roads into it any burial here now if there were to be one would of necessity be handled by the motorized procession pulling up at the edge of the farm field and the mourners walking the few rods in to the point of interment. Except in fall or winter and then in dry seasons it would be impossible to get in here with automobiles anyway. But people of the vicinity say cars are sometimes driven back there across the farm field.
The cemetery is grown up to brush about six feet tall but one can force a way through to get to all of the monuments. Most of the stones are still on their bases but as will be noted by the burial list a few are down or are leaning badly.
There have been no burials here in the last thirty years and those since the turn of the century can be counted on the fingers of one hand. This is a cemetery of the last Century, of the second half of that century. These dead who sleep here were of the Civil War generation. Most death dates are for the 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s. By 1880 this burying ground was practically abandoned.
There probably will never be another burial here. Probably no one is now living who followed any of these dead to the church and to their final resting place here or who even saw them while they were still among the living. These people are now consigned to a dead past with which the living have no acquaintance.
But if the living do not know them they were well known by the pioneer generation in western Illinois. The families who founded Hancock County are well represented here. These dead may be said to constitute a representative cross section of that pioneer County society. They were the capable farm people on whose broad shoulders the ark of the government here, the hard work and stress and strain of maintaining daily existence, and the burden of creating the commonwealth of Illinois out of wilderness rested. They would compare favorably with any group of County farm people who might be assembled here in the 1960s.
They will always live in the sense of being part of the history of Hancock Township and of western Illinois. This means they are one with God now and a noble American past.
Dale Family Lot
Lot enclosed with ornamental iron fence, still standing well, with iron posts. This fence is very old and rusted but still in good condition. Apparently was painted black at one time.
On the Dale Family Lot the following graves:
Very old leaning marble slab
George W. Dale
Died Aug. 28, 1863
Aged 62 ys 4 ms 24 dsVery old leaning marble slab
Martha A., wife of George W. Dale
Died Feb. 12, 1881
Aged 74 ys 11 ms 20 dsImposing black granite
James Dale
July 4, 1832 – Feb. 16, 1908
Francis Dale
Apr. 1, 1837 – Sept. 1839End of List for Dale Family Lot
Round Marble Shaft
(Inscription on base)
James G. Smith
Died Feb. 1, 1879
Aged 50 ys 3 ms 24 ds(James G. Smith, born Oct. 7, 1828 who is described on P. 1368 of the 1921 Schofield history of the County (Vol. 2) as an early settler of the County, or his family is so described. They helped found the area now known as Harmony Township, also Hancock Township. He was married to Martha S. Pryor).
Also for this man a large green black granite monument
Smith (top edge)
James G. Smith
Oct. 7, 1828 – Feb. 1, 1879
Martha S. his wife
Oct. 22, 1829 – Aug. 19, 1914Large Marble Shaft. Off base, on ground
Mary F. Smith
Born Aug. 14, 1855
Died May 23, 1873
(Epitaph unreadable)(Mary F. Smith of the preceding may be Margaret E. Smith who is named in the Schofield sketch as a deceased daughter of James G. Smith).
Very Small Marble Slab
Frances H., dau. of L. & N. Smith
Died Feb. 19, 1857
Aged 6 ms 15 dsMarble Shaft, old and broken in two
Margaret E., wife of W. S. Austin
Born Oct. 22, 1857
Died June 6, 1880(This would seem to be the wife of Winfield S. Austin and the daughter-in-law of Lucius M. Austin. See P. 674, Gregg 1880 County history).
Small Marble Slab
Infant son of W. S. & M. E. Austin
Died June 2, 1880 (?)(Dates on the Austin stones about unreadable)
Small Marble Shaft
(One Side)
James M.
Born July 18, 1881
Died Sept. 4, 1881
(One Side)
Infant dau.
Born Jan. 24, 1877
Died Jan. 25, 1877(Who these children were not clear but they may be of Austin family)
Large Marble Shaft
Julia A. Corder
Born June 8, 1837
Died July 20, 1891
Aged 54 ys 1 m 12 ds
Asleep in Jesus
(Rest of long epitaph unreadable)Marble Shaft
James (?), son of A. S. & J. A. Corder
Born Apr. 4, 1856
Died Sept. 18, 1878(This may be a son of the preceding).
Marble Slab
Elizabeth, wife of Wm. Maxwell
Died April 18, 1863
Aged 30 ys 11 ms 2dsSmall marble slab. Down on ground
Carline, daughter of Wm. & Elizabeth Maxwell
Died May 9, 1863
Aged 1 m 3 dsLarge Marble Shaft, old, black
James M. Gibson
Born Mar. 25, 1823, Lincoln Co., Tenn.
Died May 9, 1885, Hancock Co., Ill.Very old, completely black with age marble monument
At Rest (Top Edge)
Mary J. Gibson
Aug. 25, 1825
Nov. 27, 1903Very old marble slab. Double type.
John D.
Died Sept. 16, 1862
Aged 1 y 4 ms 17 ds
Nancy E.
Died Feb. 9, 1860
Aged 2 ys 9 ms 5 ds
Children of J. M. & Mary GibsonMarble Monument, old black with age
George W. Gibson
Mar. 3, 1853
Nov. 19, 1903Small Gray Granite
G. W. Johnson
1847 - 1934Small gray granite
Harriet, wife of G. W. Johnson
1851 - 1886Marble Slab (broken in two)
Joseph S., son of (?) Gillinwater
Died Sept. 24, 1866
Aged 21 ys(This is the deceased son of Pleasant C. Gillinwater mentioned on P. 679 of the 1880 Gregg County history. He was of the Huff family through his mother. Both Gillinwater and Huff families came from Tennessee, probably from east Tennessee in the Allalachia area. He was a grandson of David and Cisire (Wilson) Gillinwater. The Pleasant Gillinwater family moved to Hancock Township in 1864 from St. Marys Township where they had lived eight years. Previously they had resided eighteen years or since 1838 in Schuyler County, Illinois. He seems to have come from Tennessee at that time but as he was married in 1839 he apparently went back or sent back to Tennessee for Martha Huff whom he married).
Small marble slab
Cora V., dau. of W. N. & M. A. Huff
Died Nov. 11, 1873
Aged 1 y 1 m 17 dsMarble slab, black with age. Double type.
Mary A.
Died Nov. 17, 1857
Aged 1 y 8 ms 7 ds
Leonidas E.
Died Feb. 13, 1855
Aged 1 y 1 m 7 ds
Children of H. P. & M. E. HarperOld marble slab
John Harnest
Died Oct. 12, 1864
Aged 67 ys 22 ds
(Epitaph unreadable)Large black with age marble slab, base and all leaning back against a towering evergreen tree trunk
William M. Harnest
(Rest of inscription unreadable)Small black granite
S. H. Downey
1816 - 1877Very old marble slab black with age
We'll meet again
Josie Booz
Dau. of J. & N. E. Booz
Born Nov. 21, 1876
Died Oct. 31, 1893Very old marble slab black with age
Joseph Milburn, son of J. & N. E. Booz
Born Nov. 21, 1876
Died Jan. 1, 1877Small very old marble slab black with age
Pollyann
Dau. of J. & N. E. Booz
Died Sept. 2, 1860
Aged 1 y 3 ms 22 ds(These seem to be grandchildren of Dr. William Booz, who was one of the best known citizens of the County in Civil War days, through his son Joseph. See the 1880 Gregg County history, P. 677)
Small black with age marble slab
James F. Lane
Died Sept. 4, 1858
Aged 35 yearsSmall black with age marble shaft
Orleana Porter
Born Mar. 3, 1850
Died Jan. 3, 1890Marble Slab
Herman G., son of G. L. & E. W. Picken
Died Sept. 29, 1871
Aged 1 y 7 ms 23 ds
(Epitaph unreadable)Mortician Marker
(Contents lost)
Marble Shaft
Lewis E.
Died Aug. 28, 1866 (or 8?)
Aged 2 ys 5 ms 13 ds
Richard F.
Died Aug. 20, 1866
Aged 1 y 1 m 6 ds(Of what family the above are is not stated on stone. It may be of Picken family)
Picken Cemetery, Hancock Township, Hancock County, Illinois.
(1968 Hancock County History, P. 324)
Picken Cemetery is located in the southeast corner of Section 19, not far from the township line. There is no road to this cemetery and it is necessary to walk quite a distance across fields and pastures to reach this plot. A negro woman, who was employed by the Picken family, is buried in the cemetery and is thought to be the first person buried there. The latest burial was that of G. W. Johnson in 1934. In 1967 there were at least three dozen monuments standing and the cemetery was enclosed by a woven wire fence.
