Information provided by David Pittman
INTRODUCTION
Root Cemetery is 2.5 acres with a tremendous story to tell, but the curious listener must pay close attention to many different fragments in order to get the full picture. Root Cemetery is a weathered stone pioneer cemetery and a bird watcher’s haven, situated within two miles of historic small towns, farm fields, a gravel quarry and modern homes. Its human history begins with the first people migrating through Illinois thousands of years ago, includes nearly 150 American pioneer burials, and continues to evolve and be remembered with the support of 21st century Chillicothe.
THE HUMAN STORY OF THE LAND BEFORE 1700
Illinois has documented evidence of humans living in this area for at least 10,000 years. Some of the earliest were nomadic groups following large game, occasionally in sight of the giant wall of receding Wisconsin glacier ice. Once plants began to grow as the soil warmed, various creatures came to eat the plants, attracting predators large and small that have helped shape the modern dynamic native ecology.
The Illinois River valley has always offered an excellent variety of food habitats for those who live close to the land. There are food options from lakes, flood plain, upland forest, and prairie. Good protection from the winter cold and continuous access to fresh water combined with abundant firewood makes this an ideal place to live.
People have known Illinois and the Chillicothe landscape for thousands of years. For example, in southern Illinois, 230 miles from Root Cemetery, Modoc Rock Shelter in Randolph County is a site that was used by humans for at least 10,000 years. Koster site in Greene County, Illinois, 160 miles from Root Cemetery, near the Illinois River, has evidence of active small villages 8500 years ago. Some of those village burials include the careful, ritualistic burial of dogs, the oldest domestic animal burials ever found in America. Cahokia Mounds near St Louis, 180 miles away and 1200 years distant, was once the largest urban area in North America with perhaps 10,000 people living nearby. Outlying tributary villages spread out for hundreds of miles, including into central Illinois. This woodland culture established communities as far north as Wisconsin. But by 1250, the civilization had vanished, the people dispersing into smaller, less concentrated groups. When Europeans came to Illinois, only hundreds of large earthen mounds remained at Cahokia.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Native American tribes migrated to the Illinois territory from the north and northeast, and the resulting population pressure led to devastating tribal warfare across Illinois. This migration was motivated by the attempt to escape European disease and overwhelming European immigration pressure east of the Appalachian Mountains. Smallpox and measles introduced by Europeans were especially deadly to the first people, killing at least one half of Illinois tribes within 10 years. The Native population never fully recovered, and tribes began living together in protective alliances. In Chillicothe the Potawatomi, Miami, and Kickapoo tribes lived near each other on both sides of Peoria Lake.
EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT & WAR OF 1812
French explorers and fur trappers first explored Chillicothe 350 years ago, many eventually living within the established villages of the Peoria and Pottawatomi tribes along Senachwine Creek. The French signed pledges of loyalty and became American citizens of the Illinois Territory in 1809. When the War of 1812 erupted, many tribes joined with the British against the Americans. Inevitably, they and their French friends suffered from the American military retaliation.
Peoria Lake villages of the Potawatomi, Miami, and Kickapoo were burned by an American militia force in early winter of 1812, as well as the primarily French descendants’ village of Peoria. The Peoria men, all of them of French descent, were taken as captives to St Louis, while the abandoned women and children were given protection by the surviving Indians led by Chief Gomo of the Potawatomi. Peoria remained empty of inhabitants until 1819. Although Peoria County history includes over 150 years of French heritage, there is almost no remnant of their culture.
Eventually all Native tribes were forced out of Illinois into Kansas and Oklahoma by the Federal law of 1830 called the Indian Removal Act. Then came the American pioneers.
CHILLICOTHE EARLY YEARS
When Peoria County was incorporated by the new state of Illinois in 1825, this fertile land attracted American families to farm and establish settlements. Most of the tribes were gone or reduced to very small numbers. The first American pioneers came to Chillicothe in 1829, attracted by the agricultural potential and easy transportation of products along the Illinois River. While the US Census of 1830 listed only 3000 people in all of Peoria County, by 1837, there were 100 families living near Chillicothe in the prime agricultural area called LaSalle Prairie. Chillicothe received its name from settlers like Jeriel Root Senior and his family, who, with the Moffitt family, emigrated from Chillicothe, Ohio.
ROOT CEMETERY FIRST BURIALS
Jeriel Root Sr. was a farmer and Baptist preacher. He or his son established one of the earliest formal American burial sites in our area with the burial of Juliather Moffitt, who died July 17, 1833—the time of year when the wild white indigo, wild columbine, and New Jersey tea are often blooming at Root Cemetery.
Root Cemetery was formally deeded to the Hallock Township in March, 1848, with 21 known burials at that time. Burial frequency peaked in 1850 as a cholera epidemic swept through the area. Burial activity continued but reduced as other nearby cemeteries were established.
The last Root Cemetery burial was James Farden, in early December, 1933. He joined nine other members of his family and his wife, Mary, who had passed away 10 years earlier. Of the last eleven burials, (1901-1933), ten of them were buried next to other family members. While the Township retains ownership of Root Cemetery, control of the cemetery was transferred to the Illinois Nature Preserves in 1976 through a permanent easement. Now, it is both a natural area and historic preservation site. Volunteers, along with descendants of the pioneer families and professional biologists, are responsible for the property maintenance.
Active for about 100 years, Root Cemetery is a window into part of the story of early Chillicothe pioneers. Please see Root Cemetery Burial List for analysis and specific listing of all 143 presumed burials (one burial is not yet confirmed other than by family lore). Burials are compared by family name, gender, date of death, and age at time of death. These records are presumed accurate as of winter 2024, and will be occasionally updated.
CEMETERY DETAILS
Listed below is a burial date summary, description of headstones, vandals and neglect, and a short description of most of the Civil War Veterans buried at Root Cemetery. A plaque of recognition was installed at the cemetery in 2025, to honor the Civil War veterans and one War of 1812 military veteran buried here.
Burial Date Summary
There are 143 estimated burials from 45 different families at Root Cemetery.
Fifteen burials have partial information as of 2025. Root Cemetery has 128 people buried for whom we know the first and last name, birthdate and date of death. Most percentage calculations are based on that number.
Of those whom we know their surname, birthdate and date of death,
- 52 people (41%) died before they were ten years old.
- Only 42 people (32%) lived past the age of 50 years.
- Only seven people (5%) lived past the age of 80 years.
Headstones
Some of the surviving headstones at Root Cemetery are composed of granite markers dated between 1900 and 1933. Older headstones were usually created from local materials such as limestone or sandstone. These sedimentary rocks inevitably lose legibility and become obscured from weathering.
There are dozens of upright headstone, and many other headstones lie flat on the ground, some partially broken. These headstones are precious as the only visible reminders of the people who experienced hardships hard for us to imagine in our modern lives. The INPC stewardship of the cemetery will protect these stones as much as possible.
Vandals and Neglect
Deliberate destruction has been thankfully minimal at Root Cemetery but has clearly caused some harm. Many headstones appear to be missing. There was a partial excavation of a grave in the southeast corner of the cemetery that stopped after two feet of soil was removed. And after volunteers stopped their work nearly two decades ago, the cemetery has developed an undesirably extensive growth of trees, shrubs, and non-native plants. (Please see Root Cemetery Biology for land management plans and methods.)
Civil War Veterans
There are 10 confirmed Union veterans of the Civil War buried at Root Cemetery by state military records. Volunteers welcome any assistance to improve the information. A permanent aluminum sign honoring their service and that of a veteran of the War of 1812 was erected at the cemetery in 2025 by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Colonel John C. Bryner Camp 67.
Here are the stories of eight of the Civil War veterans buried at Root Cemetery: James Samuel Crotz, David W Farden, Ralph Farden, Jackson McCulley, Justin Minor, Stewart Neill, John Sargent and William Weakham.
James Samuel Crotz
Born 5/19/1847 in Pennsylvania, Died 6/22/1925, age 78. Enlisting at age 18, he served in Company G 108th Illinois Infantry, then the 47th Illinois Infantry. (Info by Leoth Crotz and Find a Grave.) Born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, the son of Jacob Kratz/Crotz and Sophia (Bixler) Kratz/Crotz. The parents brought the family to Central Illinois in the early 1850s, settling in what was to become the Chillicothe Township of Peoria County, Illinois. By 1865, James was residing in Salina, Kankakee County, Illinois. On March 6, 1865, James went to Joliet, Illinois where he volunteered to serve in Co. G of the 108th Illinois. He was mustered into the service the following day and served the remainder of the war in the 108th. After the war came to a close, he was among men transferred to the 47th Illinois. He served in the 47th until January 21, 1866 when he was discharged from the service at Selma, Alabama, and he returned to his home in Illinois. Two years later, James was married to Letitia L. Farden (1849-1911) on September 20, 1868 in Peoria County, Illinois.
David W Farden
Born 12/2/1846 and Died 6/14/1883, age 37. He served in Company K, 11th Illinois Calvary in the Western Theatre. He was the son of Ralph Farden and died one year after his father.
Ralph Farden
Born 6/24/1811 and Died 7/18/1882, age 69. He served in Company D, 18th US Calvary. He enlisted when he was 50 years old in 1861 and was the father of David Farden.
Jackson McCulley
Born ?, Died 7/8/1899, age uncertain. He served in Company M 11th Illinois Calvary in the Western Theatre with a rank of Sargent. The Regiment organized in Peoria, May, 1861.
Justin Minor
Born ?, Died 9/8/1891, age uncertain. He served in Company A 17th Illinois Infantry, enlisting May, 1861 in Peoria, where the Regiment mustered. He was discharged in late April, 1862 after service in Shiloh. He is buried next to his mother, Catherine, who died seven years after his death.
Steward Neill
Born 5/24/1828, Died 4/2/1885 age 56. He served three years in the 53rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry, enlisting 11/2/1861 at age 33. He was 6 feet tall (above average) and discharged with a disability. His first wife, Lydia, died in Nov, 1857, age 25, a little over a year after their second child, Cynthia, died. After the war, Steward remarried in 1869.
John Sargent
Born ?, Died ?, age uncertain. Company E NY Marine Artillery Naval Brigade. Mustered in at NYC. John was a US Marine. He was a brother of Lydia Neill, whose husband Steward served in the Infantry. All three are buried at Root Cemetery.
William Weakham
Born 5/11/1836 in NYC, Died 9/19/1905, age 69. He served in Company H 53rd Illinois infantry with a rank of private. This Regiment fought in almost every major battle of the Western Theatre with severe casualties at Jackson, Mississippi 1863. The Regiment served in the early weeks of the Atlanta campaign, July 1864. (Info from Regimental history and Ralph Page.)