TAKE A TOUR OF GREVE CEMETERY

On Sunday, April 16, 2023 from 1-2 the Hoffman Estates Historical Sites Commission will conduct a guided group tour of the Greve Cemetery on Abbey Wood Drive in Hoffman Estates.

Those who attend will be shown the graves and tombstones of the pioneer families who settled along Higgins Road in the 1840s.

The event is free but reservations are required.  Tours will start at 1:00, weather permitting.  Call Hallie at 847-781-2606  for reservations before April 12, 2023.

Tours are also available for small groups by appointment at other times.

A LOST TOMBSTONE FINDS ITS WAY BACK HOME

The Hoffman Estates Historical Sites Commission, caretakers of the Greve Cemetery on Abbey Wood Drive in Hoffman Estates, have long known they were missing some tombstones.

An inventory that was done in 1971 for the “Evangelical and Reformed Cemetery Schaumburg Township Cook Co., ILL.  AKA Greve or Wildcat Grove Cemetery” tracked all of the tombstones in the cemetery that could be found at that time. Somewhere between 1971 and today some of them disappeared.

Fast forward to 2020, and enter Jane Lentino, a local resident who contacted me about an interesting stone that was found under their deck.

Jane and her husband, Phil Seifritz, could only see part of the stone and wondered if it was possible to help identify who the tombstone belonged to. The legible date was November 15, 1862 and the words in front of the date were “Gest den” which was obviously a German phrase. This translated to “died on” which meant it was a death date.

That narrowed things down considerably. A peak at the St. Peter Lutheran Church burial records for that year did not yield a listing for that specific date.

I then turned to Ancestry.com and put in 1862 as an exact year, along with Schaumburg Township as the exact location. The only thing that popped up was an entry for “Johan F. G. Greve” who died on that very day and was a mere two months old, having been born on August 26, 1862.

Ancestry then connected me to his entry in findagrave.com There I found an excellent listing, complete with an inscription for the tombstone that matches the one in the photo.

Young Johann’s parents were Johann Gerhard and Charlotte (Kastning) Greve and, yes, his father was that Johann who was one of the first settlers of Schaumburg Township and donated the property for the cemetery. The couple had twelve children and, through their progeny, became a prominent family in the township.

Having made the connection, it was then time to connect the resident with Nancy Lyons of the Hoffman Estates Historical Sites Commission who has taken a profound interest in the cemetery.

She has done a great deal of research regarding the cemetery and those buried there. In fact, she is the one who added Johan’s genealogical information to the tombstone inscription. As I suspected, she was thrilled to have the opportunity to return the tombstone to its rightful place.

She made arrangements for the Hoffman Estates Public Works Department to retrieve the tombstone and have it placed in the cemetery where it belongs. It didn’t take long because the stone was not all that big, but she and Phil Seifritz were there to record aspects of the entire, remarkable event.

Of particular interest to Nancy is that the bottom was straight and unbroken. This leads her to believe that it was not “cemented” in the ground  but was more likely a tablet stone that fit into a slotted base like others at the cemetery.

The cemetery is still a bucolic place, fenced and gated in the heart of the Barrington Square neighborhood, and surrounded by the tall oaks and walnut trees that attracted pioneers to Wildcat Grove in the first place. But, thanks to some concerned residents, it is now more complete. As Jane Lentino said, “Little Johan Greve is back to being a part of his family.”

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

*The larger photos are courtesy of Phil Seifritz.
**The small photo is courtesy of Nancy Lyons.

AT THE GREVE CEMETERY: WHO ARE PHILIP AND CAROLINE SCHWEER?

This week we are fortunate to have Nancy Lyons, a guest writer and long-time Schaumburg Township resident, solve the mystery of a family who buried a young son in Greve Cemetery. 

At Greve Cemetery, aka Wildcat Grove Cemetery, in Hoffman Estates, IL there is a tablet tombstone remembering Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Schweer, son of Philipp (sic) and Caroline Schweer, born December 18, 1860, died March 23, 1863.

For many years there was the presumption that this was a member of the Schween family who owned property in Section 8 in the northwest corner of Schaumburg Township. Yet the inscription is clearly Schweer and not Schween. While there was an Ernst Phillip Schween in Schaumburg Township at this time, his wife was not named Caroline.

I have looked for the Schweer family for years. Last year, while re-reading the 1870 Federal Census of Schaumburg Township, I turned a page and there was family #46 comprised of P. Sneir, age 50, born in Hesse; his wife Caroline, age 32, also born in Hesse; children John, age 4, and Sophia, age 10–both born in Illinois. Harmon Sneir, age 19, was listed as a farm laborer born in NY.

Where did Philipp and Caroline live in Schaumburg township? In the 1870 Federal Census of Schaumburg Township the J. Sunderlage family, #40, Wm. Sunderlage, #41 and the Gerhardt Greve family, #42 precede the Sneir family, #46.

The Sunderlage and Greve families and their descendants owned land and lived in Section 8, along Higgins Road from the 1840s into the mid 20th century. In fact, William Sunderlage’s grand daughter, Esther Steinmeyer Bierman, died there in 2004. These families are all represented by burials at Greve Cemetery which is located in section 8 in the present-day residential area of Barrington Square.

Additional confirmation of the Schweer family in Schaumburg Township can also be found on the 1861 plat map of Schaumburg Township. There, in the far northwest corner, P. Schweer is listed as owner of 172 acres in Section 6. As can also be seen, Philipp, Caroline and family were neighbors of the Greve family.

What happened to Philipp and Caroline? I keyed young John’s age and name variations into Ancestry.com and looked for the best choices. Listed in the 1880 Federal Census of Wabaunsee County, Kansas are Philipp Shweir, age 59; wife Carrie, age 41; son, John, age 13, born in Illinois; daughter Gurdie, age 7, born in Illinois and grandson Eddie Dickman, age 3, born in Illinois.

I found the family again in the 1885 Kansas State Census, in Wabaunsee County, Kansas: P. Schwier, 64; Caroline Schweir, 46; John Schweir, 19, born in IL; Sophia Schweir, 11 and Eddie Schweir, 9.

I also found further information from Findagrave.com:

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Schweer 1860-1863
Buried at Greve Cemetery, Hoffman Estates, Cook County, Illinois; Memorial # 43398762

Johann Philipp Schweir 1820-1886
Buried at Immanuel UCC Cemetery, Newbury, Wabaunsee County, Kansas; Memorial # 20645865

Fredericke Caroline Steege Schweir 1828-1892
Buried at Immanuel UCC Cemetery, Newburn, Wabaunsee County, Kansas; Memorial # 20645885

John Schweir 1866-1941
Buried Peace UCC, Alma, Wabaunsee County, Kansas; Memorial # 118358823

Sophie Caroline Schweir Hupe 1856-1946
Buried Belvue Cemetery, Pottawatomie County, Kansas; Memorial # 23420534

The 19th century census taker could never have imagined that 150 years later someone would be judging the accuracy of his informants and his work.

I was a census taker in the 1970s and realized then that some people don’t know the exact birth dates of family members and that nicknames are often given to the census taker. Despite inconsistencies, I think this is the family of the Schweer child buried at Greve Cemetery.

Nancy M Lyons
Hoffman Estates Historical Sites Commission

REDEDICATION OF THE GREVE CEMETERY PLAQUE

What:  Rededication of the Greve Cemetery Plaque

When: Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 1:00 p.m.

Where:  Greve Cemetery, 1700 Abbey Wood Drive, Hoffman Estates

Who:  Historical Sites Commission of Hoffman Estates

Details:  The new plaque, with corrections and additions, was made because of vandalism to the original plaque. Commission members will be on hand to talk about  the graves.

Further Information: Please contact justshowup39@comcast.net

 

AN UPDATE ON MARY EMILY WILSON AND HER FINAL RESTING PLACE IN CADY CEMETERY

Our guest contributor this week is Pat Barch, the Hoffman Estates Historian.  This column originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of the Hoffman Estates Citizen, the village’s newsletter.  The column appears here, courtesy of the Village of Hoffman Estates.

There’s a saying that what happens today is tomorrow’s history. But we always think of history as things that happened a long time ago. That’s the history we find so interesting. We have questions about things that happened in the past and the detective work that’s involved in finding those answers is what makes some of us history junkies.

This past summer I received an e-mail from a Hoffman Estates resident about a very old tombstone she found amongst many things in her mother’s home. She was trying to take care of her mothers’ estate and didn’t have any idea as to what should be done with the headstone. It was a very unusual item to uncover amongst her antiquing mom’s collection. She wanted to know how she could find information about a tombstone that simply said “Wilson, December 20, 1856, 7 Yrs. 8 Mos.” This was a tombstone of a young child and she needed to find where this child was buried so the stone could be returned to the child’s grave.

The first person I turned to for help was Jane Rozek, local history librarian at the Schaumburg Township District Library. She is a wonderful research librarian and I knew she’d be interested in helping solve the mystery of our resident’s tombstone.

With the research tools available to her at the library, she began searching through census records for Schaumburg Township and finding nothing for a young Wilson, she went farther afield to seek help from Marilyn Pedersen, historian with the Palatine Historical Society. Marilyn said that the Wilsons were a prominent Palatine family. She suggested two books that might help in her search. The library has a great local history collection and the two books Pioneer Cemeteries of Palatine Township and Hillside Cemetery were on the shelf. Jane discovered that the tombstone belonged on the grave of Mary Emily Wilson who was buried in the Cady Cemetery of Palatine Township.

Our Hoffman Estates resident was amazed that the young child’s resting place was found. She never knew how her mother acquired the stone she just knew she had to get it back to little Mary Emily’s grave. She called Terry Kelly, chairman of the Cemetery Committee in Palatine and they came out and picked it up with a promise that the Stonehuggers, a group that volunteers their services to repair and replace headstones in the old cemeteries of our area, would get it back to the child’s grave.

It wasn’t until November 27th that she got word that Mary Emily’s headstone was put back in place. She went out to the cemetery. It was a very emotional visit for her. The peace and quiet of the old Cady Cemetery has inspired her to perhaps volunteer to plant some flowers or help in some way to maintain the cemetery. Her only sadness was that Mary Emily Wilson does not have her first name on the 1856 stone.

This amazing story and the happy ending are due to good records kept by the Wilson family and the preservation of these records of the cemetery by the Palatine Historical Society. A missing piece of history was put back in place. It’s incredible that an 1856 headstone can be replaced in 2017. Mary Emily will have a few more visitors to her grave. She now rests in peace.

Pat Barch
Hoffman Estates Village Historian
eagle2064@comcast.net

THE CASE OF THE FOUND TOMBSTONE

The tombstone simply read:

WILSON
December 20, 1856
7 Yrs. 8 Mos.

The case began when a local lady found a tombstone while cleaning out her mother’s house in Schaumburg Township. The family moved here in 1965 and, in those early days, her mother enjoyed antiquing in the area. Along the way, she must have added the tombstone to her collection when it piqued her interest. Her daughter called Pat Barch, the Hoffman Estates Historian, and asked if it could be determined who the tombstone referred to. Pat gave me a call and I began my search–a bit unsure because of the commonality of the last name and the fact that there was so little to go on.

I started with a wonderful website called findagrave.com. Entering the name, death date and the state, I pulled up 48 Wilsons who died in that year in Illinois. But none with the exact date. It also occurred to me that if this tombstone had been sitting in a house for the past few decades, it’s almost certainly not going to be on a website of tombstones!

So it was on to another tact. From the data given, I knew the young person had to have been born in 1849 which means they might possibly be listed in the 1850 census. From there I went on the Ancestry database and made my way to the census for 1850. This time I entered the name, the birth year of 1849, the last name Wilson and the location of Schaumburg.

I know from past research that, even though most of the area was occupied by farmers of German descent at that time, it was still early enough that the original English settlers could be found living in Schaumburg Township. Plus, there were always other non-German families who made their way to the area and rented farms or worked as hired hands.

Unfortunately, there was no listing for a Wilson of that age living in Schaumburg Township. I expanded the search and took out the year 1849 so I could see if there were any Wilsons living in Schaumburg Township at that time. None. I went back to the first listing and discovered a “Mary E. Wilson” born “about 1849” who was listed in Palatine. The listing had one-year old Mary E. living with her parents Thomas F. and Mary A. Wilson along with her siblings:  Eliza, Alonzo, Elizabeth, John, Charlotte, Abigale and Osker.

Knowing that antiquing in the area in the 1960s, 70s and 80s would have had to have taken our local lady further afield than Schaumburg Township–not a lot of antique stores here–I figured Palatine might be a good possiblity for our missing person.

It was now time to call the Clayson House in Palatine to see if they had any death listings for that time period. Fortunately Marilyn Pedersen, historian at the Palatine Historical Society, was there and she said the Wilson name was prominent in early Palatine Township. She also recommended a couple of books:  Pioneer Cemeteries of Palatine Township and Hillside Cemetery. And, fortunately, our library owns both books.

The first book I looked at was Pioneer Cemeteries of Palatine Township and, amazingly enough, there was a listing for Mary E. Wilson on page 36 in the section on the Cady Cemetery. From the two pages on the Thomas F. Wilson (pictured to the left) family, it appears that most of the information is from the bible of Mary Angeline Wilson.

“In flowing script she recorded the births of her nine children. Because of this Bible record, we know that the Wilson who died in June of 1850 is Mary Angeline herself. [Note this would have been after the census taker came to their home in the same year.] Another hand took over the record and recorded her death as well as Thomas Wilson’s second marriage in October of 1850 to Adelia Stall. She is the Adelia buried here (in Cady Cemetery) in 1857. They had one child, Coraet, also buried here. Her half-sister, Mary Emily, died five days later.”

I looked on page 35 and there, at the beginning of the entry on the Wilson family was a transcription from the tombstone of Coraet Wilson as shown below.  It reads:

Coraet Wilson
dau. Thomas & Adelia Wilson
d. Dec. 15, 1856
5 Yrs. 1 Mo.

Well, add five more days to that date and you have December 20, 1856, the death date of our missing Wilson family member. Everything fell into place. The Wilson name, the death date and the birth year. Case solved.

Thomas F. Wilson buried members of his family in Cady Cemetery in Palatine Township on Ela Road although he, himself, is buried in Palatine’s Hillside Cemetery. Cady Cemetery is in a bucolic spot and surrounded by a locked fence as seen above. As a result, I could not search for the Wilson family and take photos of the tombstones.  I did find Coraet’s tombstone online and was able to post it.

Soon, though, another tombstone will make its way there to its final resting place. Amazing to think that an 1856 tombstone has made it back home, thanks to great record keeping and electronic databases!

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

The photo of Thomas F. Wilson is used courtesy of the Palatine Historical Society’s website.
The photo of the tombstone of Coraet Wilson was found on findagrave.com and is used courtesy of the Barrington Area Library.

THE HISTORY OF THE GREVE CEMETERY OF HOFFMAN ESTATES

Our guest contributor this week is Pat Barch, the Hoffman Estates Historian.  This column originally appeared in the June 2012 issue of the Hoffman Estates Citizen, the village’s newsletter.  The column appears here, courtesy of the Village of Hoffman Estates.

At the top of the hill in the grove of old oak trees lining Abbey Wood Drive in Hoffman Estates, you’ll find the Greve cemetery, the final resting place of the first pioneers who settled this area.

In 1842 J. Gerhard Greve purchased 80 acres of farmland for $1.25 an acre and set aside land for the cemetery. When the first families arrived here, the area was known as Wildcat Grove, located near Higgins and Huntington Blvd. near Barrington Square. Higgins was later known as the Chicago to Dundee Rd.

The headstones name many of those early settlers who traveled from the Hanover area of Germany, arriving in New York in 1838.  The Greve, Ottman, Meyer and Schierding families “traveled by Erie Canal to the Great Lakes, then to Chicago and then by ox cart to Salt Creek Precinct, this area, later in 1850 [was] named Schaumburg Township.” J. D. Meyer, J. Gerhard Greve and J. Sunderlage had come earlier in 1832. J.D. Meyer returned to Hanover later in 1838 with their families.

In 1899 J. Gerhardt Greve (J. Gerhard’s son) sold the cemetery to Cook County for $1.  An 1853 law allowed community cemeteries of less than 5 acres to be removed from the tax rolls, Gerhardt no longer had to pay taxes on the cemetery land.

Never asking for help in maintaining the cemetery, the families continued to care for the graves and Cook County soon forgot that it was there.  It wasn’t until the 1960s & 70s, when the land was sold for development and plans were made to build townhomes, that the cemetery was rediscovered.

K & B builders of Barrington Square, were asked to set aside the cemetery land and, in 1988, due to efforts of village trustee Bruce Lind and his wife, Marilyn, the land was deeded to the Village of Hoffman Estates.

The Greve Cemetery is fenced and gated and maintained by the Village of Hoffman Estates. Visits can be arranged by contacting the village hall.  Nancy Lyons, a member of the Historical Sites Commission, conducts a cemetery walk each spring and fall.  The next opportunity to visit and
learn about the early settlers who are buried there is to plan on attending the fall Greve Cemetery tours on October 20 and 21, 2012.

Thank you to Nancy Lyons for sharing her knowledge and history of the Greve Cemetery with me.

Pat Barch
Hoffman Estates Village Historian
Eagle2064@comcast.net

GREVE CEMETERY IN HOFFMAN ESTATES

Our guest contributor this week is Pat Barch, the Hoffman Estates Historian.  This column originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of the Hoffman Estates Citizen, the village’s newsletter.  The column appears here, courtesy of the Village of Hoffman Estates!

Tucked away in the heart of the village, in a shady grove of oak trees, you’ll find the cemetery that is the resting place of the first settlers to our area.  The Greve cemetery, named for the Greve family that set aside the land, has been preserved and is owned and maintained by the village of Hoffman Estates and the Historic Sites Commission.

The early settlers, the Greve, Sunderlage, Meyer & Ottmann families, traveled along a dirt road that on early maps was known as the Chicago – Dundee Rd. (now Higgins Rd.)   The large groves of oaks known as Wildcat Grove was the place they choose to settle in.  The oak forest offered logs for the Greve’s first home and wood for the other families.  A creek (Poplar Creek) cut through the countryside and the area offered the families the ideal location for homesteading.  Johann Greve purchased 200 acres of land between 1842 and 1846 where present day Hilldale golf course is located at Higgins and Huntington Blvd.  

With the death of the Sunderlage’s baby son John in 1846, cemetery land was chosen on a small hill amongst the towering oaks. As the years went by, other children, parents and grandparents where buried in the small cemetery.  Neighbors from the area also were buried there.

Ministers from the United Evangelical Congregation at Wickleffe (now the intersection of Algonquin Rd. and Roselle Rd.) presided over early burials.  The small congregation was first established in 1846 and built its first church in 1850.  Now known as St. John’s Church of Christ, the congregation recently celebrated its 163^rd anniversary.  

 Over the years the families maintained the cemetery with frequent visits and family picnics that also served as reunions and a time to plant, weed and tidy the cemetery grounds. Old snapshots from the Meyer family, dating back to the 1940s, show the women visiting and cooking up some sausages for the picnic. With few family members left to care for the grounds, the peaceful cemetery has experienced vandalism to the headstones and grounds.  Some headstones have been deliberately damaged or even stolen.  The Greve cemetery is now fenced and the gates kept locked to protect the graves of the early settlers.

This spring the Historic Sites Commission will work with the Hoffman Estates Public Works Department in an effort to restore and repair the damaged headstones.  The HSC is also planning several small tours of the historic cemetery.  Plans are for a tour in April and another in October, 2010.  If you’re interested in seeing the Greve cemetery, please contact the Hoffman Estates Village Hall for further information at 847-882-9100.

(Please remember to look through those old pictures you may have stored away in the closet.  We’re always looking for new old pictures.)

Pat Barch, Hoffman Estates Village Historian, eagle2064@sbcglobal.net

ST. PETER LUTHERAN CEMETERY: SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP CEMETERIES, PART IV

St. Peter Lutheran Church formed what is now the largest cemetery in Schaumburg Township shortly after the founding of their congregation in 1847.  Originally, the cemetery was laid out in sections of 12 graves with a stone border marking each family’s plot. Each plot is separated by a pathway.

Families were given free choice in the placement of the graves in their plots. The first burials took place in 1847. Some of the stones had birth dates in the 1700’s and show the individual’s birthplace as Schaumburg, Germany. More than 1000 graves can be found in the cemetery. Many of the founding families of Schaumburg (Rohlwing, Quindel, Nerge, Lengl and Winkelhake) have members buried there.

To view many other photos of St. Peter Lutheran Church, go to the Local History Digital Archive. Browse through the Photos by looking under Places and then Churches.

You might also want to take a look at the Cemetery Records of St. Peter Lutheran Church Cemetery, Schaumburg, IL or Larry Nerge’s update of Cemetery Records of St. Peter Lutheran Church Cemetery, Schaumburg, IL or St. Peter Cemetery Grave Locator. These are all available in the Documents portion of the Local History Digital Archive.

(Photo is compliments of Connie Wedemeier.)

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CEMETERY: SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP CEMETERIES, PART III

This photo shows the second St. John Lutheran Church with the cemetery nearby. It’s location was across the street from the fourth and current church which is  located at 1800 S. Rodenburg Road in Schaumburg.

The first church was erected in 1851 by German settlers. The original congregation was comprised of members who found it difficult to travel the distance to St. Peter Lutheran Church. The charter members of the church were: Christoph Steffen, Heinrich Hasemann, Friedrich Hinze, Heinrich Mensching, Christopher Ackmann, Conrad Dralle and Conrad Geistfeld.

In 1859, St. John’s joined the Missouri Synod and not long after it was decided that a new church was needed because of the growing congregation. This second church was dedicated on December 16, 1863.   The earliest burials recorded in the cemetery are from the 1860s.

The date of the photo is unknown although the next church was constructed on the same site in 1911 after this one burned down August 23, 1910.  It should also be noted that the area near this church was commonly known as Rodenburg, named for the area in Germany where many of the original church members were from.

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org