A family cemetery sits within the Eldon Hazlet State Park, north of Carlyle, near Carlyle Lake. It is located about a quarter of a mile south of the Cherokee hiking trail entrance, up a winding grass path. It is on a hill overlooking a field of wildflowers and the spot where the Burnsides house used to be long ago. There is a wooden fence around the cemetery.
There are only 17 individuals known to be buried here, two others assumed to be buried here and probably others unmarked. Nine are from the BURNSIDE family, three from the HOOD family, three from the FOREST family, one from the ALLEN family and one from the LEDBETTER family. Although little is known about the relationship of these families, we do know that the Burnsides, Hoods and Forests were all originally from Ireland, they were all farmers, and census records indicate that they may have been neighbors. We assume that Ledbetters were also friends of the Burnside family.
# 1 ALLEN, Benjamin was the grandson of the elder John Burnside, and son of Jane Burnside. He was born in 1830 and died at the age of 21 years, 7 months and 13 days on 22 Apr 1852. His data was on the bottom part of a broken stone.
#1 Same marker, top portion, stone fragment says Died in April, Age 48 years, 11 months. This could be the grave for Jane BURNSIDE ALLEN.
#2 BURNSIDE, John, son of John and Catherine Burnside, was born on 6 Jun 1829. John married Martha C. Prathen and from this union, one child was born Eliza Jane. John died at the age of 32 on 3 Aug 1861.
#3 BURNSIDE, John, son of James Burnside, Sr., and brother of James Burnside, Jr. was born in 1791. He and his family came to this area a year after his brother in 1819 and appear in the 1820 Bond County and Federal census. John married Catherine and from this union, eight children were born. He was appointed trustee for the school system for township 3, range 2. John worked in agriculture and took over James estate when James died. John died at the age of 60 years, 8 months and 10 days on 11 Dec 1851.
#4 BURNSIDE, James, Jr. was the first man to make settlement here in the spring of 1817. He was born in northern Ireland in 1793 and came to this country in 1816, and first stopped in Indiana. He came to this country a single man, and married Elizabeth in Indiana. He remained there a year, then they came to the northern part of Clinton County, Illinois in what is now called Irishtown Township. The life and death of Elizabeth is unknown but from the union, six children were born. James worked in agriculture, as listed in the census records, we have records of James, Jr. purchasing 160 acres of land at the price of $2 an acre in Section 28 on 25 Sep 1817. This was his original purchase of land from the State of Illinois. James is buried on the top of the mound in the cemetery next to his second wife Eliza. He died on 9 Feb 1851 at the age of 59.
#5 BURNSIDE, Eliza, second wife of James Burnside, Jr. was born on 8 Jan 1799 in Ireland. She emigrated with her husband to Irishtown, Clinton County, Illinois in 1817. She and James, Jr. had six children: John, Samuel, Sarah, Robert, Thomas, and William G. Eliza died on 1 Apr 1832 at the age of 33 years, 2 months and 23 days, 20 years before her husband died.
#6 BURNSIDE, Sarah, the only daughter of James, Jr. and Eliza, was born on 1 Nov 1822 and died at the age of 19 years, 2 months and 16 days, on 17 Jan 1842. She was thought to have died from diptheria (a respiratory virus) and/or consumption.
#7 BURNSIDE, Thomas H., twin son of James, Jr. and Eliza, was born 6 Jan 1829 and died at the age of 17 years, 3 months and 29 days on 5 May 1846. He was thought to have died from diptheria (a respiratory virus) and/or consumption.
#8 BURNSIDE, Robert G., twin son of James, Jr. and Eliza, was born 6 Jan 1829 and died shortly after his twin brother, Thomas, at the age of 17 years, 7 months and 18 days, on 24 Aug 1846. He was thought to have died from diptheria (a respiratory virus) and/or consumption.
#9 BURNSIDE, John, eldest son of James, Jr. and Eliza, was born 26 Jan, 1818 and died at the age of 42 years, 11 months, 25 days on 21 Jan 1861. The only glimpse into the life of John is through the epitaph carved into his tombstone which reads:
"His face was fair, his person pleasing, his temper amiable, his heart kind. He delighted in relieving the wants of his fellow creatures. To the poor he was a benefactor, to the rich an example. To the prosperous, an ornament. He loved to do good and thanked his Creator for being permitted to do so. When death took him from the bosom of his family, he could but transport him to a just God."
#10 HOOD, John T., son of Thomas and Elizabeth, was born on 15 Dec 1833. Marriage records showed that John married Sarah Barker on 2 Dec 1858. John died at the age of 26 on 18 Sep 1860.
#11 HOOD, Thomas, was born in 1792. His wife was listed as born in Ireland, so we can assume he was, too. He married Elizabeth, and they and their two sons arrived here before 1830 as indicated by census records. Those records indicated that Thomas was a farmer. He died at the age of 65 on the first of Jan 1857. The 1860 census was the first census that indicated where the people were born, but Thomas had died before that census. He is buried next to his two sons, John and James. His stone says "In memory of".
#12 HOOD, James B., oldest son of Thomas and Elizabeth, was born on 26 Jan 1830 and died at the age of 30 on 22 Oct 1860. Little is known about James.
#13 FOREST, James was born in Ireland around 1810. The first record of them here is the 1860 census which indicates that they arrived in this area between 1850 and 1860. The census spells their name Forrest, but we assume they are the same family. We also assume that David, Elizabeth and Robert are children of James and Elizabeth, they all died before the 1860 census as James and Elizabeth are shown alone in the census. James, David, Elizabeth (daughter) and Roberts markings are on the same pointed stone. James died on 23 Feb 1868 at the age of 57 years, no months and 18 days.
#13 FOREST, Elizabeth, believed to be the daughter of James and Elizabeth Forest, was born in 1837 and died at the age of 8 years, 3 months and 9 days on 9 May 1845. Nothing else is known about Elizabeth.
#13 FOREST, David, son of J. & E., was born in 1839 and died on 10 Nov 1855, aged 16 years, 8 months and 5 days. Nothing else is known about David.
#13 FOREST, Robert, believed to be the son of James and Elizabeth Forest, was born in 1845 and died at the age of 11 years, 3 months and 11 days on 9 Jan 1856. Nothing else is known about Robert.
# 14 LEDBETTER, Marion, son of Henry and Mary Elizabeth, died within a year of his birth. In an 1860 census, Marion is listed as being five months old, he was born on 17 Mar 1860 and died 21 Oct 1860. Cause of death is unknown. There is a poem about leaving his Father, Mother and little sister.
MCNEILL, Elizabeth Burnside, sister of James, Sr., lived on a river bank in London, Derry County, Ireland. In the spring of 1823, Elizabeth and three of her children came to America by way of sailboat. She was run out of Ireland, because she was a protestant, by Mary, Queen of Scots. After a hazardous three week trip crossing the Atlantic, they landed at Quebec, Canada. They came down the Ohio River in a yawl (a two-mastered sailing vessel), and landed in Shawneetown, Illinois. They came an overland route to Irishtown Township, Clinton County, Illinois in 1823. Elizabeth is believed to be buried in the Burnside cemetery but her marker no longer appears where it once was long ago.
Typed 1999 by Dorothy Falk
Sources: Illinois Department of Natural Resources pamphlet
1881 Marion and Clinton Counties History
Back to the Irishtown Township Cemetery Index
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to Clinton County Cemetery Index
Back to the Clinton County ILGenWeb Page
This file last modified 18 September 2008