Brown County Historical Society to be host of cemetery walk in Ripley on Sunday

RIPLEY, Ill. — The Ripley Cemetery, located eight miles east of Mount Sterling on Route 24, will be the site for a cemetery walk from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 8.

The Brown County Historical Society will be the host.  Visitors are asked to dress appropriately and wear comfortable walking shoes. Arrive any time after 1 p.m. People arriving after 2 p.m. will probably have a shorter waiting time to start the walk. 

Visitors are asked to watch for signs directing the admission to the cemetery from the west. No admission will be charged, but donations will be accepted.  

Selected characters whose remains are buried here will be portrayed by friends and members of the society.  They were of the earliest inhabitants of this most eastern Brown County community, originally part of Schuyler County. Their very roots are those of community members of today. 

Much restoration of stones has been done. Digging up the history of the names on them soon followed.  Learn of the pioneer struggles and successes.

The cemetery has an unusually large number of military graves. Ripley sent a large number of young men to serve in the military of many wars.  This will be evident when learning of Pvt. Joseph R. Cooper and Pvt. Willis O’Neal, Jr. Hear the story of the O’Neal family building a log cabin and then a log house for their 18 children and of the befriending of the native Indians of the area who assisted in clearing land and building homes. 

Martin Henrick, interred in 1875, has an untold number of descendants today. Hear the story of Rebecca Hodgen Keith Thomas, present at the birth of Abraham Lincoln.