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[ DOWNERS GROVE ]
Historical preservationists celebrated a yearlong restoration project of the Civil War grave markers at Oak Hill Cemetery in Downers Grove with a dedication ceremony Sept. 19.
The Oak Hill/Oak Crest Cemeteries Foundation worked with the Philip H. Sheridan Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War to install new grave markers for four Civil War veterans and clean and straighten other markers. Forty-five Civil War veterans are buried in Oak Hill and Oak Crest, many of whom served in DuPage County units.
Veterans who received new markers were Jacob Escher and Judson Farrar, both of the 8th Illinois Cavalry, Herman Pilz of the 52nd Ohio Infantry and Martin Stanger of the 82nd Illinois Infantry.
Downers Grove Township, which is the caretaker of the cemetery, created the Oak Hill/Oak Crest Cemeteries Foundation in 2013 to lead restoration efforts at the cemeteries, which had fallen into disrepair because of vandalism.
Foundation president Lois Sterba said the SUVCW had reached out to the organization to see if any stones for Civil War veterans were missing.
The SUVCW is a nonprofit organization of ancestors of Civil War veterans founded to preserve the history and records of Union soldiers.
The Philip H. Sheridan Camp serves the western and southern Chicago suburbs and has been involved in several cemetery projects in the area.
“These fellas go after this information and are very dedicated to replacing these stones,” Sterba said.
The foundation was responsible for finding the soldiers whose stones were missing or destroyed and learning about them.
Sterba said she checked through old documents and newspaper articles to find information about the men.
In addition to replacing the destroyed gravestones, the SUVCW enlisted the help of a local Eagle Scout to help with straightening and cleaning the existing stones.
The SUVCW brought plenty of pomp to the dedication ceremony, including Civil War re-enactors giving rifle and period artillery salutes.
Sterba said the SUVCW did a good job in restoring the Civil War markers, but there still is a lot of work to be done on the cemeteries, whose oldest grave dates to 1836.
“This is your history here,” she said. “If we don’t do something about it now, eventually there’s not going to be much left out there.”
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Veteran roll call
The Oak Hill/Oak Crest Cemeteries Foundation and the Philip H. Sheridan Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War honored four former Downers Grove residents and Civil War veterans whose grave markers in Oak Hill Cemetery recently were restored:
• Jacob Escher, 8th Illinois Calvary: Family was one of the founding families of Faith United Methodist Church in Downers Grove; died at age 74.
• Judson Farrar, 8th Illinois Calvary: Grandson of Nancy and Dexter Stanley, who bought the land where Oak Hill Cemetery is located; died June 18, 1863, at age 29 from a wound suffered from a shell.
• Herman Pilz, 52nd Ohio Infantry: Born in Prussia; family also helped found Faith United Methodist Church; enlisted in Ohio in order to join a German regiment; died at age 68
• Martin Stanger, 82nd Illinois Infantry: Nephew of Jacob Escher; after war, served as postmaster in Downers Grove for more than eight years; died at age 77.