Woodstock memorial recognizes 48 children who died in orphanage system

Woodstock residents gathered Sunday at Oakland Cemetery to recognize the deaths of 48 nearly forgotten children who died in the orphanage system between 1894 and 1926.

Woodstock resident Gail Sorensen spearheaded the project after becoming aware that the children had been buried in an open and unmarked plot in the cemetery off West Jackson Street.

“I couldn’t walk away from this unmarked grave,” she said. “I went to the cemetery board, and they were unanimous in helping us.”

The children died while under care of the Chicago Industrial Home for Children, which was founded in Chicago and later moved to Woodstock. It became the Woodstock Children’s Home and was located where Hearthstone Communities sits today at Routes 47 and 120.

“It gave the children a place to be at a time where there were no social agencies,” Sorensen said.

Tony Zoia of Zoia Monuments provided the memorial stone at a cost, and volunteers placed white crosses around the monument in recognition of the children, who died of various illnesses, Sorensen said.

“Epidemics of measles, influenza and diphtheria were known to go through at this time,” she said.

Sunday’s ceremony included prayers, a brief history of the agency and a release of doves in honor of the children.

“It’s said that it takes a village to raise a child,” Sorensen said. “In this case, it took a village to embrace a 100-year-old story of an unmarked grave and the children buried there.”

Donations for the ceremony included flowers from the Bull Valley and Woodstock garden clubs as well as Apple Creek Flowers.

“I would like to say for those of you who have passed through this cemetery at dusk and heard children’s voices, we may now say to these children ‘Rest in peace,’ ” Sorensen said.

The children honored in Sunday’s ceremony included Harold B. Bastio, Mabel Billings, Mary Brown, Walter Denlar, Walter Flynn, Ruth Esther Hess, Paul Jones, Jennie Lawton, William Mehlem, McGregory Morrison, Edward Mosel, “Baby girl Nyld,” Mary Peters, Edward Rick, “Baby boy Ryan,” Margaret Marie Scheuer, Agnes Schutz, Claude H. Spencer, “Baby boy Stoffer” and Percia Vale.

At least 28 other children died and were buried at the site. Their identities are unknown.