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I am producing a community study of the area around the former village of Pulaski, Illinois. This "life's work" is based on the burial records of the Pulaski Methodist Episcopal Church of Augusta, Illinois and on the need to preserve the Crain family photo collection. This photo collection of the area's old timers has been maintained by the descendants of Rev. William Crain (fastidious labelers!) from the 1860's to today. On loan from my father-in-law, the photos will be donated to Western Illinois University Archives once my work is complete or when I die - whichever comes first!
Long kept by the Pulaski Methodist Church Recording Steward, William Reynolds Hoyt (1830-1907), the Pulaski Cemetery records were copied by hand in the mid-1940's by my husband's great granduncle, Harry Marshall Crain (1874-1967). Harry's original transcription is kept at Western Illinois University Archives in Macomb, Ill. and my scanned copy is available at Illinoisgenweb. Over a period of 6 months, I transcribed this document into digital format and, in April of 2010, imported the records into Find A Grave. Since then, I have regularly visited the cemetery to photograph and transcribe the markers, make relationship links, adding obituaries as available and fixing the fact that I mistakenly let the maiden names go into Find A Grave as middle names....
The Pulaski Methodist Church and its Pulaski Cemetery served a tri-county community including:
-Augusta, Hancock Co., Ill.
-Huntsville, Schuyler Co., Ill.
-Birmingham, Schuyler Co., Ill.
-Northeast, Adams Co., Illinois
-LaPrairie, Adams Co., Illinois
Today, all that is left of this central-western Illinois village is the cemetery. For the most part, corn and soy fields inhabit the area for miles around, with homes here and there. Despite the excellent care that the Augusta Township generously bestows upon Pulaski Cemetery, at least half of the burials lack markers or the markers are long lost in the earth like the marker for Thomas Brunton (1778-1871).
In 2007, I was informed by the WIU archivist that the original cemetery records accompanying Harry's transcription were discarded due to mold. Without Harry's transcription, there would be nothing more than the visible stones today.
Corrections and further information are always welcome. Please contact me via the email address below or through Find A Grave's "Suggest a Correction" (SAC).
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