Gess/Gass/Saylor Cemetery

The Gazette - Glasford, Illinois - November 8, 1901, submitted by Jean Sigulas.

Cemetery Association

In the early settlement of Timber Township one of the first cemeteries established was on the farm now owned by George Saylor southeast of town and known as the Gess Cemetery. Seventy-five or more of the first settlers lie buried there. But for the last eight or ten years, no interments have been made there and it has been allowed to grow up in brush and trees. Recently some of the descendants of those early settlers came to the conclusion that it was not the proper respect for the dead to so neglect it. Accordingly a meeting was called for Nov. 2 of all interested and they met at the Post Office and organized by electing S.S. Duffield, George M. Saylor and John McAvoy as Trustees.

About two weeks previous S.S. Duffield, Will Fuller, John and George McAvoy met there and cleaned off the brush and trees. The Trustees will get a deed for the land of Mr. Saylor and have it fenced.

Following is a list of those buried there as far as known:

Mr. Gess & wife
James Congleton & wife
John Congleton & wife, Maria (Saylor) Congleton
Mr. Rino
Mrs. Benjamin Hawkins
Mrs. Isabella Duffield
William Duffield & wife
Isaac Duffield
two children of A. J. & Malinda Duffield
Righena Green and two children
Thomas Givens and two children
five children of G. W. & Amy Saylor
Amanda Burtnert and two children
Nancy McAvoy
Mary, wife of G. M. Saylor
three children of W. S. & Basheba Duffield
one child of Robert & Roba Chambers
John Chambers & child
Kepson Morris
Ara Clefford & two children
one child of Margaret Beasley
Mrs. Pheba Northrup
two children of John Adams
two children of Robert & Jane McAvoy
Spence Bollon
two children of William Rigsby
one child of Joseph Saylor
Mrs. John Harron

This Cemetery was probably the GASS Cemetery - possibly a typesetting error - or it was spelled the way the villagers pronounced it. If you know what this cemetery was called, we would love to hear from you via email. Thank you kindly!

I visited the site of the cemetery in March and again in April of 2013. I was told the owner of the farm land bulldozed the cemetery in the 1930's or 1940's. On these two visits I was able to locate only one tombstone. It was half way down the ravine next to the farm land and was a four foot tall one foot square shaft that was in good condition. It bore the names of five members of the Duffield family, William G., his wife, Sophia, Isaac H., Nancy M. and Saloma Duffield. I also found one other part of a broken headstone, no writing was visible on this part, along with the bases or broken bases of two or three other tombstones. Whoever bulldozed the cemetery did a good job burying the stones of these early pioneers to Peoria County. Baxter B. Fite III