County Home Cemetery in Metamora, Illinois

About

Get directions Mennonite Road
Metamora, Illinois 61548 United States

Coordinates: 40.77716, -89.33670
Cemetery ID:

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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

Photos

1 open photo request.

The Woodford County Home, also known as the Woodford County Farm or Woodford County Almshouse, was typical of the many "poorhouses" throughout the Midwestern US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In operation from 1868 until 1957, it was the temporary residence for many a transient; but it was also a long-term home for others, especially widowed or abandoned mothers unable to provide for their families.

I was able to locate the Almshouse Registers at Illinois State University's archives facility in Normal, IL. In the register is listed the name, birthplace, admission date, age upon admission, and the discharge and/or death date of each person admitted to the county home. I have created memorial pages for all persons explicitly said to have been buried in the county home cemetery. There are almost certainly others, as record keeping practices seem to have varied greatly from one superintendent to the next.

The cemetery is located where County Road 1300 North meets Mennonite Road, about 1 mile south of ILL 116. There are no visible markers for individual graves, but the cemetery is identified with a decent sized wooden sign which is in excellent shape as of May 2008. The grounds are obviously maintained, probably by Woodford County government.

Special thanks to Mark Schmitt of the Illinois State University archives for assisting me in retrieving the Almshouse Registers.