Our Grounds

Connect With History

Hathaway Cemetery Memorial

This memorial cemetery contains eight tombstones originally located northeast of Jerseyville and three stones located in one of Jerseyville’s oldest cemeteries.

In 2010, a man found eight tombstones northeast of Jerseyville stacked against a tree. Unsure what to do, he asked the Historical Society to take possession of them. Because the location of the original cemetery was unknown, the state granted the society permission to reset and repair the stones on our grounds.

Five of the eight tombstones belong to members of the John and Katherine Arnspiger family.

Katherine and her four-month-old baby (John) died in 1838. A grown daughter, Elizabeth, died in 1851. Another daughter, Margaret Davis, died in childbirth in 1857. Her baby, George, died three months later.

The other three stones in the memorial cemetery – those of Laura Biggs, J. G. Hutchinson, and Mary Kurby – were located in the Old City Cemetery, which was located across the street from the Historical Society.

The wrought iron fence that surrounds the memorial is part of the fence that once surrounded the Cheney Mansion.