Evergreen City of Silence
A Memory of Wait & Walker
(Copied by Mary Lou Schaechter from a clipping from The Reynolds Press, Reynolds, Ill., Friday, August 3, 1923.)
Most of the Graves Eventually to Come Under Plan of Perpetual Care
Dramatic incidents, including tragedy, started the cemetery in Reynolds.
William Wait fell from the scaffolding on his new barn and died from the injuries received on June 14, 1882.
Martha, the little three or four-year-old daughter of Daniel Montgomery, was fatally shot in the accidental discharge of a gun within just a few weeks of Mr. Wait’s death.
Charlie Walker, the first station agent at Reynolds, had died early in 1881 from the result of exposure in searching for a drunken man.
Details of the closing moments in the lives of the occupants of these first three graves in the Reynolds cemetery deserve more than a mere mention.
Three brothers, William, Jacob and Meigs Wait, took up claims of government land in this vicinity long before a village was thought of. William was the oldest. His three daughters, Mrs. Annetta Haefele, Mrs. Grace Davis and Mrs. Lou Walker, are still living.
First Grave that of Pioneer
The farm of William Wait adjoins the present village immediately on the west. Brother Danielson and family now live on the place. A barn was being erected in the spring of 1882 on that farm. The heat of a June day preceded a heavy rainstorm that was little short of a tornado. William Wait fell from the scaffolding which surrounded the barn and was killed.
Martha Montgomery’s death was the story, all so often so tragically repeated, of the careless handling of a loaded firearm.
First Station Agent Dies of Exposure
As for the circumstances preceding the death of Charlie Walker, an article by Rufus Walker Sr., published in the Press of Nov. 14, 1919, tells the story simply and graphically. This story, written when a reorganization of the Reynolds Cemetery Company was being discussed, reads as follows:
“In April, 1880,” wrote Mr. Walker, “I was taken sick and was unable to do anything for nearly two years. My nephew, Charlie Walker, was the first station agent at Reynolds. I think it was in January, 1881, one very stormy day he came to Rock Island to see me and attend to some business. The storm increased in fury all day and the train going home was much delayed on account of snow drifts.”
“On the train was a man much the worse for liquor. When the train reached Reynolds this man managed to get off without any person seeing him. Charlie thought he had fallen from the train a mile or two north of the station and, fearing he would freeze to death, he took his lantern and walked down the track some two miles searching for him in vain.”
“He came back almost exhausted and went home to a cold house as his family happened to be away that night. He caught a severe cold and died from the effects of that trip. He was buried in the Hazlitt burying ground.”
Widow Suggests Cemetery Here
“The following May I went to Vermont, hoping to be benefited by my trip. I staid about ten weeks with Charlie’s father and mother. She, having heard of the condition of the Hazlitt burying ground, asked if Meigs Wait and I did not have some land we could fix up for a suitable place in which to bury our friends.”
“One can hardly imagine the feeling she expressed when she asked me that question. I promised her that if the Lord spared my life and gave me strength, I would attend to the matter and have Charlie’s remains removed.”
“I came home in October and moved to Reynolds the following February. I told Mr. Wait of my promise. ‘I am glad,’ he said, ‘It is something that is needed very much and I assure you I will do all I can to help you fulfill your promise.’ The following spring before we had time to make the necessary survey of the grounds, William Wait fell from a temporary scaffold over his barn floor and died in 36 hours. We at once got a surveyor and surveyed enough ground so that we could locate a lot for his grave. During the following year we got the whole ground surveyed, built the fence and set out the trees and shrubbery.”
Wait & Walker Plan Beautiful Grounds
Through the many years that Mr. Wait and Mr. Walker were associated in the laying out and building up of Reynolds, their most solemn transaction was the planning of the cemetery, according to the manuscript of Mr. Walker, which continued: “The most impressive was in relation to that cemetery, the purchasing of the trees and shrubs and the great interest taken by both of us in setting them out. The roots of every tree and shrub were straightened by Mr. Wait so tenderly and he remarked, ‘We want them all to live. In a few years, if they do, this will be one of the most beautiful places in this whole country.'”
That this hope has been well realized will be remarked by all who see this “silent city of the dead.” The softly rolling expanse of grass clad slopes, the somber and stately reverent fringe of evergreen trees surrounding the 13 acres or so and the graceful beauty of the trees and shrubs through the cemetery itself are indeed conducive to tranquillity and sober reflections on the mortality of the body and the immortality of the soul.
In these 41 years that have seen the last sad rites over the funeral bier of so many residents of Reynolds and vicinity, there have come to rest in this cemetery a population greater than the village itself. According to C. H. Snow, who has been the sexton for 35 years, there are about 400 graves in the cemetery now.
Romances Hidden by Stones
And there is to be found in the life stories of those who lie there the whole gamut of human emotions. Love, hate, bravery, fear, the desperate disregard of fate and the acceptant murmur of “Kismet” are all hidden beneath the brief lettered histories upon the stones.
Van Pelt was a negro slave. He had no knowledge of where he was born. The slave hovels of a southern plantation heard his first plaintive wails. Came the war and Van Pelt found himself the body servant of a Northern officer. After the war he made use of his valet experience by barbering. For several years he shaved the beards and cut the hair of Reynolds men and boys. In a pauper’s grave rest the poor bones of Van Pelt. But no costly monument is needed to keep verdant Van Pelt’s life and deeds. For out of the mouth of those who knew him comes an epitaph that is worth far more than granite shaft, “He was a kindly man.”
About eight graves there are in the potter’s field, Mr. Snow claims. A man whose worldly goods gave him escape from such obscurity, however, was the romantic person of “a desperado from the mountains of Tennessee.” He made his headquarters here and was given to looking upon wine when it was red. Astride a horse as wild as himself, he used at those times to ride up and down the resounding wooden sidewalks of the streets, shouting and occasionally discharging his pistol.
Infant Burial a Three-Day Mystery
Charlie Snow recalled the time when he discovered in the cemetery a newly dug grave of which he knew nothing. As sexton he should have been fully cognizant of every burial. No one had heard of a death. The mystery grew until dire thoughts of murder began to circulate. The sheriff and coroner of the county became interested and it was only on the evening before disinterment had been ordered that the truth was disclosed. The infant of an impoverished and ignorant family had died. The father, with the help of another man, took the little body to the cemetery at night and there interred it without permission.
The Reynolds cemetery is now a permanent thing. Like all other up-to-date organizations of its kind, the Reynolds Cemetery is now organized to furnish perpetual care for lots.
When Wait & Walker first undertook to get the cemetery clear of indebtedness, they expected to do it by the ordinary sale of lots. This, of course, included no plan for the care of those lots after all the members of a family had died or moved away. True, the company did gradually get out of debt under that plan, but many of the lots were growing up in weeds through failure of surviving relatives to care for the burial place.
Beauty of Cemetery Perpetually Assured
So on Jan. 10, 1920, a meeting of the lot holders was held in the M. E. church and a plan of perpetual care adopted. Frank Keim was president of the company at that time. Frank Curtis was secretary-treasurer and Marion Wait was the other administrative director. These three gentlemen are also the present officers and their efforts in keeping the grounds of the cemetery beautiful and its financial affairs in sound shape have been so successful that no thought has ever been raised of their removal.
“There are now 62 contracts under the perpetual care system,” says Mr. Keim, “but this does not mean there 62 lots under that care. Some off the contracts are for quarter and half lots. A lot, 20 by 20 feet, under perpetual care, now costs $140.”
“The general fund,” says Frank Curtis, “which comes from the ordinary sale of lots, now contains $3,000. The perpetual care fund now totals more than $5,000, the interest upon which adequately takes care of the expenses of caring for each lot.”
No one can visit the Reynolds cemetery without admiring its beauty and topography and without paying tribute to the wisdom and thoughtfulness of those beloved pioneers, Meigs Wait and Rufus Walker.