Untitled Document

Tiny Cemetery Home to Moline's Pioneers

By Sarah Larson

Few Quad-Citians even know the cemetery at 2902 32nd St. exsts, but the men and women buried on the bluff overlooking he Rock River Valley helped mold the city of Moline.

The details of their lives and deaths — chiseled in marble or scrawled on burial records — read like a history primer of the `city of mills."

Now, South .Moline Township officials are on a quest to record that history. Employee Janet Stoelk and cemetery board members are searching for information on all cemetery inhabitants to compile in a computer database.

It is a pain staking process, hampered by inadequate record-keeping, hard to decipher documents and the passing of time. Known for decades as the Rock River View Cemetery, the burial ground is the oldest in Moline older, even, than Moline itself.

The cemetery began in 1840 as the private graveyard of the Hartzell family, one of the first pioneer families to come to the Rock River Valley. Called the Hartzell Graveyard, it was on the southern edge of the family farm on the bluff above the Rock River.In 1870, it formally became the Hartzell Cemetery and began selling plots to non relatives. In 1873, directors changed the name to the 'Rock River View Cemetery, to honor its expansive view of the valley. The cemetery expanded four times between 1879 and 1934, adding more land mostly to the south and east.

- Moline's pioneer families and their descendants cared for Rock River View Cemetery for decades through the Rock River View Cemetery Association. Written records offer a glimpse of the personalities of the long dead association members.

The 1870 by-laws state that anyone ,wishing to address the society "shall first address the president (courteously!) then proceed with his remarks."

In 1873, the board formally instructed one society member "to remove her tombstone out of the walk."

In 1882, the board cracked down on members who hadn't paid .promptly. "Those who are delinquent on lots are requested to pay up in six months and if not paid that the expiration of the six months, the owner or owners are to remove their bodies from the cemetery. The Cemetery association has the power to remove the bodies at the owners' 'expense and resell the lots."

As years progressed, though, fewer descendants survived to continue maintaining the cemetery. They offered it to the city of Moline, and to Rock Island County, but neither wanted it. So in 1966, South Moline Township took over the cemetery and renamed it accordingly.

Changing the name, though, cannot erase the impact the denizens of this small cemetery had on the history of the Illinois Quad-Cities. On April 30, 1835, Adam Hartzell, ; 55, and his 25-year-old son Michael and other relatives stepped off a steamer on land that later would be called Rock island.

Then followed a string of firsts. The Hartzells put up the first plastered house, and later, the first two-story house in the area. Michael owned 5,000 acres of South Moline Township land and organized the first Methodist services in the county.

His wife, Nancy, reportedly gave birth to the first white girl born in Rock Island on May 22, 1837. Son Joseph C. Hartzell became a Methodist bishop who gained world-wide fame as an educator and missionary.

Then, on Aug. 20, 1840, Adam Hartzell died, and became the first person buried in the hillside on the bluff above the Rock River Valley.

In following years, other influential Quad-Citians were laid to rest in Rock River View Cemetery.

Dr. Richard S. Trevor fought in the Civil War and then settled in Coal Valley and became a butcher. He also developed a well-known veterinary practice. The native of Ireland died in 1902 at the age of 69.

Fred H. Harrington, cofounder of Harrington-Seaburg Signal Corp., was buried there in 1976 at the age of 95. His company installed the first traffic signal in the Chicago loop and Moline. He also was a Moline firefighter.

Lee L. Greko organized and managed the Moline Plow Boys quartet, the first group in the area to sing on the radio. He died in 1988 at the age of 91.

Hannah Sullivan, born Hannah Cleveland, is said to be related to President Grover Cleveland. She died in 1895 at the age of 76.

The stories of other cemetery inhabitants, however, are more difficult to trace.

No one seems to know how 39 year old Susan Parker, 8-year-old Albert Parker, 3-year-old Alice Parker and 3 day-old unnamed infant Parker all died on Nov. 4, 1854. No cause of death is listed on the burial record.

Most poignant to Mrs. Stoelk, who is compiling the cemetery records, is the tragedy of the Nelson family. Three children of Frederica and Andrew Nelson died in September' 1872 — 3-year-old Charles on the 5th, 15 year-old Frederick on the 20th and 1 year-old Valhelmina on the 22nd.

The following year,' son Victor died at age 12. One-month-old son Armed died in 1875.

"It would have killed me," Mrs. Stoelk said, scrolling down the list of names in a computer spreadsheet. "I can't imagine losing one child."

'Mrs. Stoelk doesn't know yet how the Nelson children died. That is one of many questions about the cemetery and its inhabitants that she and others are trying to answer.

Cemetery board members Tim Stoelk, Mike Cummings and Donna Welsh are spearheading the effort to collect the cemetery's history. Anyone with information about the cemetery or those buried there can call the township office at 751-0010.

"As you can see, there are still so many things that are unknown," Mr. Cummings said.

Submitted by Mike Peal

From Moline Dispatch

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