The Candlelight
Sanctuary
Church Page
Acquiring the Benefits of Biblical Wisdom
on Amazon.com
Buckhart Cemetery
and
Family History
Achenbach Cemetery
God Bless America
By Jerry L. Ginther
Edinburg, and the surrounding area, is like consecrated ground to me. During the decade following the civil war many of my forebears purchased land in Christian County. The Edinburg area was the final settling place for most of our family in Illinois. All were of German descent that had originally settled in Pennsylvania, and then migrated to the western prairie of Illinois. Some of them didn't come directly, but purchased land and made their homes in Ohio before continuing on to the cheap, flat farmland that Illinois had to offer. Actually, they were all farmers at that time and most bought land that lay to the east and north of the town of Edinburg.
Besides their personal possessions, these families brought with them their Christian faith and soon erected the German Reformed Church, which was known as the Buckhart Reformed Church. This two and one half acre tract of land on which the church was built afforded ample space for a small cemetery. This cemetery became the final resting place for most of the families who established and built the church. One such individual was my great, great, great grandfather, Christian Wilhelm. He is listed in the historical account as one of the charter members who helped with the construction of the church building not many years after the Civil War. Before the turn of the twentieth century, the congregation built a new church in the town, but continued to have services in both locations; both being served by one pastor. Eventually, services were discontinued at Buckhart, but the church house remained standing until around 1970. I was there a year or so before and it was still there. The next time I visited, the spot occupied by the building was vacant.
Some other surnames in my family, which may still be familiar to folks in Edinburg and the surrounding area, are Baughman, Kemmerer and Ginther. While most were originally farmers, some eventually started businesses. A few may remember the Baughman Implement Co. in Taylorville and Kemmerer Village in Assumption, to mention a couple. Not many years ago I spoke with a gentleman who lived near Divernon who still had a Baughman grain bin on his farm.
While we cannot live in the past, it is always interesting to glance back for a look at the way things used to be. By doing so, we can sometimes grasp a new perspective on the present and hope to find a better way forward. A closer look at the stock we came from can also be beneficial in establishing our identity by finding an ancestor worthy of emulating.
Copyright © 2002 - 2015 Jerry Ginther, All rights reserved worldwide
