Submitted
Pictured, from left to right, are a few of the Moultrie County Longhorn 4H club members along with their new sign for the Purvis Cemetery: Alexa Hauser, Sydney Mulligan, Tim Hauser, Coen Foster, Makayla Graston-Garland, Brett Bushue, Dawson Foster & Brad Foster

February 25, 2015

As part of the values that 4-H routinely teaches, the Moultrie County Longhorns 4-H club is carrying on the tradition with their current service project, restoring the Purvis Cemetary near Allenville.
The club was recently awarded a grant from Farm Credit Illinois (FCI).  FCI awards grants to 4-H clubs and FFA chapters throughout central and southern Illinois to implement valuable improvement projects in their communities. FCI awarded 38 4-H clubs and FFA chapters with $250 grants this year to establish projects that will make their communities better places to live.
Purvis Cemetary, established in 1818, is located southwest of Allenville on corps ground next to Lake Shelbyville. Many who wonder upon it, may not even notice the overturned stones because of the weeds. After creating a new sign for the cemetary and cleaning up some of the trash and debris, the club’s goal is to research the graves and restore or replace some of the more damaged markers.  The club has divided into two workgroups, those working on the landscaping and others doing the research.
The group has also, so far, compared a list of graves at the site to an online database and discovered nine names listed are not online. The 1820’s were a big era for the start-up of organized burials in graveyards in America.  Many times the graves from that period are in the middle and radiate from the center outward as the years progress.  A reading is a listing of who is buried in a graveyard.  Many are now listed online.  The earliest markers are made of field stone or wood, a trend that lasted into the 1830’s. Before that, limestone was used, but in 1855, marble became fashionable with the advancement of the railroad across America. In turn, graveyards tend to be near water, a symbol of peacefulness and continued life.       Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.