Reeve Cemetery

Historical Landmark
Burial Site of
Mr. Isaac Reeve & Family

First Blacksmith and Among
First Settlers of Morgan County
Settled in 1820.

The original designated land for this cemetery for early settlers in Morgan County was described as being: "one acre more or less beginning at a point on the South line of the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of Section 18, Township 15 North, Range 9 West of the Third Principal Meridian, beginning 14 rods and 22 links east of the Southwest corner of said SW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Section 18, thence running North 6 rods, thence East to Lick Creek, thence South along Lick Creek to the south line of said SW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Section 18, thence West along the Old State Road to the place of beginning."

The land was re-dedicated for cemetery use by Keren H. and John J. Reeve on July 24, 1879. The memorial erected by the Reeve Cemetery Association, in 1993.

Article published in the Journal-Courier, May 30, 1972 about Reeve Cemetery: (Caption under photo of Wooden Historical Landmark sign): In the spirit of Memorial Day, the heirs of Isaac and Keren Hapuck Reeve are attempting to restore Reeve Cemetery, 4 1/2 miles east of Jacksonville, on the Old State Road. Last Friday, the Raymond Reeve family erected the large sign pictured above as the latest step in the restoration of the cemetery on the west bank of Lick Creek. Ray Groves of Jacksonville designed and constructed the marker.

(Article):
Most of the stones in the cemetery have disappeared, but a recently erected board fence protects a small portion of the cemetery.

John and Keren Reeve, children of Isaac Reeve, donated one acre, more or less, for the cemetery on September 25, 1879, but the site was used as a burial ground long before that date.

In addition to the Reeve family, the cemetery is known to contain the bodies of an unknown Indian and an unidentified Gypsy.

In Charles M. Eames' book "Historic Morgan and Classic Jacksonville", published in 1885, he makes references to the Reeve family as being among the earliest settlers in what is now known as Morgan County. Mr. Eames wrote "In 1820, when Isaac Reeve, Sr., came to this locality with his wife and nine children, the county boundaries covered what is now Madison and all that lies between that county and this, and what was called Madison. In coming, the party followed an Indian trail, they being about the first white people to track the prairies between what is now Alton and Jacksonville. They drove ahead of them, all the way, a sow and her shoats and two cows having bells upoon them that they might not be lost in the wild woods. Reaching here a halt was made, their property dumped upon the ground, while Mr. Reeve, Sr., started at once to return to Edwardsville for provisions. With the second load, he brought a blacksmith's bellows, anvil, and hammer. The former he swing between two saplings, a tree was felled and an anvil block made of the stump, logs were rolled up for the furnace and they began life in "Old Morgan". The first blacksmith shop was of great service to the emigrants who began to settled in this region, for the sharpening of the plows with which the virgin sod of the "Prairie State" was to be upheaved. All provisions then had to be hauled one hundred miles."

The blacksmith shop erected by Mr. Reeve stood about one-half mile east of Reeve Cemetery. The Reeve home, a brick structure, still stands and is the oldest structure in the area."