Joy Cemetery

Joy Cemetery
NW 1/4, Section 4, T15N, R11W

This cemetery no longer exists, but was in the Northwest quarter of Section 4, of Township 15N, Range 11W, about seven miles northwest of Jacksonville, on what is commonly known as Joy Prairie. Much information about the Joy family can be found by referring to the several Morgan County history books which have been published. However, a news item published on page 12 of the Jacksonville Courier of thursday, Aug. 21, 1930, is most unlikely to be found even by the most diligent researcher. John Power of the Jacksonville Journal-Courier news staff found the news item in 1980 and it appeared in part as follows:

EIGHTEEN BODIES MOVED FROM JOY CEMETERY HERE.
Bury Remains Taken From Abandoned Family Plot to Diamond Grove - - - Take Three to Winchester.

"Eighteen bodies were interred yesterday in thirteen graves in Diamond Grove cemetery having been removed from the old Joy cemetery on the Lyman F. Joy farm northwest of the city. The remains were disinterred Tuesday and brought to Diamond Grove and placed in the mausoleum overnight. Three bodies were removed to the Winchester Cemetery. The old cemetery, where the first body was buried in 1839 and the last in 1904, is being abandoned. A large stone and small individual markers will mark the family plot in Diamond Grove. Some of the bodies were in a good state of preservation, while others had to be moved most carefully."

The reburials are now in a large grouping in Section L of Diamond Grove Cemetery, just east of the large area used for burials of the residents of the Illinois (now Barton W. Stone) Christian Home. Modern tombstones replace the markers that were in the original Joy Cemetery. The list of burials given here is reconstructed by Robert W. Dalton from the August 21, 1930 Jacksonville Courier news story, the tombstones in Diamond Grove Cemetery and other available sources.
Name Born Died Age Additional Inscriptions/Information
DUNBAUGH, Clara 1821 1862
DUNBAUGH, Wallace 1851 1853
JOY, Angelica (Haseltine) - (Obit) 9 Apr 1892
JOY, Arthur Bigger 12 Apr 1852 Twin of Lyman F. & Angelica Joy
JOY, Clarence Inf son of John Pickering & Judith P. Joy
JOY, Henry 1839 (Buried beside John Pickering & Judith Joy in D.G.)
JOY, James - (Obit) 20 Jul 1878
JOY, Jane (Bigger) (6 Sep) 1823 1904 (2nd wife John P. Joy - Dau Robt. & Elizabeth Bigger
Married @ Beardstown on Aug. 17, 1853)
JOY, John Pickering - (Obit) 17 May 1806 18 Feb 1879
JOY, John Pickering 12 Apr 1852 Twin son of Lyman Frederick & angelica H. Joy
JOY, Judith P. (Batchelder) 14 Aug 1805 9 Jan 1849 (Married John P. Joy in N.H.)
JOY, Susan E. 1810 1852 (Susan is buried in a family grouping with Jane B.,
Walter and Clarence Joy in Diamond Grove Cem.)
JOY, Walter Inf son of John Pickering & Judith Joy
JOY, Walter Crafts 1869 1889 (Son of Lyman F. & Angelica Hazeltine Joy)
KIRKPATRICK, Beryl Child of H.B. Kirkpatrick
KIRKPATRICK, Dean Child of H.B. Kirkpatrick
KIRKPATRICK, Miss Sister of H.B. Kirkpatrick
(The following paragraph was published in the Jackson-
ville Courier of Thursday, Aug. 21, 1930, regarding the
removal of bodies from Joy Cemetery. "The three
bodies which were removed to Winchester were
members of the H.B. Kirkpatrick family and had been
buried for forty years. They were the remains of
Beryl & Dean Kirkpatrick, children of H.B. Kirkpatrick,
and his sister, Miss Kirkpatrick. These bodies were
buried this week in the Winchester cemetery, where
other members of the family lie.)
PARSONS, Sarah B. 5 Sep 1868
PARSONS, Sarah Lizzie 1861 Dau of Sarah B. Parsons
SWAN, Charlotte 2 Dec 1850 Inf dau of Mariah L. Swan
SWAN, Helen 15 Oct 1845 Inf dau of Mariah L. Swan
SWAN, Mariah L. 26 Aug 1852
Cemetery Index