Read and Copyrighted© by Gloria Dettleff & Dorothy Falk on 3 Nov 2005
Jones Cemetery is an old family cemetery northeast of Hoffman. One way to get there is to take Route 4 one mile north from Hoffman. Then turn right/east onto Hugo for about 1.4 miles. Turn left/north on Schnitzmeyer Road. Stop before the road turns left with a bridge that crosses the Prairie Branch Creek. The cemetery is at the top of the hill to the right in the trees.
The cemetery is on less than an acre of ground. Periwinkle covers most of the ground and holds the weeds to a minimum. But there are hundreds of six foot high sticker plants (blackberry canes?), don't wear shorts when visiting there. A barbed wire fence probably surrounded the cemetery at some point, portions of that remain.
As usual with the early family cemeteries, there are probably many unmarked graves there. More stones could be hidden in the periwinkle and under the 150 years of leaves and other vegetation. Possible other names buried here could be WATTS, CARTER and ALLEN.
The history of the cemetery was published by the Clinton County Historical Society in their Quarterly XIX, Issue 4.
| Name | Born | Died | Inscriptions and Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| J., F. | ---- | ---- | Footstone only. |
| J., N. J. | --- | --- | Footstone only. |
| JONES, Annie | 17 Feb 1875 | 6 Oct. 1896 | Dau. of C. L. & Elvira. I was but a flower too good for earth & transplanted into heaven. Top of stone laying on ground. Stone by Hubbard S. Combs, Centralia, IL. |
| JONES, Charles L. | 24 Feb 1831 | 4 Sep 1915 | Shares largest and newest stone in the cemetery with Elvira A., his wife. Gone but not forgotten. Father head stone. |
| JONES, Charles P. | 19 Jul 1861 | 8 Oct 1862 | In memory of. Son of J. M. & N. J. |
| JONES, Elvira | 8 Mar 1837 | 27 Nov 1910 | Shares largest and newest stone in the cemetery with Charles L., her husband. Gone but not forgotten. Mother head stone. |
| JONES, J. W. D. | --- | --- | Government Head Stone - Co. I, 111th Illinois Inf. (James was a Private.) |
| JONES, Jane | 9 Apr 1863 | 24 Sep 1865 | Sacred to the memory of. Dau. of J. M. & N. J. |
| JONES, Margaret A. | 3 Oct 1835 | 29 Mar 1862 | In memory of. Wife of J. W. Aged 26y5m26d. Stone is broken and fallen. |
| JONES, Moultra B. | --- | 5 Apr 1877 | Son of C. L. & E. Aged 20y6m7d. Top of stone is gone. |
| QUICK, Nathaniel | 9 Dec 1810 | 13 Mar 1863 | In memory of. Worn poetry. Stone has fallen. |
| UNKNOWN | 18 Nov 1799 | 28 Jun 1848 | Broken stone listed in previous reading. |