In addition, burials were not always in church or even family cemeteries.  Sometimes folks were buried on their own land if they were farmers.

 

We know my great great grandfather and two of his wives are buried in Rentfrow Cemetery (now known as Rentfro Cemetery) in Effingham County.  No cemetery records show their names and there are no markers.  We are not entirely sure of where they are buried, but old-timers remember they were a few steps and one row over from my great great grandparents marked graves.  Originally, when Mary Carroll Hensley died in 1878 a wooden cross was erected to mark her site.  When L. Elizabeth Webb Doyle Hensley died in 1906, again a wooden cross was erected as her marker and a cedar tree was planted.  Her husband's first wife's cross was still standing.  In 1934 when William Lafayette Hensley died, he was buried between his first two wives and a wooden cross marked his grave as well.  In the early to mid 40's all 3 crosses were still marking the graves, although they were in very bad shape.  By the time I was born, there was no sign of anyone being buried there, except for the cedar tree and my grandmother's memory.  Now the cedar tree  is gone, and has been for decades, and no one is positive as to where the crosses were.  This may be the case for your relative.

 

Also this cemetery, as well as many old cemeteries, are filled with field stones as markers...no name, no date, just a rock to mark the grave of some long forgotten grave.

 

Not everyone is going to have a nice engraved grave marker.  Our best try is to assume they were in a nearby cemetery to where they lived (like Rentfrow Cemetery

which is a family cemetery), or in the church cemetery where they belonged. (It was also Ebeneazer Methodist Church Cemetery, where they all belonged).   I was fortunate to have obituaries for my great grandfather and his second wife, my great grandmother.  I also have his death certificate, since he died after1916.  These are written proof that they are buried in Rentfrow Cemetery.  As for my half cousins, descendents of Mary Carroll Hensley, they have no such proof.

 

I feel so blessed that I have recently been able to obtain 5 gravesites in this long closed cemetery.  I will be laid to rest next to my great great grandparents, (parents to William Lafayette Hensley)...Reverend John Franklin and Melinda Eleanor Rentfrow Hensley.  My husband will be next to me...and surely, some of our 12 children can use the others.

 

I have never lived in Effingham Co., IL, and we now live a far distance, but just thinking about the cemetery and the hundreds of relatives and in-laws that are buried there gives me a feeling of going home.

 

We just happened to be in the area this past weekend, and I spent a few minutes in the cemetery.  Down the road after we left, there was a garage sale where we stopped.  We got to talking to the owner, exchanged names, and I was told he went to school with my cousins.  When I got home to my records I found that this man was my 4th and my 5th cousin, and neither of us knew it!  So the relatives are still there.  Too bad  didn't have my laptop.  I will next time.

Thank you for that information, Wayne IKK and Melody.  Some other members of the Dolson, Clark Fitzgerald family died too young in those years, so I believe Clark was hard hit by that flu epidemic.