Eilers Cemetery
SE 1/4 SW 1/4, Section 23, Township 16N, Range 12W
Morgan County, Illinois

Deed Book 23, page 352, in the Morgan County Clerk's office, records the transfer of one acre of land for this cemetery. On Nov. 1, 1867, Henry B. Eilers and his wife Tolan (also spelled Tollen on the same document) M. Eilers sold for one dollar to John Eilers Senior "One acre for the use of said Eilers and others for a burying ground. Deed Book 78, page 443, dated July 6, 1907, also in the Morgan County clerk's office, records a land sale but exempts this "one acre thereof now used as a family grave yard." The sale was made by a man whose name is spelled three different ways on the same document: Eilert J. E. Eilers, Eilert J. E. Eiler, and Eilert E. J. Eiler. His wife was named as Ethel Eilers and Ethel Eiler. A visit to the cemetery on April 13, 1980 found it to be in excellent condition. A concrete fence surrounds the burial area which is mostly covered with a thick carpet of lilies. The cemetery crowns a gently sloping cultivated hill. Several trees in the cemetery call attention to the site, which is about 2.7 miles directly west of Concord. A reasonably large creek known as Coon Run flows to the east and north of Eilers Cemetery.

Update: When we visited this cemetery on 17 Mar 2007, we found the cemetery in reasonably good condition altho there are a number of good sized tree limbs down in the cemetery (probably from the 2006 storms). A wire fence surrounds the cemetery with concrete fence posts and concrete corner posts. It is situated at the top of what I would call a "steep" hill and must be reached by walking across the corner of a cultivated field, through a break in the fence and then across the low land lying next to the creek and up the hill. The cemetery can't be seen until reaching the top of the hill, but as the description above states, the cemetery site can be spotted from the road by the tall evergreen tree which is situated within the cemetery itself. While most of the stones are standing, they are very weathered and the smaller ones are difficult to read. There are two broken and illegible stones in the row of children's graves across the middle of the cemetery. The cemetery lies in the middle of private property so permission to visit the cemetery must be obtained by asking permission. We were lucky to find the property owner working along side a field near the cemetery.