History of Hebron Cemetery
Hebron Cemetery, located north of Camp Point, Illinois, is one of the oldest continuously operating cemeteries established prior to the Civil War. The first internment in 1834 was Ira McFarland, infant son of pioneer couple Lewis and Jane McFarland. Originally intended as a family cemetery for the McFarland family, the name was changed to Hebron after the Hebron Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1848 about a quarter mile away. The cemetery sits on 3.75 acres of land donated by Lewis' father John McFarland, and by Robert A. and James Beckett.
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Hebron Methodist Episcopal Church, a red brick structure with white trim and surrounded by a white clapboard fence, served the nearby community from 1848 until 1920. Men entered on one side and women on the other. Two pot-bellied stoves provided warmth in winter, and eight full-length windows provided breeze in summer. On Decoration Day (Memorial Day) in the early 1900s, Civil War Veterans were invited to speak at the church. At the conclusion of the program,children and young people would carry evergreen wreaths and flowers and march down the road to Hebron Cemetery to place them on Veterans' graves. The church was torn down in 1926.
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The grave of Ira McFarland, the first internment in 1834
Est. 1834
Hebron Methodist Church