A Victorian Cemetery
Woodland Cemetery---The necropolis that in life (Cornelius Volk) did so much to beaut(ify) and make attractive" (Quincy Daily-Herald, 1898). Among significant historical Woodland memorials are the gravestones of Orville and Eliza Browning. Abraham Lincoln's closest Quincy friends. The couple rest beside their stillborn son and foster daughter Emma Lord Skinner. Foster son Lt. William Shipley, 27th Illinois Infantry, was the first Quincy Civil War soldier lost in battle. Killed in Missouri's Battle of Belmont on November 7, 1861, he is buried nearby. Woodland contains the Memorial Monument to Adams County Civil War soldiers sculpted by Quincyan Cornelius Volk, brother of Chicago sculptor Leonard Volk, who sculpted Lincoln;s life mask and hands. The Sisters of Good Samaritan, a soldier's support group, financed the erection of the memorial. The monument's shaft is crowned by and American eagle looking south and east over a preserved Union. Cornelius Volk also created a monument for Lincoln's colleague, Archibald Williams, with the inscription, "erected by the Bar of Adams County in memory of our brother."
This Woodland Cemetery map shows the location of the graves of many of Abraham Lincoln's Quincy friends as well as several other sites related to Lincoln. Although a significant number of his friends are buried in Woodland, the graves of others are located elsewhere. Abraham Jonas is interred in the valley of Peace Jewish Cemetery on North 30th Street in Quincy, and Stephen A. Douglas is buried in Chicago. Andrew Johnston's and James Singleton's graves are located in Virginia. Most of these friends are described in greater detail in other Looking for Lincoln wayside exhibits in Quincy.
One of the most significant Victorian cemeteries in the Midwest, Woodland Cemetery's elaborate variety of markers and memorials reflect the rich heritage of Quincy. The pages of community history are recorded here in three-dimensional artifacts often depicted with Victorian symbols. Beyond the writing, these gravestones reflect community development, trad patterns, technological advancement, tragedies, theological evolution, and changing artistic tastes. It is history in stone. Situated on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, the public park or "garden cemetery" setting typified Victorian burial grounds. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, Woodland is a prime example of the rural cemetery movement of the nineteenth century.
Marker is on S. 5th Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
