HARRIS CEMETERY
aka South Paw Paw Cemetery
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paw Paw Township of Dekalb County, IL.

To:
Main Menu

These pages are reproduced here by permission of
The Dekalb County Genealogical & Historical Society, Sep., 1999
This cemetery transcribed by Jim Niewold

To:
Locator Page

HISTORY OF HARRIS CEMETERY

The Harris (South Paw Paw) Cemetery is located in Section 19 in the NE corner of the NW quarter section on
Goble road on the Atherton farm between East Paw Paw road and South Paw Paw road. Only two tombstones
remain of the early cemetery. At one time, there were a total of twenty-one graves in the cemetery by the year 1880.

The party of Rev. Benoni Harris, a Methodist minister, included his family; his son’s, Benjamin Harris, family;
John Plass and family; Edward Butterfield and family; Joseph Harris and Louis Mc Dowell  two single men.
The group arrived in July 1835.

Benoni Harris and his wife, Thankful, were the parents of eight children: Stephen, Benjamin, Benonia (twins),
Joseph, Mary, Amanda, Thankful and Delilah. His wife died and was the first buried in the new settlement in
1836, on what is now the Atherton farm, section 19. Benoni continued his work until 1845 when he died and
was buried next to his wife.

The cemetery was about 150 yards west of the farm house of William Atherton. The two stones standing side
by side, made of marble shafts, bear the inscriptions, “My Beloved Wife, Thankful Harris” and “Benoni Harris,
At Rest.”

Possibly the other burials in the old cemetery were those of the children of Benoni and Thankful Harris. Mary
married Edward Butterfield; Amanda married John Plass; Thankful married John Wilcox; and, Delilah married
S. O. Mc Dowell the first marriage in Paw Paw township in 1836.

Mr. William Atherton, owner of the Atherton farm and veteran, died on the 29th of July 1925 and is shown
on Veteran records as buried in this cemetery.