This community history draws upon carefully-documented stories of the lives of 109 people buried at Riverside Cemetery in Moline, Illinois, accompanied by a history of the cemetery itself. Included are people from diverse classes and backgrounds who were featured at twelve annual Echoes from Riverside cemetery walk events. The 270 page book contains over 500 photographs and other images. The project was made possible through a generous grant from the Moline Foundation. 

The book sells for $20 and is available from these outlets:

Moline, Illinois:

Model Printers, 310 15th Street
Lagomarcino's Confectionary, 1422 Fifth Avenue
Trevor True Value Hardware, 2842 16th Street
Rock Island County Historical Society, 822 11th Avenue

Davenport, Iowa:

Lagomarcino's Confectionary, Village of East Davenport

For this project, Heritage Documentaries, Inc. partnered with the Moline Preservation Society, which sponsored the first two cemetery walks. The book makes a substantial contribution to the understanding of Moline as it emerged as a major manufacturing center in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. We believe that the following three features of Moline History Echoes From Riverside Cemetery make it an outstanding contribution to community history.

First, the story of each individual featured at the cemetery walks is historically well-documented. Each actor was given background material on the person he or she portrayed. The emphasis and tone of the scripts they wrote vary with the preferences of the actors, but they all reflect the life of the person portrayed as documented through archival research.

Second, a wide diversity of people is featured, representing various classes, ages, and occupations. Included are immigrants, Civil War veterans, factory workers, seamstresses, gardeners, farmers, and boarding house operators, in addition to well-known people such as members of the Deere family, other industrialists, and political figures.

Third, the story of Riverside Cemetery itself is compelling. Its 1851 section is one of the earliest in the area. The 1872 expansion, designed William Le Baron Jenney, was part of the rural cemetery movement that was sweeping the United States at the time. Jenney's design transformed the cemetery into a picturesque landscape astride the Mississippi River Bluffs, which offers spectacular vistas for visitors to the cemetery today.

The book has two major parts. The main body includes the scripts, accompanied by background and contextual information on each featured person. Relevant archival materials have been carefully assembled over the last twelve years by Heritage board member Kathleen Seusy, who organized ten of the twelve cemetery walks. To round out the presentation on each individual, we included appropriate images - of the person, her/his business or home, or a landmark or activity directly relevant to that person's life. The idea here is to visually bring to life the featured people and the contexts in which they lived and worked.

To set the stage for the stories of the people buried there, we include a history of Riverside Cemetery, featuring the part designed by Jenney in 1872. Jenney (1832-1907) is perhaps best known for his innovative steel-framed skyscraper designs in the late nineteenth century. However, he also participated in the design of Chicago's boulevard system and Graceland Cemetery, and worked with Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux to carry out the design of the planned suburb of Riverside, Illinois. Jenney may have been attracted to Moline through Chicago connections of John Deere, who was mayor of Moline at the time, or his son Charles who hired Jenney as the architect for his Moline mansion, Overlook. 

The book has perfect binding, 270 black and white pages, and a four-color cover. The authors are Kathleen Seusy, Curtis C. Roseman, and Regena Jo Schantz, of Heritage Documentaries, and Diann Moore, of the Moline Preservation Society. The authors have substantial interest and expertise in the history of Moline and the surrounding area.

People Featured in the Book,

Echoes From Riverside Cemetery

Moline, Illinois

Adelmann, Frederick W. (1887-1957) abstractor, trolley rider, composer of "Maroon and White" song

Alday (Aldag), Adam (1831-1894) German immigrant, entrepreneur, land developer

Allen, Minnie Stephens (1859-1933) musician, philanthropist, founder of Moline Woman's Club

Arnold, Louisa Runge (1879-1970) partner in car dealership, New York Store employee

Atkinson, Charles (1808-1887) founder and promoter of Moline, chose the name "Moline"

Atkinson, Sarah M. Savage (1843-1907) philanthropist, supporter of church and women's groups

Barnard, Herman A. (1826-1906) inventor, industrialist, book collector, alderman, bank director

Bell, William (1843-1912) Civil War veteran, railroad engineer and fireman

Bennett, William C. (1836-1916) boat captain, businessman, alderman, mayor, school board member

Browning, John T. (1828-1910) lawyer, city attorney, donated land for Browning Field

Buchanan, William P. (1837-1910) farm laborer, disabled in Civil War veteran, salesman

Cady, Merton Yale (1840-1900) architect, builder of safes, livestock breeder, First Congregational Church leader

Carlson, George E. (1872-1942) postmaster, insurance salesman, first 33^rd Degree Mason in Moline

Channon, Lena Leoti Gates (1881-1935) first woman telephone operator in the Tri-Cities

Christison, Elizabeth S. Brown (1842-1910) Scottish immigrant, grocery store owner

Cornwall, Hazel (1881-1897) Stewartville resident, died of consumption as a teenager

Deere, John (1804-1886) inventive plow manufacturer, mayor, civic leader

Deere, Mary Little Dickinson (1841-1913) founded Moline D. A. R., national D. A. R. Vice President General

Desaulniers, Frances B. (1889-1918) Red Cross nurse, 1918 influenza victim

Dickens, Francis Jeffrey (1844-1886) third son of Charles Dickens, early member of Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Dimock, Maria Hubbard (1820-1921) centenarian, laid cornerstone of the First Congregational Church in 1917

Dow, Ann Marion Chamberlin (1828-1916) educator, mentor, temperance and women's suffrage advocate

Dunn, Maria McBurney (1833-1918) English immigrant, hardware store owner

Ed, Gustaf (1850-1914) Swedish immigrant, contractor, early user of reinforced concrete

Edwards, Caroline Fleming (1827-1885) Congregational Church member, wife and mother of six children

Edwards, Maria Waterman (1836-1895) Pioneer, farmer, land developer, businesswoman

Efflandt, Johannes Heinrich (Henry) (1855-1919) German immigrant, butcher, bank director

Ellison, Lula May (1892-1913) young tornado victim

Entrikin, Julia Alathea Chamberlin (1842-1906) music teacher, fire insurance business owner

Entrikin, Walter J. (1846-1908) lawyer, city attorney, Riverside Cemetery secretary  

First, Lena Holtzman (1846-1923) German immigrant, wife and mother of ten children

Fjelinder, Anders A. (1840-1908) Swedish immigrant, tailor

Fryxell, John (1854-1941) Swedish immigrant, builder and installer of pipe organs

Giles, Warren Crandall (1896-1979) baseball manager, National League President, member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Good, John W. (1852-1910) agricultural machinery executive, died in Bombay

Gordon, Daniel (1822-1916) teacher, surveyor of Riverside Cemetery, first city clerk

Gottshe, Adolph (1831-1904) German immigrant, harness maker

Gould, Abbie Walker (1841-1907) poet, women's suffrage and women's rights supporter

Gould, Hannah Marcy Dimock (1824-1900) first woman elected to Moline school board, founding member of First Baptist Church

Gould, John Maxfield (1822-1912) industrialist, lumber baron, hospital advocate, judge   

Gould, Marcia Louise Towndrow (1859-1936) organizer of King's Daughters Union, 1893 Columbian Exposition Board of Lady Managers

Heald, Daphne Churchill (1838-1921) teacher, women's rights and temperance leader

Healy, Emily Ormsbee (1822-1874) pioneer wife and mother

Healy, Josiah (1819-1893) farmer, sold land to Riverside Cemetery

Hillhouse, Mary Keyes (1855-1929) high school principal, mentor, charter member of Kings Daughters

Hitchcock, Allen Backus (1814-1873) strident abolitionist, controversial minister of Congregational Church

Hubbard, Rufus Henry (1789-1880) Civil War veteran, lumber company employee, band organizer

Huntoon, Jonathan (1815-1892) pioneer, flour mill operator, cemetery board member

Huntoon, Mary Stephens (1853-1928) community activist, first president of Moline Woman's Club

Jenney, William Le Baron (1832-1907) landscape architect for Riverside Cemetery, "father of the American skyscraper"

Josephson, Carl Ivar (1870-1939) jewelry store owner, horologist, commercial developer of 5^th Avenue

Josephson, Emma Rundquist (1869-1942) active in First Congregational Church and King's Daughters

Karstens, Christine Nave (1844-1928) German immigrant, son donated land for Karstens Park

Keator, Jerman (1822-1904) lumber baron, hotel owner, bank director, civic leader

Klattenhoff, Anna M. (1865-1937) co-proprietor of dry goods store

Knox, Luther C. (1874-1959) undertaker, bull terrier breeder

Landee, Frank A. (1852-1917) communications pioneer, inventor, state senator, Moline Furniture Company executive, grocer

Lind, Peter E. (1844-1938) Civil War veteran, inventor, long time employee of Deere & Company

Lobdell, Charles W. (1834-1906) shopkeeper, president of first gas company

Lovejoy, George A. (1858-1919) butcher, city council member

Mangold, Emma Wixon (1867-1940) wife of well-known photographer and orchestra leader

Manley, Elizabeth Smith (1836-1885) Irish immigrant, boarding house proprietor

McBurney, Helen Daxon Hynes (1832-1880) Irish immigrant, composer and singer

McGlynn, Paterson S. (1850-1934) newspaper reporter, editor and owner of the Dispatch

Mead, William (178?-1854) War of 1812 veteran, member of prominent Pennsylvania family

Meese, William A. (1856-1920) attorney, historian, Rock Island County Historical Society founder

Meyer, Dr. Robert C. J. (1865-1934) physician, advocate for the insane, coroner, horticultural experimenter

Miller, Dr. Jane H. Spencer (1831-1912) homeopathic physician, first woman doctor in Moline

Nave, Christina (1802-1883) German immigrant, cook for workers on Arsenal Island

Nelson, Rosa Lenora (1894-1909) teenager who died in work-related accident

Nourse, Alonzo (1822-1858) fanning mill owner, entrepreneur, real estate developer

Nourse, William A. (1820-1901) fanning mill owner, merchant, Moline's first nursery garden owner

Olsson, Olof , Rev. D. D. (1841-1900) clergyman, professor, Augustana College's third president

Oppenheimer, Adolph "Oppie" (1866-1935) German immigrant, Moline's first physical education teacher, photographer

Osborn, Margaret Proudfoot (1832-1881) English immigrant, milliner

Peal, Oscar (1849-1899) saloonkeeper, hotel owner, alderman

Peek, Burton Francis (1872-1960) lawyer, Deere & Company President, avid golfer

Pingree, George Ely (1838-1920) Civil War hero, traveling salesman

Plambeck, Amanda (1861-1956) long time seamstress

Reed, Helen Davenport Whipple (1813-1882), Sanitary Commission member, G. A. R. honoree for organizing aid to soldiers during the Civil War

Reese, Charles (1832-1902) Civil War veteran, G. A. R. supporter, hotel owner

Ritchie, Ann (? - 1901) former slave, respected community member

Sale, Dr. Joseph Hector (1838-1897) Civil War musician, general practice physician

Sears, David Benton (1804-1884) pioneer, waterpower expert, gristmill builder/owner, land developer

Sheley, Margaret Giles (1848-1939) member of G.A.R. Auxiliary, Stewartville resident

Silvis, Richard Shippen (1837-1918) pioneer, coalmine owner, town of Silvis named for him

Sloan, Dr. Chester Collin (1877-1937) obstetrician, amateur pilot and aviation pioneer

Stephens, Ada E. (1865-1947) arts supporter, anonymous philanthropist, Stephens Square donor

Stewart, Mary Eleanora Herr (1832-1920) temperance and women's suffrage advocate

Swan, Robert Kerr (1825-1878) factory co-owner and salesman, Moline Plow Company President

Swander, Alexander F. (1814-1880) early settler, law officer and sheriff

Toellner, Adolph (1841- 1889) German immigrant, landscape architect, Riverside Cemetery Sexton

Velie, Annie Flowerree (1866-1961) socialite, world traveler

Velie, James A. (1844-1872) merchant, tuberculosis victim

Velie, Willard Lamb (1866-1928) inventor and manufacturer of carriages, automobiles and airplanes

Vinton, Minnie Kroeger (1877-1940) long-time Domestic Arts Teacher

Wells, Jane H. Thompson (1831-1904) local policeman's wife

Wells, Mattie T. (1869-1881) identical twin, school girl, scarlet fever victim

Wharton, Theodore Finley (1870-1943) Deere & Company executive, Field House campaign leader

Wheelock, Alice (1873-1968) teacher, long-time grade school principal

Wheelock, Daniel (1822-1893) pioneer, farmer, baker, first Moline mayor

Wheelock, Stillman (1816-1892) pioneer, paper company owner, breeder and racer of horses, bank president, library building donor

Wigers, Jacob S. (1867-1918) rower, police officer, sheriff murdered in the line of duty

Wilson, James Wesley (1828-1907) carpenter, millwright, beekeeper

Wilson, Mary Britannia (1871-1968) Grant School's first kindergarten teacher, piano teacher

Wittick, Barbara Petrie (1824-1885) German immigrant, grief stricken mother and wife

Wittick, George Benjamin (1845-1903) Civil War veteran, early American West photographer

Wixon, Hattie (Birdie) (1873-1879) child who died of spinal meningitis

Wood, Rebecca Sears (1815-1888) pioneer family member