Columbia in Monroe County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Palmier Cemetery
Photographed by Thomas Smith, May 15, 2022
1. Palmier Cemetery Marker
Inscription.
Palmier Cemetery was established in 1783, laid out on ground donated by Benjamin and Joseph Ogle-part of the Ogle Estate on Palmier
Hill, for what would become the oldest cemetery in the Columbia precinct. Flooding in the area caused the cemetery to be located on a hill.
The cemetery consists of approximately six acres. About 400 names are listed in the burial register, and it may be that earlier burials went
unrecorded. It is possible to find stones dating to the mid-1780s.
Palmier Cemetery is named after the Palmier family, French-Canadians from Quebec, who moved to the Columbia area and lived on near the
creek that flows south of the cemetery the creek became known as Palmier Creek. It is claimed that the Palmier family settled here in the 1650s.
In 1783, James Piggott traveled the Kaskaskia Trail with George Rogers Clark and his militiamen by 1787, several of Piggot's friends
followed. In all, 17 families had settled in the area by 1790. In the late 1800s, the following family names could be found among inhabitants:
Ogle, Palmier Carr, Divers, Morgan, Lanceford, Payne, Phelps, Ramsey, Sharpe and Wilson. Many
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of these names can be found on gravestones in
Palmier Cemetery. n January of 1926, Columbia American Legion Post 581 was appointed trustee of the Palmier Cemetery. It was so neglected that instead of
using mowers, Post members came to work with axes to cut down the trees that all but hid the monuments. The cemetery is now taken care of by a group of volunteers.
In 1976, a pillar was erected at the cemetery entrance by American Legion Post 581 and the Monroe County Historical Society to honor the early pioneers and
patriots of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Black Hawk War, Mexican-American War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korean War and
Vietnam War. Below you will find a listing of the veterans that are buried here: Revolutionary War
Jacob Grotts, II. Reg. VA
Jacob Judy, II. Reg. VA
George Lundford, IL Regt. VA War of 1812 -1815 Jacob Lundford Mexican - American War 1846 -1848 Samuel Hess Co. F 2nd Il. Reg., Thomas W. Morgan 2nd Il. Inf., Edward Morgan Old Battalion, Joseph Warnock Co. I 2nd Il. Civil War 1861 -1865,
Location. 38° 27.836′ N, 90° 12.937′ W. Memorial is in Columbia, Illinois, in Monroe County. It is on Palmer Rd 0.7 miles north of Quarry Rd., on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Memorial is in this post office area: Columbia IL 62236, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this memorial is in Greater St. Louis. It is also in the American Midwest, in the Lewis & Clark Corridor, in the Corn Belt, and in the Great River Road Region. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture and also the Northwest Territory.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 18, 2022. It was originally submitted on August 16, 2022, by Thomas Smith of Waterloo, Ill. This page has been viewed 654 times since then and 78 times this year. Photo1. submitted on August 16, 2022, by Thomas Smith of Waterloo, Ill. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
