Moro Cemetery - Madison County IL

Partial Listing
Donated by - Bruce Pates
Close to Bunker Hill on W. Moro Rd. Next to Presbyterian Church on right side of road heading east.

Debbi Geer writes, "The real burials were in the Locust Grove Cemetery which was located near the Dorsey farm on the road between the small communities of Moro and Dorsey. When I was the cemetery chairperson for the Madison County Genealogical Society one of the first areas I started inventorying was that in the north central part of the county. Being that my mother grew up in the Moro/Dorsey area she knew many of the families and I had a way to get people to approve my request to inventory the cemeteries. When I talked to the late Bill Dorsey Sr regarding Moro Cemetery he told me about the Dorsey family gravestones that were in one particular section. He said that years ago the farmer who owned the land that Locust Grove Cemetery was on was going to remove the gravestones even if he had to break them and plow them under ground and then plant a potato patch where the cemetery was. Somehow Bill and his son Bill Jr learned of the plan and went to talk to the farmer. Even thou they did not like his plan they asked if they could remove the gravestones themselves and then take a shovel of dirt from each grave. The farmer gave his approval and thus the gravestones were removed without losing them to what could hae been an unknown history. Then Bill bought numerous lots to accommodate the gravestones and place them as if the individuals were buried there with a few days of their deaths. The reset the gravestones in neat rows and spaced them accordingly and then put the shovel of dirt on top of what appears to be the grave. He said that this is what people did to not only respect the dead but to have their spirit at peaceful rest.

First let me correct the name of the gentleman who related the story. It was Maurice aka Dick Dorsey. Dick passed away 12 Aug 1987. I re-read the story that was included with the inventory and found that he, his father and his uncle were the ones who got the gravestones which could be found and re-located them. Now the questions are who was Dick's father and uncle and which one died first to at least put the event occurring in or before that death. I looked at the 1910 census and found that Harvey and Elizabeth Dorsey were Dick's parents. Harvey died in 1961. His brothers were Smith d 1931 , Leon d 1942 and CD d unknown. As I recall I think Dick said that the removals were done int the 1930's or 1940's. Based on the known deaths of his uncles, it appears that it was most likely done in the 1930's. IL Digital Archives website - Volume 4 (p 108-109) of the Madison Co IL Genealogical Society's cemetery series."

Name	Birth	Death	Other or Notes	Veteran?	Donated By	Obit?
Dorsey, Ann	1907	1966	w/o Norman		BP
Dorsey, Norman	1901	1976			BP
Dorsey, Infant Daughter		1934	d/o Ann & Norman		BP
Dorsey, Eugene H.	4 Oct 1904				BP
Dorsey, Sadie E.	2 Sep 1906	23 Apr 2004			BP
Dorsey, Grace P.	20 Oct 1924	21 Oct 1984			BP
Dorsey, William H.
Dorsey, Elizabeth Green	1876	1960	w/o Harvey		BP
Dorsey, Harvey Edward	1874	1961			BP
Dorsey, Basil Hobbs	1822	1846	"IN MEMORY OF BASIL H. SON OF ELIAS AND MARTHA B. DORSEY AND CONSORT OF NANIE C. DORSEY WAS BORN MARCH 20 (PORTION UNREADABLE, LIKELY 1822) DEPARTED THIS LIFE MARCH 24, 1846". Another view		BP
Dorsey, John Williamson	1816	1845	INSCRIPTION - "BELOVED BY ALL JOHN W. SON OF ELIAS AND MARTHA B. DORSEY WAS BORN FEB. (UNREADABLE LIKELY 5), 1816 AND DEPARTED THIS LIFE (UNREADABLE LIKELY AUGUST 12, 1845)". Another view		BP
Dorsey, Nimrod M.	21 Feb 1821	8 Sep 1852			BP
Dorsey, Steven M.	26 Nov 1950	30 Jul 1975	Vietnam PVT US Marine Corps	yes	BP
Dorsey, Kenneth M.	11 Jan 1924	22 Feb 1992	SOM3 USNavy WWII	yes	BP