Bachelors Grove Cemetery, Setting the Record Straight

Bachelors Grove Cemetery
Burials and descendants
thepathtobachelorsgrove.com

Bachelors Grove Cemetery. Chances are if you are reading this you live in or grew up in the Chicago area and have heard of this small troubled cemetery nestled in the Forest Preserves of the city's Southern sub-burbs. (If you have never heard of BGC and/or want to learn more please visit our website thepathtobachelorsgrove.com)
The Cemetery is one of Cook County's oldest with burials that include civil war soldiers and some of the first settlers in the area. Its reputation has grown over the years, both with discovery of local historical connections and because of reports of unusual/unexplainable experiences happening in and around the cemetery.
We met in Bachelors Grove in 2012. That same year we both became enchanted with the cemetery, its bizarre history, and the seemingly endless tales of weirdness and unexplainable phenomena. This fascination has led us on a six year journey of researching the cemetery burials, its history, both paranormal and factual. We have spent literally thousands of dollars to maintain our website and on multiple expenses incurred for our research and collection of the documents we have found.
During this time we have discovered and heard many inaccuracies relayed by visitors to the area. It has become one of our top goals to correct this misinformation and set the record straight.
This article is the first in a short series where we will attempt to bring forward information supported by documentation to dispel rumors and correct some of the misinformation circulating about Bachelors Grove Cemetery.

Rumor-
There are no bodies left buried within BGC.
Fact or Fiction? FICTION!!!

FACT: There still are people buried in the one acre cemetery. While there has been no official exact burial count documented anywhere, we have 127 confirmed burials listed on our website. Twleve of those names are burials we found in our research that were previously unknown publicly and not on any other Bachelors Grove burial list.
In 1976 Breman High school students did a club project of Breman history to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of our country's Independence. Included in that was a reading of Bachelors Grove Cemetery where all readable information on the remaining stones was documented. Twenty years later, in 1995, former president of the Tinley Park Historical Society Brad Bettenhausen published his detailed research and findings on Bachelors Grove. In anything we have read or in the time we have spent in the Tinely Park Historical Society talking with the staff, we have never heard anyone state that there were little to no remains left in the cemetery.
With the development of the internet there has been much new information uncovered by simply using the very popular genealogical websites such as Ancestry.com .
There are an approximtley 14 documented re interments, and a few undocumented but supported by direct family knowledge, these additons bring the number to around 20. There is one news article dated September 1973 where several teenagers were arrested for digging up the graves in Bachelors Grove Cemetery. The incidence has, we believe, been greatly exaggerated by some as tends to happen with this place.
There is no other evidence that exists to support any claim that all bodies or most were either grave robbed or reinterred.

Rumor: There are no direct living descendants connected to anyone buried in BGC that visit the cemetery or even care about its current situation and or future.
Fact or Fiction
Again FICTION!!

FACT: There are many living descendants directly connected to those buried within BGC.
We have had direct communication with decendants of several family members STILL buried in the cemetery. A few have visited the cemetery over the last few years. Many have spoken to us of their feelings and concerns for the cemetery's state over the years. We have been thanked for the interest/care we have given to the the physical space and those buried within.
Speaking with these family members also solidifies the above confirmed FACT that there are still definitely people buried within BGC. Confirmed by family descendants of those buried within BGC is one of the best documentation you can find.
During our years of researching the family burials, Wendy made a family connection and shared a photo of a cherised grandfather, the only one she had ever seen. families had never seen themselves prior to our posting them on our website or facebook page. A few family members reached out to us to personally via our facebook page thanking us for sharing and discovering said photos. In the end, despite what anyone says, that makes all of the hours and hours of researching and constant criticism worth while. Its what ultimatley drives us forward and will continue to do so.
The below is a direct quote from a woman whose grandmother is buried in Bachelors Grove Cemetery when we asked her what she hoped would happen with the cemetery :
"My feelings are very deep and saddened that my grandmother, her children and my great, great grandparents, as well as many relatives and probably many of their friends deserve a peaceful final rest. It has been anything but that for a very long time. Ideally it would be restored to the pretty little cemetery that it once was. "
We will continue to advocate for Bachelors Grove Cemetery and to try to ensure its care so that it will remain to remind us all of those who gave so much to pave the way for us all.
We are always in search of older photos of the cemetery and surrounding area as well as any family history, burial or general information you may have. We love to hear any and all personal experiences, recollections and memories of the cemetery in years past. Social media has opened many doors and connected us to much information, no bit is to small!

You can contact us directly at thepathtobachelorsgrove@hotmail.com
Want to help out??? Take our Bachelors Grove Survey! Help us reach our goal of 1000 surveys taken by visiting this link and answering a few brief questions!
https://www.thepathtobachelors...
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Thank You ~
Karl K. & Wendy Moxley Roe