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"THE BAILEY CEMETERY"
Champaign County, Illinois
The Bailey Cemetery is located about one mile northwest of Tolono, Illinois. The name "Bailey," was given (in all likelihood) from Mr. Edward Bailey, formerly president of the Champaign National Bank, Champaign, Illinois, or from his parents - as they owned land in this vicinity. The name "Bailey" is placed on the gateposts, but the name Ash Grove Cemetery was used at one time, also. Mr. Godfrey Sperling of Urbana, Illinois, compiled a list of the cemeteries of Champaign county in the 1930's, and he called it by both names. "There is an old cemetery about one-half mile west of Tolono, now a field, with no vestige of a cemetery apparent. In all likelihood, this was the earliest burial ground near Tolono, and before and after the Civil War, numerous burials were made there. But after Ash Grove Cemetery (now Bailey Cemetery) was started a half-mile north, most of the bodies that were practical to move, were taken to this new location. For a number of years some fifteen or eighteen bodies were scattered over an area of about one acre - now it is a field." The above paragraph is a quotation from Mr. Sperling. The Bailey Cemetery was surveyed in 1871, but burials were started much earlier. One marker which bears the name of "Bower" is dated August 21, 1863. An oval of ground with a granite monument supporting a statue of a Civil War soldier is the center of the veterans' circle, and is just within the gates. This cemetery is a beautiful spot and is in use, and the extra land to the east insures the extension of the cemetery.