The Whiteside Station Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution recently completed a restoration and dedication project at the New Design Historical Cemetery, honoring a pair of patriots and keeping some local history alive.

Barb Buchanan of the local D.A.R. chapter spoke about the group’s work and offered some tidbits of history that were uncovered during the project.

As she recalled, former Waterloo Mayor Tom Smith brought the grave of Revolutionary War soldier Zebediah Barker to the chapter’s attention, noting it was located at the New Design Historical Cemetery.

Seeking to learn more about Barker, their search through cemetery records led them to Moses Varnum, another Revolutionary War soldier buried in the same plot of land.

Recognizing that two patriots were in the cemetery, members of the chapter sought to honor them as has been done with many other patriots buried around Monroe County.

“D.A.R., we’ll find Revolutionary War soldiers and then mark them with a plaque,” Buchanan said. “We’ve marked the Whiteside Station Fort. I think next we’re gonna work on Piggott’s Fort.”

A restoration effort at the cemetery, including a headstone cleaning and brush removal, took place last fall, with the dedication of the graves happening in early May of this year.

Buchanan offered a number of interesting notes about the efforts to honor Barker and Varnum, with the chapter recognizing that Barker had previously been dedicated within the D.A.R.

Thanks to research conducted by his direct descendants Susan Barker and David Sickmeyer, the chapter learned that his previous dedication had occurred in 1925 with the now disbanded Fort Chartres Chapter of the D.A.R.

Perhaps the biggest revelation to come from the project was the fact that Barker’s headstone was only placed in the New Design Cemetery in records. In reality, the headstone was placed and dedicated at the Caledonia Cemetery in Sparta.

Thanks to the contributions of a number of individuals outside of the chapter, including living relatives which approved the relocation and assistance from Cemetery Detectives Tim Ogle and Dylane Doerr who provided a tripod for its extraction, the headstone was moved to the New Design Cemetery as was originally intended.

An additional note discovered through researching Barker and Varnum was their relation, as it was learned shortly before the dedication that the patriots were connected by marriage twice.

Along with honoring the duo of patriots, the Whiteside Station Chapter also recognized some other aspects of the New Design settlement’s history.

Among the early settlers was James Lemen, who appears to have been a major proponent of establishing a settlement founded on free labor as opposed to slave labor.

Lemen was seemingly recognized for his anti-slavery efforts at the time, with President Abraham Lincoln having written to his son to suggest that he played a major role in ultimately establishing Illinois as a free state.

Buchanan spoke about the chapter’s efforts at the cemetery over the past year, emphasizing the importance of historic preservation which is among D.A.R.’s core tenants.

“If we do not preserve these things, they are literally lost,” Buchanan said. “I just think it’s important that we do what we can when we can to save these.”