Boardman Cemetery, Bolingbrook

Boardman Cemetery, Bolingbrook, Sec 4, DuPage Twp N of Royce Road about 1 mile W of Rt 53 (farm lane)

In 1832 Harry Boardman established the Boardman Cemetery as a community burying ground in DuPage Township. He sold the land in 1846 to Robert Strong, Samuel Whallon, and Isaic Scarret who deeded the cemetery plot on April 22, 1846, to the County of Will. In the early 1970s the deed for Boardman Cemetery was discovered in the recorder’s office. In 1972 or 1973, Will County deeded the one acre cemetery plot to DuPage Township. (Source: Bolingbrook Does Too Have a History, compiled by James D Bingle for the Bolingbrook Historical Society)

The first death record in Du Page Township was a Mrs. Cleveland, who had just moved into the settlement and died in 1832, and was buried in the cemetery near Mr. Boardman’s – the first burial made in that grave-yard, since the receptacle of many of the pioneers of this part of the country. (Source: The History of Will County, 1878)

The following headstones were donated to the Grundy County Historical Society, Sep 2006. The headstones were face down in a backyard in Coal City for many years. Lea Sharp located the family on the 1840, 1850 & 1860 Will County, DuPage Twp censuses as Reuben W Smith and wife Caroline B Goodrich Smith.

Col. William Smith, and his son Reuben W., came to the township in 1834. The elder Smith lived there a few years, and then removed to Joliet, where he was one of the most prominent citizens. He was president of the old Merchants’ & Drovers’ Bank, a member of the Board of Directors of the Alton road, when it first started, and one of the chief promoters of the old plank roads of fifty or more years ago. He died May 24, 1870. His son, Reuben W., died at the old homestead in Dupage, January 2d, 1869. (Source: Past and Present of Will County, Chicago: SJ Clarke Pub Co, 1907, pg 76.)

Smith, Caroline B Goodrich, wife of RW Smith, died Dec 8, 1863, aged 43 yrs 5 ms 12 ds

Smith, Rubie, son of RW & SL Smith, died Sept 6, 1867, aged 6 mos 20 ds

Update:

Lea Sharp received information from Marilyn Boehner regarding these two headstones. A list of known burials for Boardman Cemetery appears in the book Bolingbrook Does Too Have a History, compiled by James D Bingle for the Bolingbrook Historical Society. The headstones for Caroline B Goodrich Smith and her son, Rubie, were in the Boardman Cemetery in 1977 along with her husband, Reuben Smith, age 52, died Jan 2, 1869. Persifer F Smith, age 4, died Apr 6, 1853 is also buried there. Boardman Cemetery is located North of Royce Road on a farm lane in Bolingbrook, Section 4, DuPage Township.