Many visitors to Forest Home Cemetery want to know where the oldest grave is. The answer is a complicated one. Of course, Native Americans used the land along the Des Plaines as burial grounds for centuries before Europeans arrived, but very little remains of what was once approximately 10 acres of native burial grounds.
Muddling the matter further, we know that the first non-Native American buried with a headstone predates the cemetery by close to 20 years. In 1854, Ferdinand Haase, who at the time was using the land as a farm, buried his brother-in-law, Carl Zimmerman, on top of an existing Native American burial mound. Complicating it further, Zimmerman does not have the earliest date listed on a headstone in the cemetery.
Beneath the impressive Stannard monument lay 10 members of the Gaylord, Gilbert, and Stannard families. Captain William “Billy” Gaylord (1779-1820), who rests at the monument, was born in Connecticut in October 1779. (The date on his headstone incorrectly says he was born in 1780.) Captain Gaylord was a shipwright and one of the first ship captains on Lake Erie, where he had a freight and passenger business based in Cleveland, Ohio. He died at the age of 40 from an illness that began on board his schooner the American Eagle. His birth date appears to be that of the earliest non-Native American buried in the cemetery, but Captain Gaylord wasn’t originally buried here. This is his fourth resting place. Captain Gaylord was first buried in the Cleveland City Cemetery, but six years later, when that cemetery closed (it was Cleveland’s first), his body was moved to a family plot in the Erie Street cemetery, also located in Cleveland. Then, in 1908, he was relocated to Forest Home on the west side of the river, and then finally, in 1950, he was interred on the east side of the river where he now rests.
Buried alongside Captain Gaylord is his wife, Prudence Gilbert Gaylord (1788-1882), her sisters Marie Gilbert (1799-1870), Elizabeth Gilbert Brown (1803-1888), and Prudence’s son from a subsequent marriage, Gilbert Coleman (1829-1866). Gilbert was a sailor during the Civil War aboard the Cincinnati. These four, were also initially buried in Cleveland.
Prudence and Captain Gaylord’s daughter, Elizabeth/Lizzie (1819-1894), married another boat captain, Charles C. Stannard (1803-1854). Charles had a brilliant career on the water. He was a commander of a Great Lakes schooner at the young age of 22. In 1851, Stannard was said to have a “true sailor heart” for his bold actions when the Buckeye State and Saratoga collided on a stormy Lake Erie. Charles sent his crew, “rugged tars with hearts open to sympathy, and as brave as ever beat” to save passengers that turbulent night. Charles also worked for the American Fur Company transporting trade goods, supplies, and provisions to early settlements along the Great Lakes captaining the first American commercial schooner on Lake Superior, the John Jacob Astor. (Both of his brothers also worked on the Astor.)
Stannard is best known for his 1835 discovery of a dangerous reef, still considered to be Lake Superior’s most serious navigational hazard. Because of this discovery, the reef was named Stannard’s Rock. The Stannard Rock Lighthouse was completed in 1882, after many years of engineering challenges. The lighthouse is known as the loneliest place in North America and stands to this day continuing to aid navigation. Charles died suddenly at the age of 51 while commanding the Western World. His last words to a mate demonstrate his dedication to his ship: “Take care of her, Mac; I am gone.” Charles was buried in Cleveland with Masonic services and ceremonies “all fitting and proper.”
After his death, Lizzie moved her family west and purchased 220 acres of land in what is now Maywood. Lizzie’s obituary said that when she died at her home at 75, she was “one of the oldest and best esteemed residents of this suburb.” She was also originally laid to rest in the family plot in Cleveland.
The sailing bug seems to have stopped at the next generation as Lizzie and Charles’ children were not sailors. Leonard Stannard (1852-1894) did very well in the real estate market but sadly died at the age of 42, soon after the death of his mother. He was also initially buried in Cleveland with other family members. His younger brother, Charles C. Stannard (1851-1933) married Ora Carr (1870-1949) and is the reason the family now rests in Forest Park. In the early 1900s, Charles made quite a bit of money selling parcels of the Stannard hay farm in Maywood (including land that is now the section of Forest Home Cemetery west of the river). Charles Jr. must have decided to stay in the area permanently and wanted his family about him. In 1908, he moved the family members who had been buried in Cleveland to Forest Home Cemetery’s Section 43 on the west side of the river. After his death at the age of 81, his wife, Ora, inherited most of the estate and set up a charitable trust fund benefitting the community. She also left money for the beautiful Stannard monument which stands in Section 36 on the east side of the river, where all 10 family members now reside. For the sailors in the family, it was one last trip across the water.
References: The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Family Visitor, FindaGrave.com, The Historical Marker Database, lighthousefriends.com, Weekly Plain Dealer, United States Coast Guard Historian’s Office
Many thanks to Kurt Etchingham at the Historical Society of Oak Park & River Forest for his incredible research. You can “hear” from Captain Gaylord during the Tale of the Tombstones cemetery walk on Oct. 18.