On a cool and crisp autumn night, participants got a chance to learn about Montgomery’s past at the annual Cemetery Walk in the village presented by the Montgomery Historic Preservation Commission.
During the event earlier this month, guests were led in small groups through the cemetery at 414 N. River St. on a tour where they met local residents playing the parts of early Montgomery settlers and others buried in the cemetery.
One of the first stops was the grave of the Rev. Phillip Miller, who was portrayed at the event by John Aman.
Miller was born in 1797 in New York state and married his bride Elizabeth Arkenburg there, Aman said. When the family arrived in the Montgomery area, they decided to settle in Bristol Township.
Miller was a close friend of the forefathers of the area, such as Daniel and Nicholas Gray as well as the Keck family.
“The early settlers wrote to friends back home in New York about the fertile land and great opportunities,” Aman said in his portrayal of Miller.
Village Trustee Matt Bauman was also one of those portraying noted people during the Cemetery Walk. He portrayed James Richard Mosley, born in 1875 in Jo Daviess County and who later came to Montgomery.
Mosley married in 1896 and continued to work alongside his father, according to the portrayal. He spent time in Iowa with one of his sons as he helped him with farm work. He also spent time in Sugar Grove, assisting another son in farming.
“I decided I’d had enough farming, and I built a Phillips 66 gas station at the corner of Webster Street and River,” Bauman said during his portrayal of Mosley. “Although times were tough for many in the 1930s, we were fortunate enough to own our own home, worth $4,500, on South River Street.”
The next stop took visitors to the gravesite of Fred Neupert, portrayed by Lucas Albright. Despite an economic boom in the early 1900s, Montgomery had begun to experience a slowdown by the time Neupert was born in 1924.
“Although we were a small community, we helped each other out during tough times and tough times hit us in 1930 from the Depression,” Albright said during his portrayal of Neupert.
Neupert turned 18 the year after Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, launching the United States into World War II. After serving his country he returned to Montgomery, married and had a family.
He worked for Lyon Metal in Montgomery for 45 years, beginning as a welder, according to the portrayal.
The event included a visit to the gravesite of Ethel Davis Wolf, portrayed by her granddaughter, Lori Wolf.
Ethel Davis Wolf lived some 105 years, and her gravestone has her date of birth as 1918, with her dying just a couple years ago in 2023.
She was born on the Davis family farm in Sugar Grove Township in April 1918.
In the portrayal at the event, it was noted all the things Ethel Davis Wolf had experienced in her lifetime.
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“To go from living on a farm with an outhouse and a water pump to having all the modern conveniences of life in 2023 was a huge change,” according to the portrayal.
Judy Pochel is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.