Ann Rutledge’s Resting Places

Ann Rutledge’s Resting Places

by Jonathan W. White

When she died in 1835, Ann Rutledge was buried in New Concord, Illinois, about six miles north of New Salem. In 1890, one newspaper reported that the “remains of the emancipator’s first love had lain neglected” for nearly fifty-five years until they were “discovered only after much difficulty having been beaten down and overgrown by the storm and decay of time.” According to another report, “There was nothing to mark the grave except the fact that a brother who died in 1843, was buried beside her. From this scant source of information and from tradition, the grave in the Concord cemetery was found.”

In 1890, Ann’s remains were moved to Oakland Cemetery near Petersburg, where she finally received a headstone. About that time, a Chicago newspaper reported, “No other grave is near it.” Today, visitors can easily locate several of Lincoln’s New Salem friends and neighbors nearby, including Bowling Green and Hannah Armstrong.

In 1921, Ann received a large new headstone, which featured a poem by Edgar Lee Masters, who is buried a short walk away in Oakland Cemetery. Taken from The Spoon River Anthology, the poem concludes, “Bloom forever, O Republic, / From the dust of my bosom!”

In 1995, descendants of one of Ann’s cousins worked with the Menard County Historical Society to install a cenotaph for Ann next to her brother’s headstone in the Old Concord Cemetery. Also buried in the cemetery are Jack Armstrong (of the famous wrestling match) and other New Salem acquaintances of Lincoln’s.