Saint Raymond Cemetery was established in 1874. The first burial was Thomas Dunn, the 10 year old son of Michael and Bridget Dunn. He was buried in March 1874 in Section 4.
There are five sections making up the cemetery. Section 5, formerly considered ‘unconsecrated’, was blessed on May 28, 2018 by Father Gerald Bunse after Memorial Day mass.
Several years ago Danny Hough started walking the cemetery to record the known graves. In January of 2016 Larry Weitekamp took over management of the cemetery. Since that time, he and his wife, Nancy, have walked the cemetery several times. Records consulted included Danny Hugh’s partial records, the four different books of past cemetery records, the church records, which were translated from Latin and German, and using FindAGrave and census records to determine those individuals buried in the Cemetery. The first eight years of church records are missing. If records were kept of burials, they have been lost. Some bodies already buried in other cemeteries or on the farm were moved to the new Saint Raymond Cemetery in 1874 or shortly after.
There was not a Catholic Church in Raymond until 1881. Until that time parishioners met in each other’s homes and a visiting priest came once a month. The area was administered by the Alton Diocese.
As of June 6, 2018 Larry and Nancy compiled an as complete and accurate record as possible for Saint Raymond Cemetery. At this time 30 tombstones have been cleaned and who is buried in those graves determined. 55 unknown burials have been discovered. Another 76 burials have been identified, but do not have a tombstone or it is missing. A particular grave has not been determined for four other persons who were buried at Saint Raymond. There are approximately 872 burials.
Records are maintained on the spreadsheet began by Danny Hough as well as recorded on the Diocesan Cemetery software maintained in Springfield. The Diocese provides many guidelines for the proper burial of our loved ones, along with a local board of directors led by and appointed by our parish priest. The appointed cemetery manager provides the management for the daily needs of the cemetery.
– Provided by Larry Weitekamp