Trinity and Zion Lutheran Cemeteries

Background Information

Crete, Will County, Illinois

Background and INDEX of Record Extractions

© copyright 1996-2000 by Karen Rowe and FEEFHS, all rights reserved

An alphabetical listing (Maiden Names are cross-referenced) of burials in the Trinity Lutheran (North and South) and Zion Lutheran Cemeteries of Crete, Illinois is given below. The twin cemeteries are located alongside the Dixie Highway just south of the village of Crete, Illinois. The "L" shaped Zion cemetery is separated from the Trinity cemetery by only by a thin line of trees.

These cemeteries were read by Don and Shirlee Witt, and the readings originally published in an issue featuring Crete Township, Will County, Illinois of: WHERE THE TRAILS CROSS, Vol. 11:3, Spring 1981, A Quarterly of the South Suburban Genealogy and Historical Society, P.O. Box 96, South Holland, Illinois 60473 -0096

The Trinity and Zion Lutheran Churches of Crete, Illinois were originally one congregation, organized on October 31, 1849 in Beebe's Grove and called Zion. The twelve voting members of the congregation in 1851 were: Karl Clausing, Konrad Harmening, John. F. Koller, John C. Meier, John O. Piepenbrink, Wilhelm Rinne, Konrad Saller, Wilhelm Wehmhoefer, Fritz Wente, Philip Wilharm, John Wilkening and Philip Wille.

In 1854, seven members split off from the Zion Congregation and formed St. Johns Eagle Lake Congregation, and in 1855 another group formed a congregation at Black Walnut but remained a branch of Zion. In 1858, the Beebe's Grove and Black Walnut congregations merged under the name Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, and the name Zion disappeared until 1909 when a group of about 50 members split off from Trinity and organized under the old name Zion.

The baptism, confirmation, marriage and burial records of Trinity Lutheran Church go back to 1850. A microfiche copy of the baptism records up to 1912, the marriage records up to 1945 and the burial records up to 1920 is available in the library of the South Suburban Genealogy and Historical Society, in South Holland, Illinois.