The Jane Addams Burial Site is located in Cedarville Cemetery in the village of

Cedarville, Illinois Cedarville is a village in Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 741 at the 2010 census, up from 719 in 2000. It is the birthplace of social activist Jane Addams, the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Geography Cedarville ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

' burial site is located on a family plot which also contains the graves of her father, John Huy Addams, and several other family members. Addams, a social activist famous for her affiliation with

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...

, died of cancer in 1935. Her funeral was held on the courtyard of the Hull House and her body then transported for burial in Cedarville.

Death

Jane Addams, a social activist famous for her affiliation with

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, died of cancer on May 21, 1935. Her death sparked a public outpouring of grief, with some commentators comparing her to

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. Telegrams arrived by the hundreds, offering condolences from all over the world, including

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. One famous eulogy from

Walter Lippmann Walter Lippmann (September 23, 1889 – December 14, 1974) was an American writer, reporter and political commentator. With a career spanning 60 years, he is famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War, coining the te ...

stated, "She had infinite sympathy for common things without forgetfulness for those that are uncommon."Elshtain, Jean Bethke. ''The Jane Addams Reader'',
Google Books
, Basic Books: 2002, p. xxviii, (). Retrieved September 14, 2007. A cartoon in the ''

Chicago Herald and Examiner The ''Chicago American'' was an afternoon newspaper published in Chicago, under various names until its dissolution in 1974. History The paper's first edition came out on July 4, 1900, as '' Hearst's Chicago American''. It became the ''Morning ...

'' summed up her accomplishments as "carved in imperishable granite".

Burial

Before her death, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C. offered Addams burial in the

National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the ca ...

, beside U.S. President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

. Addams refused this offer and instead opted to be buried in the small family plot at the Cedarville Cemetery in her hometown of

. Two days after her death, May 23, Addams' funeral was held in the courtyard of the Hull House; it was attended by thousands.Daniel, Catherine Lundy.
Hull House Incorporated: CEO
" Hull-House Incorporated: The Professionalization of Social Work, January 2001, Trachtenberg Hypertext Extension, ''University of Virginia''. Retrieved September 14, 2007. Her body was transported by train to

Freeport, Illinois Freeport is the county seat and largest city of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,973 at the 2020 census, and the mayor of Freeport is Jodi Miller, elected in 2017. Freeport is known for hosting the second Linc ...

where it was removed and taken to the Addams Homestead and then to Cedarville Cemetery for burial.Klein, Maragaret.
Cedarville Cemetery
" Cedarville: Birthplace of Jane Addams, June 2005, ''University of Illinois-Chicago''. Retrieved September 14, 2007.

Grave

The Addams family plot is marked with an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

, in Cedarville Cemetery, a short distance from her birthplace at the

John H. Addams Homestead The John H. Addams Homestead, also known as the Jane Addams Birthplace, is located in the Stephenson County village of Cedarville, Illinois, United States. The homestead property, a site, includes an 1840s era Federal style house, a Pennsylvani ...

.Jane Addams
" ''Jane Addams Trail'', official site. Retrieved 14 September 2007. At Addams' request, her tombstone

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

mentions her as associated with Hull House and the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

, but neglects to mention her

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

.Sklar, Kathryn, et al. ''Social Justice Feminists in the United States and Germany: A Dialogue in Documents: 1885–1933'', Cornell University Press: 1998, p. 67, ().. Retrieved September 14, 2007. Addams penned this epitaph herself. In August 2004, the obelisk monument at the Addams family plot underwent a restoration, headed by Flachtemeier Monuments, a Freeport company. The monument restoration was funded by a donation from the Jane Addams Peace Association.Klein, Maragaret.
Cedarville Cemetery: Virtual Tour
" Cedarville: Birthplace of Jane Addams, June 2005, ''University of Illinois-Chicago''. Retrieved September 14, 2007. Work included repairs to the monument's base, and the restablization of the marker.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Addams, Jane Burial Site Cedarville, Illinois Burials in Illinois Tourist attractions in Stephenson County, Illinois