Forest Hill Cemetery

A few more pictures from Forest Hill....

The pillow atop the Herrick-Doyon marker means "Rest in peace."

Beverly Jefferson was the grandson of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. His father, Eston, became a free man when his mother died and, by law of manumission (the formal act of freeing from slavery), was required to leave Virginia. Eston and brothers Madison and Thomas settled in Ohio in 1826, and in 1852 he and his wife Julia moved to Madison. It was at that time that they took the surname Jefferson. Beverly was a hotel keeper, owned a carriage line, and also served in the 1st Wisconsin Infantry.


The only wooden marker at Forest Hill, dating back to the cemetery's beginning. There are no records indicating who is buried here, but we were told that it may be that of Millie Kearns. This is not the only "unknown" lying at rest in Forest Hill. There are 339 unknown Madisonians listed in cemetery records, most of whom were buried in the village cemetery before they were moved here. Wooden markers were common in the early village days, particularly by the poor who could not afford permanent markers.