Two of the most unique monuments in the Main Street Cemetery are the stones for the Wells family. John Manning Wells born in 1848 and died in 1932. Born in England John came to America as a young boy. One of Downers Grove’s early founders, John Wells was known for his Real Estate and Rental Agency but he also sold insurance policies.
These policies were provided by the Modern Woodmen of America Association. This was a fraternal organization founded in 1868 to provide mutual, social, and financial support after the Civil War. It was the first fraternal benefit society that offered insurance, sickness, accident, death and burial policies. Founder John Cullen Root wanted to create a benefit society to “bind in one association” those of all religions and beliefs.
Wells was concerned about the Civil War veterans as his father Robert fought at Gettysburg and his brother Abraham fought at Vicksburg. Both were discharged as disabled. After the war caring for the disabled was done by the families and many did not have the means to do so. The Modern Woodmen now could help these veterans. The Modern Woodmen Association was open to all from ages 17 to 45 who were in good health. When a member reached age 70 or was disabled, benefits would be paid. By 1890, there were over 100,000 members in Illinois and for a time it was the largest Fraternal Beneficiary Society in the Western Hemisphere. Many dinners and picnics were held for the benefit of the community and the Woodmen even granted scholarships to students.
One thing the organization felt strongly about was that when a Woodman or someone in his family died their grave should be marked with a tombstone. The organization provided them free from 1890 to 1900 and from 1900 to 1920 at a cost of $100.00. The stone was to be designed as a 4 or 5 foot tall tree trunk that could be personalized with markings to represent the deceased. Plans for the markers were sent to local stonecutters so the could be made by stonecutters in the area. The woodmen even had a special design for a child who died of three stacked logs. The Woodmen monuments in the Main Street Cemetery were made by Charles Kayler of Naperville. Kayler was a Civil War veteran from Ohio who moved to Naperville after the war. His name is found at the bottom of the tree monument placed on the grave of John Wells’s mother when she died in 1883. It bears the personalized inscription “Sudden was the death I met and great surprise to all. When God did say I must away could I refuse his call?” The Wells daughter Gracie died on January 5, 1883, and her grandmother died days later on January 10, 1883, possibly from some sickness that is referred to by the inscription on the stone.
These unique monument are a part of the history of the Downers Grove Main Street Cemetery.
