Walnut Hill Cemetery

This project is a memorial tribute to the men and women buried here, sponsored and funded by the St. Clair County (Illinois) Genealogical Society (SCCGS) in fulfillment of one of its purposes – to preserve ancestral data.

SCCGS’s website shows people buried on a “lot”—many of them related. Lots generally hold four (4) to 10 or 12 grave spaces. Monument photographs are available for a small portion of the cemetery only.

How to search Walnut Hill on this website

  1. Please read the Project limitations tab above.
  2. Use FreeFind’s advanced search options to target a specific surname in Walnut Hill, e.g., find all the words Walnut Smith. This limits hits to all Smith that appear on Walnut Hill cemetery webpages only. Search
  3. See also the Cemetery section and lot tab above regarding some Catholic burials, and sidebar links to the original sexton’s books.

Use the maps to identify lots nearby which may contain relatives by a different surname.

Project limitations

Burials circa 1878 – 1992 are on this website, numbering approximately 23,000. Burials began in 1850 when deaths from cholera filled the “old burial ground” and continue to this day. No record was kept for burials in the early 1850s. 

  • The earliest extant burials (1855 – 1878), a Catholic burial book (1888-1899), and burials recorded after circa 1992 will be found in the original sexton’s books, courtesy of City of Belleville (linked on the right).
  • Early records show a great many misspellings, see this example of  commonly misspelled names or words in the sexton’s book.
  • Here is an example transcription of the 1855 burials in this cemetery

Monument photographs

  • Monuments in part of the cemetery were taken in 2008. Lot card information and the photograph may differ, generally due to handwriting interpretation or burials after the cards were transcribed.
  • Photo galleries for a small portion of this cemetery on this website
  • Where a link is provided on this website, photographs are available upon request.

Monuments from the earliest days may have crumbled; others may have fallen and are now underground. Still others had no monument erected.

Use agreement

SCCGS provides the data and images here for your personal and private research files. Please add attribution in your files, e.g., Courtesy St. Clair County Genealogical Society, Belleville, Illinois, stclair-ilgs.org.

  • As stated in our Terms of Agreement, SCCGS holds a compilation copyright for this data by which you are granted a limited license to use said data as unique elements that are part of a unique family history or genealogy.
  • Any other use, including republication or uploading this data in whole or in part to any public website requires prior written permission from the SCCGS Board. You may link to this website.
  • Commercial use or copying with intent to redistribute or publish in print or electronic medium is prohibited.

Walnut Hill Cemetery by section and lot

 Lots were comprised of 12 grave spaces. Not all families purchased graves in bulk, i.e., a lot. Burials for individuals without a lot were traditionally buried in the next unused grave space in a row, for the most part by date of burial. It is likely lots 357 – 366 hold individuals buried in this manner and may be those whose names appear in SCCGS Quarterly Volume 8 Number 4 (1985) article, “Catholic Burials, Walnut Hill Cemetery, Belleville, 1888-1899”.

Original Catholic lots 367 – 564. Original Catholic lot cards 357 – 366 do not exist. It is speculated that the sexton’s book titled Catholic 1888-1899 might represent burials in on lots 357 – 366.

Original Catholic row blocks 22, 23

Original, lots 411, 434 – 437

Original, lots 518, 565 – 599

Original, lots 600-699, and 700 – 799, and 800 – 899, and 900 – 984

Original, baby row lots 346, 407, 440, and 501 To top

Maple, lots 1 – 99100 – 199, and 200, 258

1st Addition, lots 1 – 99, and 100 – 199, and 200 -322

1st Addition, adjoining – lots 8, 9, 9.5, 10- 17

2nd Addition, lots 1 – 99100 – 198 To top

3rd Addition, lots 323-336

4th Addition, lots 1 – 110

5th Addition, lots A – Z for 135 – 199, and, lots 200 – 307

7th Addition all lots To top

9th Addition, blocks 1, 2, and 3

10th Addition, sections A and B

11th Addition all lots To top

Block 1 annex

Block 2 annex

Block 3 annex

Block 4 annex To top

Block 5 annex

Block 6 annex, 10 annex, and 11 annex

Block 14 annex To top

Blocks 16 and 17, Veterans

Block 19, Tiers A-D, 1st addition, subdiv C and D, babies and children

Block 19, Tiers 1 – 33, 1st addition, subdiv C, children To top

Blocks 19 and 20, Tiers 1, 2, 3, subdiv A and C, between Hope-Myrtle-Palm

Block 20, tiers 1 – 21, 1st addition subdiv D

Block 21, tiers 1 – 10, and tiers 11 – 18

Blocks 22 and 23 – only scant information and rare monuments in this section. Earliest burials are in this section.

Block 21, 1st Addition and baby tier, Subdiv A To top

St. Clair County Genealogical Society, PO Box 431, Belleville, IL 62222-0431.
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