Jacksonville Review – October 2025
OUR AUGUST History Saturday program, Jacksonville’s Jewish Community in the 1800s, featured two pioneer ladies describing the many contributions of early Jewish residents to our town’s civic and business life. In period costume and presenting in the conversational style of Meet the Pioneers, the talk by Lynn Ransford and Anne Peugh was enjoyed by our largest audience of the season.
As Matilda Mensor and Louisa Muller, Lynn and Anne shared details of their characters’ lives, beginning with marriages at age seventeen to well-respected, older men, both successful local merchants and civic leaders. The ladies were good friends, raised large families in homes on California Street (Louisa with seven children and Matilda with seventeen), and remained in town after most other Jewish families left the area following Jacksonville’s decline in the late 1800s.
We also learned about many Jewish burial and religious customs, and most visitors walked to the Jewish section of the cemetery to hear more about other pioneer families and visit their gravesites. This was Lynn and Anne’s second History Saturday talk of the season, and we thank them for two very informative and interesting presentations!
The Friends board loses one of its most active and hardest-working members this month, as Dee Reynar and husband Ken move on from historic Jacksonville to become full-time residents of Tucson, Arizona. As a member of the Meet the Pioneers research committee, Dee contributed individual stories such as, “Uriah Seabury Hayden” (2018), and narratives such as, “The Queen of the Pacific,” and “Jacksonville’s First Fire Engine and Fire Company.” (2022). She co-chaired the History Saturday program for several years and led the effort to create and place storyboards at seventeen pioneer gravesites throughout the cemetery. With Dirk’s passing, Dee picked up many of his cemetery restoration duties, and she and Ken took on the leadership of the Marker Cleaning Workshop program, introducing many new volunteers to the joys of keeping our cemetery’s markers, headstones, and monuments clean and readable. With appreciation for their friendship and thanks for all they’ve done for the Jacksonville Historic Cemetery, we wish Dee and Ken the very best in their new home!
Please join us for our final cemetery clean-up of the year (details below), and please remember that tools and supplies for Adopt-A-Block and marker maintenance are available in the Volunteer Tool Shed for use as your schedules permit.
Fall Community Cemetery Clean-up Day, Saturday, October 25th, 9am-noon—Join the Friends and other community organizations and volunteers for a clean-up of the cemetery grounds in preparation for winter. Bring gloves to wear, leaf rakes, pruners, and gas/battery operated blowers (if County fire regulations permit). Eye and ear protection is recommended. Meet at the Sexton’s Tool House, top of Cemetery Road. Parking within the cemetery.
Please check our website at friendsjvillecemetery.org for future events and programs.
Featured image: Lisa Cogswell and David Grant, August 2025 Marker Cleaning Workshop. Photo: Dick Meyers