History of the Restoration Movement


Elder Joel Headington

1803-1859

{Need Photo}

Elder Joel Headington was one of the earliest settlers in western Illinois. He was an earlysupporter of the Christian movement, preaching in different locations among the churches. Among many of his contributions, he was a member of the original Board of Trustees for the Berean College planted in Jacksonville, Illinois in 1854. He was a school teacher, operating a school in Jacksonville for many years. He lived to see his 56th year before being called to his eternal reward. Burial took place in the Antioch Cemetery east of Jacksonville, Illinois.

Obituary Notice

Died, at his residence in Morgan, County, Illinois, on the 31st day of January, 1858, Elder Joel Headington, after a protracted and painful illness of about two years, continuance, (which he bore with Christian fortitude and patient resignation to the will of his Heavenly Father) in the 56th year of his age. The deceased was a preacher of the Gospel nearly twenty years, sustained a uniform dignity of deportment during the whole of his Christian career, and retained to the last full possession of his rational faculties, and departed in the triumphs of that faith in which he had lived.
He leaves behind him to mourn his loss (a household of faith) a widow and five children. His son George, in the 25th year of his age, passed the gloomy vale about three months before him. His was a most triumphant death—particularly so for a young man in the bloom of youth, —so much so, that his father exclaimed, “Oh! that I could die like my son!”
-JNO. T. JONES

-Millennial Harbinger, Fifth Series, Vol. 1 #9, September, 1858, p.537

Directions to The Grave Of Joel Headington

Elder Joel Headington and family are buried in the Antioch Cemetery, located seven miles east of Jacksonville, Illinois on the north side of the Old State Road. Legal description of the cemetery site places it in the southeast quarter of Section 9, Township 15N, Range 9W. Antioch Christian Church was formerly adjacent to the cemetery. That building was moved to Ashland around 1955 and was still used for church purposes as late as April 1978. Antioch Cemetery was not incorporated until July 14, 1873. Shortly thereafter bodies were removed from nearby family cemeteries and re-interred in Antioch Cemetery. It is believed that an unusually large number of Negroes are buried in this cemetery, being family members of workers hired by the Strawn family. For a time this cemetery was the second burial site of the famous preacher, Elder Barton W. Stone. His body has since been disinterred and removed to Cane Ridge, Kentucky. Also buried in the Antioch Cemetery is Harrison W. Osborne.

GPS Location
N39º 45.074" x WO90º 06.160"
or D.d 39.751247,-90.102658
Acc. 16" Grave Faces W

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{In Foreground}
Elder J.A. Headington (Son of Joel Headington)
1839-1916
At Rest
(Joel Headington in Background)


Elder Joel Headington
Died
Jan. 31, 1858
Jesus saith I am the resurrection and
the life he that believeth in me
though he were dead, yet shall he live.


Headington Marker Is Broken

Special Thanks To Ken Christensen of Bloomington, Illinois for helping to locate information on Joel Headington, and the Antioch Cemetery. The pictures were provided as a result of a number of circumstances. In June, 2009, the cemetery was visited by your web editor, C. Wayne Kilpatrick, and Tom Childers. It was late in the evening, and the pictures on this site were taken as the sun was going down.

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