Kendall County, Illinois Genealogy

Pavilion Baptist Church

June 21 1864, one of the compiler's ancestors, Captain William H. Harkness was killed in action during the battle of Kenesaw Mountain near Marietta, Georgia. Captain Harkness was 29 years of age at the time of his death. He had been a farmer in Kendall Township and was a member of the Pavilion Baptist Church. A memorial service was scheduled to be held at ten o'clock Sunday morning, July 24, 1864 in the Pavilion Baptist Church. His friends and relatives assembled but the church was too small to hold the congregation and the services had to be held in the adjoining grove to accommodate the very large crowd.

The service was held in an area known locally as "the green." In the late eighteen hundreds a fence was built around the green for the first time. This was thought to be the last piece of ground in Kendall County to be fenced (for the first time.)