Why would anyone be interested in a cemetery whose first burial was in 1851 and where there have not been many recent burials? For Jewish genealogists, Jewish Graceland is a treasure of our heritage. It documents members of the earliest Jewish community that helped build Chicago.
To preserve this heritage and the lives of these pioneers, the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois (JGSI) has recently completed an inventory of all of the burials here and is in the process of making them available via the Internet to the worldwide Jewish community. This service is being made possible via the website: www.jewishgen.org/.
The Hebrew Benevolent Society was founded in 1851. Its founders included David Witkowsky, an early president of Congregation B’nai Sholom (the second oldest synagogue in Chicago, now a part of K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Congregation). One of the society’s main purposes was to create a Jewish burial ground. There already was a similar group, the Jewish Burial Ground Society, which operated a cemetery in what is now Lincoln Park. This Lincoln Park cemetery, which was the first Jewish cemetery, soon had to be moved to another site because of its proximity to Lake Michigan. Jewish Graceland would become the second Jewish cemetery in Chicago.
From the Jewish United Fund website.
