The Strange Case of William Daniels: A Des Plaines Mystery

When thinking about Des Plaines history, prominent historical figures may come to mind.

Socrates Rand was an early settler in the area for which the Town of Rand, the first plot of land to be called Des Plaines, and Rand Road are both named, according to the city’s website.

Dr. Clarence A. Earle was one of Des Plaines’ first renaissance men, and instrumental in establishing the Des Plaines Public Library in 1905, according to the Revitalize Des Plaines! blog.

There were other types of figures in Des Plaines history, however, and one of them was William Daniels.

At the Des Plaines History Center, 781 Pearson St., it’s almost impossible not to notice a 200-pound-plus tombstone propped up in the back corner. It bares the name William Daniels, and was donated by Des Plaines resident Lane Hudson after he dug it out of his back yard in 2003. His son, Luke Hudson, who was six years old at the time, found it while helping his father put in a stone path.

Daniels moved with his family from England to Des Plaines sometime between his birth on Feb. 23, 1845 and his death on Aug. 27, 1871, according to genealogical research on file at the Des Plaines History Center.

Daniels lived at a time when Des Plaines was an important railroad connection for local farms, Shari Caine, interim director of the Des Plaines Historical Society said. A railroad station opened there in 1854.

The inscription on the tombstone reads, “His life was short, but, full of trouble: his spirit rests in Heaven.” Daniels was 26 years old when he died.

Which begs the question, what was William Daniels’ trouble?

Jack Hallihan has been in the monument business for about 30 years. He’s a monument salesman and designer for Peter Troost Monument Company, 4300 Roosevelt Road, in Hillside. Hallihan said the inscription did seem odd, even for the time. However, it would not have been as strange then as it might seem today, he said.

“Back then, you never know, because there were lots of strange things that they wanted to note on the stone,” Hallihan said. “So that could be referring to his health, and he had nothing but trouble with his health, and it was deteriorating. The fact that he died at 26, there may have been multiple factors. He may just actually have been in trouble, whether it be with other people, the law or anything like that. But it’s hard to say.”

Daniels was the third of nine children to his parents, James Daniels and Dinah Lofthouse, according to genealogical research on file at the Des Plaines History Center.

People at that time were more likely to establish familial relationships with tombstone inscriptions, Hallihan said.

“It’s peculiar that that would be the most noteworthy thing that you’re going to put on there,” Hallihan said.

Another peculiarity about the gravestone’s epitaph is the word “trouble” has a break after the "b," and is on two lines, Hallihan said. They had to inscribe the stone with a hammer and chisel, and workers usually spaced the copy out beforehand, he said.

“I don’t know why they would’ve done that,” Hallihan said. “That would have been a real mistake.”

Hudson said it was his guess the Daniels’ gravestone was discarded in a pile of debris because he found many other random objects in the same area including insulators, paving stones, timbers and glass bottles.

On the other hand, Hudson said he found the tombstone standing straight up, and facing precisely west. One might expect a discarded gravestone to be laying flat, he said.

“When I wrestled this thing out of the ground, which took me forever, the bottom six inches was perfectly clean,” Hudson said. “There was a little notch in it, so it was sitting in a base. Sometimes these things will sit in a concrete base, so I’m wondering if the base is still down there.”

Hudson said he was not aware of any information that indicated there was an old cemetery located where Daniels’ gravestone was discovered.

A group of Mormons heard about the tombstone, completed some genealogical research, and gave a copy to Hudson, who then gave it to the Des Plaines Historical Society, Hudson said.

“And [the Mormons] don’t know exactly where he’s buried at actually,” Hudson said. “But they know where the family is, and the family is from Maine Township. So they found the family, but they didn’t find where he is.”

Hallihan said “an old cemetery guy” that he used to know had a strange but effective way of locating unmarked burial sites.

“It’s as simple as taking some heavy-gauge wire, a little bit thicker than coat hangers, bending it into an ‘L’ shape,” Hallihan said. “So you’ve got about two feet of wire sticking out, and about eight inches going down at a 90-degree angle.”

When you loosely hold two of these, one in each hand, out in front of you and walk across a burial site, the wires will turn towards each other, Hallihan said. He said he has no idea why it works.

“Nobody ever believes me when I tell them that it does that,” Hallihan said. “But if you tried it, and you went to a cemetery and you walked over where the bodies were, this thing turns where bodies are that have been there for one hundred years.”