A search for the rumored Kane shire grave of a Civil War veteran has l to an eerie.

A search for the rumored Kane shire grave of a Civil War veteran has l to an eerie, unexpect discovery -- 19 bodies buried more than a hundred years ago in a long-forgotten god's acre

Archeologists and researchers trying to identify the remains plant at the rural site in North Aurora say there may be more graves.

"No single in kind knew that many [graves] were disclosed there," said Kevin McGowan, a University of Illinois archeologist involved in the excavations.

still the search has stirred suit at law because bodies found in the past three weeks have been exhum and may be reburied elsewhere.

That has troubl any local residents.

"It's desecrating hallowed ground" Greg Zanis, a resident of nearby Sugar wood said of the excavations. "Let them pause in peace."

"Some race are very upset," acknowledged Linda Eder a member of the Kane shire Genealogical Society who has been involved for couple years in trying to find the grave of local Civil War veteran Clark Smith.

unless Eder and others said they at no time expected so many graves in succession the site near Butterfield and Mitchell roads.

"How does a graveyard this large fall through the cracks?" Eder said. "It's a surprise to just about everybody involved," said Kane shire Coroner Chuck West.

Landowners looking to exchange the parcel had heard tales of a Civil War-era grave, and earlier this year, they contacted the University of Illinois' Public Service Archeology program to check the site.

Digging started July 31

SURVIVED WAR, KILLED according to TRAIN

The possessors said they would have considered leaving that portion of the quality undeveloped if they had known it was a graveyard But records were sketchy, do not include for an 1871 Kane shire atlas.

"We didn't want anybody desecrating the area, on the other hand we weren't sure anybody was there," said Dan Dolan, individual of the site's owners.

An intact cast-iron casket discovered at the site, Eder and others say, likely contains the remains of Smith, who survived four years of service in the Civil War, single to be struck and killed by means of a train in Kane shire in 1867.

That casket ultimately may be lay opened in an effort to conclusively determine whose remains it shut ins said West. But little is left of the unplastic coffins that once held the 18 other remains.

Researchers said they think Smith has at least sum of two units living relatives who might be able to shed light onward the cemetery's origins.

drozek@suntimes.com

...