The Catholic families of Leland and vicinity created a Catholic Cemetery around 1870 on land donated by Dr. John Keenan, ancestor of the Joe Kinne family, formerly of Leland. St. Clara Catholic Cemetery is located about one mile east of Leland Cemetery on the corner of E 21st Road & N 4750th (Cemetery) Road. Later, this land belonged to the Mackin family.
The first burial in St. Clara was Richard Keenan, son of Dr. and Mrs. Keenan, who was a student for the priesthood at Notre Dame at the time of his death. The lot was later enclosed with a low fence and also contains the graves of Dr. and Mrs. Keenan.
Father P.J.R. Murphy, pastor of the Mendota parish from 1859 to 1861, often came to private homes in the community to hold Mass, weddings, and funerals. It was Father Murphy who set plans in motion to build a church. Due to Father Murphy’s reassignment, his replacement, Father O’Farrell, supervised the building of the church in 1864; however, there were never any resident priests in Leland.
Years later, the church building began to deteriorate and in 1907 the property was sold and church Masses were discontinued. Thereafter, Mass, as well as catechism classes, were held in private homes including those of Joe Antoines, John Martins, and the Campions.
In 1983, the DeKalb County Historical Society researched St. Clara Cemetery. A brief history of the Catholic community in Leland was published in a subsequent issue of their newsletter “Cornsilk.” The history included a list of burials found at the time in records at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Somonauk. The cemetery was active from 1870 until the last burial, John Glen, in 1957. Today, the somewhat forgotten cemetery is the responsibility of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Earlville and could use much TLC.
