Ask Mike: Pekin gravestone a tribute to Tazewell County 'pioneer resident'
“(When I was) growing up in the (1960s and 1970s) 60s and 70s, I rode my bike countless times up to the Pekin Mall, and would always see a huge stone (at Haines Cemetery) with the name of Nieukirk, specifically McHenry Nieukirk. I always wondered who he was and where he lived.”
Dr. Ronald Gaitros, Wilmington, N.C.
The Nieukirk family was among the first to settle in Tazewell County. In some instances, the name, Dutch in origin, was Americanized to Newkirk. (Appollis) McHenry Nieukirk, whose name appears on the gravestone in question, was the first Nieukirk in his line to be born in the county. His father, Abraham Nieukirk came to Pekin from Salem County, N.J. some time before March 29, 1835, when McHenry was born. Abraham's brothers John, Joseph and Benjamin also apparently moved to the Midwest in the first half of the 19th century to create several local branches of the Nieukirk family. According to information from the genealogy website geni.com; John H. Nieukirk died in Tazewell County in 1850, Benjamin Newkirk died in Illinois in 1880, and Joseph Newkirk died in Peoria County in 1873.
By 1855, McHenry Nieukirk had married Caroline Heward of Pekin. She preceded him in death by 36 years, dying on Sept. 25, 1880. According to an obituary supplied by the Tazewell County Genealogical and Historical Society, he died Aug. 31, 1916 in Elm Grove Township, survived by three daughters and a son. During his funeral service, he was celebrated as a “pioneer resident.”
According to information supplied by McHenry Nieukirk’s great-grandson Donald for the Dec. 1, 1983 edition of the quarterly newsletter “Newkirk Notes,” the story of his branch of the Nieukirk family in the United States began in about 1662, when Cornellis Gerretsen Nieukirk was born in New Netherland (now New York). His father, Gerret Cornellissen VanNieuwkirk had emigrated from the Netherlands in 1659 on the ship Moesman. During the 18th century, the family made its way to New Jersey before Abraham Nieukirk and his brothers settled in Illinois.
The Nieukirk family apparently achieved at least some local prominence in the 1800s and the early 1900s. In the 1905 book “History of Tazewell County, Volume II,” editor Ben C. Allensworth included a membership list of the Tazewell County Old Settlers Association, which was restricted to Tazewell residents who had lived in the county since before 1864. The roll includes an M.H. Nieukirk and a Mrs. Nathan Nieukirk. In a Feb. 7, 2020 “From the History Room” article, Pekin Public Library local history specialist Jared Olar wrote that Clark Nieukirk founded the “Green Valley Banner” newspaper in the late 1890s. The paper went on to serve the Green Valley community for four decades before folding during the Great Depression of the 1930s. And in a Feb. 8, 2019 “From the History Room Column,” Olar wrote that a Donald Nieukirk authored “One Hundred Telegrams Sent or Received at Tremont, Illinois, 1912,” a 36-page book that was published in 2001 by the Tremont Historical Society and Museum and offers a local glimpse into the heyday of the telegraph.
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Over the years, the name Nieukirk has become quite prolific in the greater Peoria area. A search for the name on the online directory services provider whitepages.com shows that over 70 Nieukirks currently call central Illinois home or have lived in the area in the past, along with over 30 Newkirks.
This article originally appeared on Pekin Daily Times: Ask Mike: Pekin headstone honors Tazewell County 'pioneer resident'
