Butler Funeral Homes and Staab Funeral Home are proud to sponsor the second annual “Walk with Your Ancestors: A tour of Springfield’s Calvary Cemetery.”

This year’s tour will focus on Springfield in the World War I era, according to Michele Levandoski, diocesan archivist and one of the organizers of the tour.

“The years 1917 to 1919 were some of the most dynamic in American history,” Levandoski said. “The United States’ entry into the First World War helped transform the country into a world superpower. At the same time, people worldwide were dying of a deadly form of influenza, resulting in the largest pandemic in world history. On the home front, thousands of women participated in war-related work, which directly lead to the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.”

During the approximately one-mile tour, actors dressed in period costumes will portray seven people who lived during the period and whose lives were shaped by these events. The “ancestors” will talk about their own lives and about how the people of Springfield responded to issues.

“The walk will feature ‘ancestors’ who will talk about the war, the influenza pandemic, prohibition, the work of the Red Cross and St. John’s Sanitarium,” Levandoski said. 

One of the featured “ancestors” will be Byrne Kinsella, who along with his brother, Raymond, served during the war as members of Company C of the 124th Machine Gun Battalion, Thirty-Third Division. Bryne participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the biggest operation and victory for the American Expeditionary force during WWI and was welcomed back in Springfield as a hero. Raymond died of disease while serving in France.

Also featured will be Father James Murray, who died of influenza during the 1918 pandemic. “At its height, over 1,500 people in Springfield were sick with influenza and in an effort to combat the disease, the city virtually shut down,” Levandoski said.

Portrayers of George Reisch and Harriet Farmer will argue the benefits (or, by some arguments, the detriment) of prohibition, which was enacted in Springfield on April 3, 1917, Levandoski said.

The tour will begin at the main gate of Calvary Cemetery on Sunday Oct. 10 from 1-3 p.m. In case of rain, the tour will occur the following Sunday, Oct. 17.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 7-12. Tickets can be purchased at the Calvary Cemetery Office, 2001 N. First Street, or the Catholic Pastoral Center, 1615 W. Washington. Tickets will also be available for sale on the day of the walk. Proceeds will benefit Calvary Cemetery and the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois Archives.