Author: Gage Caudell

Growing up there was a story of a lady who was executed in my home town by hanging.  She was the first in Illinois.  I honestly always questioned the authenticity of the story.  Recently, my wife and I were back in Lawrenceville and I was telling her and my little girl about it.  My wife searched for the story on the internet and to come to find out, there is definitely truth to it.  Here is a blog post by Joy Neighbors about Elizabeth Reed, the first woman executed by hanging in Illinois.

After reading the blog post I decided I needed to see the cemetery and the headstone my self.  What really caught my eye was the Heathsville sign that shows the population to be 8. Unsure if I will ever see another town with less people in it LOL.