Hear the stories of Nance Legins-Costley, Pvt. Costley, Moffatt Cemetery, and the ways that Pekin and Peoria are honoring them, as told by Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman, Nance historian Carl Adams, and Robert Hoffer of the Peoria Historical Society.

Nance Legins-Costley of Pekin (1813-1892) and her three eldest children are known as the first African-Americans to be freed from slavery with the help of Abraham Lincoln. Nance's eldest son William Henry Costley (1840-1888) later was one of Tazewell County's five African-American men who witnessed the first Juneteenth at Galveston, Texas, in 1865. After living in Pekin for 50 years, Nance and her family moved to Peoria, where she died and was buried in the former Moffatt Cemetery.

This summer, a memorial will be dedicated close to the site of Moffatt Cemetery to honor Nance and her family along with the Union Army soldiers and more than 2,600 Peorians buried there.  Also in downtown Pekin, in the 400 block of Court Street, a memorial honoring Nance and Pvt. Costley will be dedicated on Saturday, June 17, 2023, at 10 a.m.

Sponsored by the Coalition for Equality YWCA Pekin, the Pekin Public Library, the Tazewell County Clerk's Office, the Tazewell County Historical and Genealogical Society, and the Peoria Historical Society. 

Guests are welcome to bring lunch.