Cemetery vandalized

Last week Eastside Cemetery was vandalized. I took it personally. I have been working on recording and preserving the records and lives of those resting at Eastside since 2006. 67 headstones were toppled with some of them breaking.

Here is a photo of a section of Civil War veterans that had their stones broken. After Memorial Day I will do a thorough walk through with the sexton and record the damage. Thankfully I had already photographed most of the 21 broken stones.

Ready for Memorial Day

Today, with Barry's help, the interment list for Wildmead Cemetery was updated. I have one empty panel that I hope to fill with interesting information and photos.

Our contribution to pay it forward.

The kiosk, memorial stone and benches were added in 2010.

Woodlawn Cemetery Needs Your Vote!

From Jason Gross, Social Media Manager, for Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, NY.

Woodlawn is one of forty New York City sites participating in the Partners in Preservation program   American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are awarding funds to restoration projects through an online voting competition.  Grants go to the sites with highest number of votes and the most creative and passionate supporters (like you!). Woodlawn will use the $150,000 grant for restoration to the beautiful, historic Belmont Mausoleum, which was just featured in this Partners in Preservation YouTube video: 

To win, we need you to VOTE DAILY. You can also post your thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or on your website to promote the VOTE for Woodlawn. The competition runs until May 21st.

Please click on http://partnersinpreservation.com/, promote the vote, and let everyone know why the place that preserves the stories of over 300,000 people (including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Herman Melville, Joseph Pulitzer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Simon Guggenheim, Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Lionel Hampton and many other great historic figures) matters to you.

Okay my cemetery friends...please take time to vote and also share this on your blogs, G+, Facebook, etc.

Woodlawn was designated a National Historic Landmark in June 2011. Please vote!

The Belmont Mausoleum

Saw Lee surrender

He saw Lee surrender

One Hutchinson Veteran Found Who Was It At Finish

One Hutchinson veteran has been found who was at Appomattox when Gen. Lee’s army surrendered to Grant. George W. Lester was there, and was close enough to see Lee hand over his sword to Grant.

Mr. Lester was in a Pennsylvania cavalry regiment, which happened to be stationed not far away, when the historical incident occurred. He secured a piece of the wood of the famous apple tree under which the surrender took place.

Hutchinson News

April 14, 1910

Lot 374

 .................................................

• Factual reporting?
• The surrender took place where?
• What did he see? If anything?
• Was he there?
• George’s headstone shows his service as Co A, 3 NJ CAV
• George’s obituary lists 3 Cav and 25 Cav, both Co A
• Ancestry.com records list 3 Cav Co A and 25 Cav Co I
• Where is the wood today?

An urge for momentos now possessed the men of both armies. The unfortunate Wilmer McLean was besieged by Yankee officers who made off with many items from the surrender room. A few tried to assuage their consciences by forcing a payment upon the reluctant host, but the fact is that nothing was taken with his willing permission. The apple tree where Lee had rested while he waited to hear from Grant also paid for its notoriety. "Our men wanted pieces of wood from the tree under which General Lee sat," a Pennsylvania soldier explained. "They began breaking twigs and then everyone wanted a piece of the tree for a souvenir. Before they finished they had cut down five large trees."

 http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/civil_war_series/6/sec6.htm

 …and in certain areas of popular imagination it may prove far more difficult to dislodge or qualify than the story that Grant and Lee signed the surrender papers under an apple tree, a legend that arose after Lee spent time waiting for Grant on April 9 in an apple orchard.

http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Surrender_at_Appomattox

 New Jersey Cavalry - 3rd Regt

Organized at Camp Bayard, Trenton, N.J., and mustered in by Companies as follows: Company "A" January 26, Company "C" January 22, Company "E" January 4, Company "F" January 12, Companies "G" and "H" January 6, 1864; Company "D" December 2, 1863; Company "B" January 29, and Companies "I," "K," "L" and "M" March 24, 1864. March to Annapolis, Md., April 5-7, 1864. Guard Orange & Alexandria Railroad April 29-May 5. Attached to Cavalry, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to May, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac and Middle Military Division, to June, 1865. Defenses of Washington, D.C., to August, 1865.

SERVICE.--Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May 3-June 12, 1864. Wilderness May 5-7. Near Germanin Ford May 5. Picket on the Rapidan May 6. Guard pontoons May 7. Expedition to Fredericksburg May 8-9. Spotsylvania May 9-12. Spotsylvania Court House May 12-21. United States Ford May 19. North Anna River May 23-26. On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Mechump's Creek May 31. Ashland Station June 1. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Totopotomoy, Gaines' Mill, Salem Church and Hawes' Shop June 2. Hawes' Shop June 3. Bethesda Church June 11. White Oak Swamp June 13. Smith's Store, near St. Mary's Church, June 15. Weldon Railroad June 20. Jerusalem Plank Road June 22-23. Milford Station June 27. Picket duty at City Point until July 16. Duty at Light House Point July 16-25. Before Petersburg July 25. Mine Explosion, Petersburg, July 30 (Cos. "A" and "E"). Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign August 7-November 28. Winchester August 17. Summit Point August 21. Middleway August 21. Near Kearneysville August 25. Abraham's Creek, near Winchester, September 13. Battle of Winchester September 19. Near Cedarville September 20. Front Royal September 21. Milford September 22. Waynesboro September 29. Bridgewater October 2. Tom's Brook ("Woodstock Races") October 8-9. Picket at Cedar Creek until October 13. Cedar Creek October 13. Battle of Cedar Creek October 19. Newtown (or Middletown) November 12. Rude's Hill, near Mr. Jackson, November 22. Expedition from Kernstown to Lacey's Springs December 19-22. Lacey's Springs December 21. Sheridan's Raid from Winchester February 27-March 24, 1865. Occupation of Staunton March 2. Action at Waynesboro March 2. Occupation of Charlottesville March 3. Near Ashland March 15. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Dinwiddie Court House March 30-31. Five Forks April 1. Fall of Petersburg April 2. Namozine Church April 3. Sailor's Creek April 6. Appomattox Station April 8. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Expedition to Danville and South Boston April 23-27. March to Washington. D.C., May. Grand Review May 23. Mustered out at Washington, D, C., August l, 1865.

http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unnjcav.htm

...............................................

Hutchinson News
1/14/1918

Hutchinson News
1/15/1918

The obituary calls him an old settler. He was in Reno County as early as the 1880 Federal Census.

1880 Reno Co., KS Federal Census

Palm tree in the cemetery

My photo essay is online at the Graveyard Rabbits Online Journal.

Elmwood Cemetery - Jackson County, MO

Marie Antoinette Thoms Maehl
4/12/1866 - 9/8/1891

August H. Weber
1866 - 1922

Baby Lena [on stone with August Weber]

Anton A. Weber
1836 - 1910

Christena Weber
1838 - 1910

Adolph W. Weber
1875 - 1905

Other photos for this lot:

Memory Medallion

Last month I installed a Memory Medallion on my Mama's headstone. I shared more photos on my genealogy blog.

Clue to mystery

There is nothing I love more than a good mystery.

There is nothing I hate more than not solving a good mystery.

I have been bothered by these headstones since discovering them in 2005. How can you order a headstone and not know the persons name? My guess is they were ordered long after they died.

Unnamed Crithers & Unnamed Crouch

These two soldiers are buried in the Wildmead Cemetery where I own my burial plots. Recently I was preparing an updated list for the kiosk to post before Memorial day and my thoughts went back to them. So much so that it kept me awake.

Lying there I wondered "does the government keep the paperwork submitted for headstone requests?" "Where could I look?"

Today I thought I'd work on the names, even though I have more projects than I will ever finish in my lifetime, and hadn't worked on these two in a long while. I typed them into Ancestry.com, adding a military event with the state of service. I hadn't discovered anything, nada, nothing about them... until today. It's not much...but I'll take it.

What this record doesn't tell me:

• When they died
• Name of the person requesting the headstone

What this record does tell me:

• They died BEFORE 1901, which narrows my search since records of any kind for this county start in 1872.

I'm searching the state and federal census but I'm wondering if the spelling is correct on Crithers. I have found Crouch families in the area later than 1901.

I've run out of time for now. Wish me luck!

Mary Hill's Autograph Book - Part 5

Part 5 and final post.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

This will conclude Mary Hill’s autograph book posts. What a treasure that became separated from its family.

These pages of the book, in my opinion, are the best. One from her mother and future husband. Throughout my research I found the name of Mary’s husband spelled so many ways. Even his headstone doesn’t match how he spelled his name in the autograph book.

 Hutchinson Kan June the 14th 1883

It is not just as we take it

This mystical world of ours

Life’s field will yield as we make it

A harvest of thorns or flowers

Your Affectionate Mother

Mrs. D. F. Swander

 It is not much the world can give

With all its subtle art

And gold and gems are not the things

To satisfy the heart

But, O, if those who cluster round

The alter and the hearth

Have gentle words and loving smiles

How beautiful is the earth

Robison Bramwell 

Robison/Roberson and Mary Hill Bramwell

Fairview Cemetery [Elmer]

While researching Mary's brother, Samuel, I found a school teacher listing for Mary A. Hill for the years 1884-1886 and believed this was my Mary. One of the pages in the autograph book says "dear teacher" and dated 1883. She married in 1887 and no listing is found under her married name so perhaps she settled down to be a farmer's wife.

In the 1885 state census her brother Samuel was listed as a teacher. Taking a second look at that census I now see the ditto ["] marks under his occupation that would also be for his sister, Mary below. I was tickled with this discovery! [School records 1884 to 1966]

Mary's siblings:
1. Samuel
1858 - Died between 1926 to 1930
1926 newspaper article about him visiting family in town.
1930 wife is a widow
Moved to Oklahoma in 1901 [article about his land purchase and upcoming move]
Most likely buried in Garfield County, OK
Samuel was a school teacher [as noted in the census] in the 1880's and 1890's. He was later the superintendent and a school was named after him: District 147 in Castleton Township.

He married Sarah E. Jones
11/3/1889 at the brides parents
Reno County, Kansas

Half Siblings:
2. Jessie Viola Swander Williams
1872 - 1919
Married Warren F. Williams
Buried Laurel Cemetery, Reno Co., KS

3. Daisy Mabel Swander Chittenden
1875 - 1954
Married Llewellyn Chittenden
Died in Los Angeles, CA

4. Otto Fave Swander
1879 - 1881
Fairview Cemetery

The Hutchinson News

12/21/1936

The Hutchinson News

12/21/1931

Springtime at Greenwood

Greenwood Cemetery
Clarksville, TN
March 2012

Other views that I loved on this walk

Image processed with Cinemascope

Sgt. Carter...Dead

Frank Spencer Sutton...best remembered as Sgt. Carter from Gomer Pyle, U. S. M. C.

During a visit to see my son I took a cemetery walk at the Greenwood Cemetery. The older sections contain many beautiful monuments. Near the back of the cemetery I found the burial location for the Spencer and Sutton family at the edge of the sloping lot.

Abilene TX Reporter
June 30, 1974

Sutton was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, the only child of Frank Sims Sutton and Thelma (née Spencer). When he was eight years old, his father became employed as a Linotype operator at the Nashville Tennessean in Nashville. Frank Sims Sutton died from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage on March 16, 1938, leaving behind his wife and 14-year-old son. 


While preparing for a performance of the comedy Luv at the Beverly Barn Dinner Playhouse in Shreveport, Louisiana, Frank Sutton died of a heart attack on June 28, 1974, at the age of 50. He was buried in his hometown of Clarksville. Source: Wikipedia

Wives of Horace King

I made another visit to the Godwin Cemetery to take a better photo of the lot in which Horace's wives are buried.

1st wife: Francis L. Goode
2nd wife: Sally Jane McManus

I also have permission to use screenshots from the following YouTube video -

Horace: The Bridge Builder King by Tom Lenard

These screen shots are from the King bible showing the cemetery layout.

John Godwin Monument
Placed by his former slave, Horace King

Previous posts on DCW about Horace King:
Post 1
Post 2

Mother Bickerdyke Cemetery

A piece of the puzzle...for Beth Foulk

In July 2009 I shared this brief post,
http://digitalcemeterywalk.blogspot.com/2009/07/mother-bickerdyke-cemetery.html,
regarding the Mother Bickerdyke Memorial Cemetery that I had visited during a cemetery walk in Ellsworth County, Kansas.

Fast forward two summers and I received this email from Beth Foulk [July 2011]:

Hello!  You made my day.

I litterally stumbled on your marker photo of the Mother Bickerdyke Memorial Cemetery, and much to my surprise I found Louisa Watson listed.  Louisa is a gggrandmother.  I knew she lived at the MB Home.  But I didn't know she died and was buried there.  WOW.

Do you happen to have pictures of the individual headstones at this cemetery?  I would be MOST grateful if you could share Louisa's with me.

Your site says, every person has a story.  I believe that firmly myself.  If you're interested in Louisa's story I'd be happy to share.  It's pretty neat/ sad.

Thanks again for your great contributions to genealogy and cemetery information sharing...

Why, yes, I would be interested in her story.

Fast forward to April 3, 2012 and Beth has posted Louisa's story on her blog. 

A Civil War Wife's Story...

But, it appears the story didn't end with her first post...

Mysteries, Scandals, and an Ancestor's True Identity Revealed

And, from Beth's email of April 5th:

Hi Gale,

I just received this newspaper excerpt about the cemetery. Thought you might like to put it on your blog.

From an article in “The Ellsworth Reporter” written 7 April, 1988, “On a hill overlooking Ellsworth from the south lie 31 graves of women who were Army nurses or the widows, mothers and daughters of men who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Three graves in the cemetery, which is called the Mother Bickerdyke Memorial Cemetery, have stone markers with inscriptions. Twenty-eight are marked with small white stones engraved with a cross. It is now a part of the Good Samaritan Center. --It is not known when the cemetery was first laid out, or when the first woman was buried there, but records kept by the daughter of A. r. Kyle, who was superintendent between 1902 and 1910, show that it was some time during those years. Kyle made a plat of the cemetery and a record of who was buried there. The records were lost and it is now impossible to identify the graves that are not marked. In 1961, the State of Kansas erected a monument with all 31 names listed on it. The three tombstones that originally had inscriptions are Jane Billington ,Mary Hutchison, and Mother Anna E. Mills.”

And an article I found in the Salina Journal from 8/13/1961:

I'm glad my brief post on the cemetery helped fill in the blanks on the death and burial of Louisa.

There is no death

How many symbols do you see on this headstone?

Ashley Lot
Maple Grove Cemetery