Genealogy kismet

I had not planned to visit Foster Chapel Cemetery that day, but it was on my route home from another cemetery in the county. Country cemetery, old gravestones, historical marker, ... Who wouldn’t stop?

I wandered the cemetery and took a number of photographs, even though many older inscriptions were not legible. The marker for Sally Kilgore (b. 1804, d. 1825), sitting in a patch of sunlight among the trees, was easy to read.

Of all the gravestones I photographed that day, only Ms. Kilgore’s was not already posted on Find A Grave. Surprisingly, she did not even have a memorial page. I created the page, posted the photo, and forgot about it.

Until two days ago.

That’s when an unexpected email landed in my in-box. “Hello. This is Sally from Twitter.” Sally, a genealogy Twitter friend, had been looking for Sally Kilgore in her genealogy research—the same Sally Kilgore whose gravestone I had just happened to photograph and post.

I’m thinking one of us should be buying a lottery ticket this week. Isn’t genealogy fun?

In Memory of
Sally, wife of
James Kilgore, who
was born Nov. 7, 1804:
& died Jan. 22, 1825.

Why lovely friend indulge that tear,
Why trembling view this dark abode.
Tho’ you with me must moulder here,
Yet faith can wing the soul to God.


Foster Chapel Cemetery, Madison County, Ohio