Sunday, May 6, 2012

Wordle mocks my error

Remember Wordle? Here is a recently generated Wordle for Gravestoned in a nice, gray-is-for-gravestones palette.


And there it is, big as life: Catharine. Just the name I have been trying to forget.

Why?

Because it should be Catherine, not Catharine.

In the post for Catherine Ullmer, “Mystery of the missing death date,” I mispelled Mrs. Ullmer’s given name not once, not twice, but nine times!

Do I get points for consistency?


Ullmer Cemetery, Marion County, Ohio

Saturday, May 5, 2012

S. Minter, London marble dealer

The David Runyan monument—the one with the nifty tornado-like decorative swirl— has another interesting bit: The identity of the stonecutter.


S. Minter
London, O.

Samuel Minter is listed in the 1860 Federal Census for London, Ohio. He was 40 years old in 1860, the year before his death. Note that a Jacob March (marble worker apprentice) and a Mark Hutchison (marble worker) are lodgers in the Minter household.


From The History of Madison County, Ohio (Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1883):
The London Marble and Granite Works were established in London in the neighborhood of 1853 by Samuel Minter. Mr. Minter died in 1861, and the business was carried on for about one year by the present proprietor, Jacob March. The works were then purchased by Messrs. Hutchinson & Reitzell, who conducted the business together for a period when Mr. Hutchinson became sole proprietor. In June, 1866, Jacob March purchased a half-interest of Mr. Hutchinson, and the tow gentlemen operated together for about six months, when Levi March bought out Mr. Hutchinson’s interest, and the firm name became the March Brothers. Six months later, Mr. Jacob March became sole proprietor and carried on the business until 1872, when he sold to James Self. About this time, another marble shop was started in town by Aaron Bentezell. Mr. March became associated in the business as a partner with Mr. Bentezell. These gentlemen after about one year together dissolved, Mr. March purchasing. About the year 1875 Mr. March purchased the shop of Mr. Self and consolidated the two. The works were destroyed by the fire of 1874, but immediately thereafter rebuilt where now located on West High street, where can be found anything in the marble and granite line, for monuments or tombstones, and a full supply of limestone and freestone for door or window sills, doorsteps, etc.
Nation Chapel Cemetery, Clark County, Ohio

Friday, May 4, 2012

David Runyan

The squared column monument for David Runyan (d. 1859), repaired at least once, tips slightly to the right. Its cap is a bit askew.

Look closely: What an interesting, tornado-like twirly design under the name!


DAVID RUNYAN
DIED
Dec. 9, 1859
AGED
53 Y. 8 M. 29 d.

But go thou thy way till
the end be for thou shall
rest, and stand in thy lot
at the end of the day
                 Dan. 12 V. 13

My dearest friends that
dwell above
I now have gone to see
And all my friends in
Christ below
Will soon come after me

David Runyan was among the earliest permanent settlers in the eastern part of Harmony Township, Clark County, Ohio. Other early settlers rest steps away from Runyan.


Nation Chapel Cemetery, Clark County, Ohio

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

1940 Census: Another snippet of occupations


A sampling of 1940 occupations from two Toledo, Ohio wards, recorded by different enumerators—

grocery clerk
digger
mill wright
beauty operator
conductor
beauty operator
railroad engineer
stenographer
conductor
paper salesman
jewelry repairs, salesman
railroad engineer
inspector
apprentice tool maker
book-keeper
machinist
~ ~ ~

clerk
machinist
attendent
Lawyer
Breakman
Housekeeper
Shipping Foreman
Assembler
Operator
attendent
Sales clerk
conductor
Typist
Truck Driver
Printer
package sorter
Sales clerk
Pipe fitter
painter
umbrella worker

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Mystery of the missing death date

What are your thoughts when you see a gravestone on which the date of death is missing?

Of course, it could mean the named person is still living. But not someone born in 1857.

The tassled marker at the grave of Barnhart Ullmer (b. 1848, d. 1898) names Catharine Ullmer (b. 1857), his wife, but the year of her death is missing.


BARNHART
     ULLMER
1848 – 1898
CATHERINE
His Wife
1857 –       

Why is Catharine’s year of death missing? One explanation, maybe the most obvious, is that Catharine is not buried here.

Why would a wife not be buried with her husband? Any number of reasons, I suppose, but one comes to mind immediately: Catharine remarried.

Catharine Augustine (Augustein) married Barnhart Ullmer in 1873 in Marion County, Ohio. According to the marriage record (image available on FamilySearch.org), he was 34; she was 20.

So far, so good. The ages of the bride and groom match the dates on the gravestone.

Birth records on FamilySearch.org show a child, William Uhlmer [sic] born in 1884 to Barnhart and Catharine.

What happened to Catharine after Barnhart’s death in 1898? A clue on Ancestry.com suggested that Catharine remarried, and the 1900 Federal Census supports that theory.

Check out the name of the son living with Gottlieb and Katy (Catharine!?) Durr in Marion County: William Ullmer.

Ullmer Cemetery, Marion County, Ohio
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