Keeping cool

Two sisters enjoy a visit to the swimmin’ hole: Ruth Ann Mayer Strack (b. 1924, d. 2011) and Jane Wilson Mayer O’Neal (b. 1926, d. 1993), whom I know as Aunt Ruthie and Mother.

Kemper

Granddaddy’s 1950s address book—a small, lined memo book with yellowed pages—is chock full of names.

Aunts, uncles, cousins. Each name another family tree hint.

Bonus: Learning that his brother, John Kemper O’Neal, went by “Kemper,” at least within the family.

By the way, I know that zip codes were not around until the 60s, but look closely at the zips in this image: They are added in black ink, clearly some time after the original entry in blue. That, and one page in the book has a date: March 9, 1958.

Simple

The plain tablet marker at the grave of John Morrison Norris (d. 1850) displays an epitaph that matches the simple style of the gravestone, one that does not dress its sentiment in metaphor or symbolism.

How short and fleeting is our life.

John Morrison
Son of E. &
Nancy Norris
died June 6,
1850.
Aged 10 yrs.
& 2 mo.

How short and fleeting is
our life, And how
uncertain is the time
When death will come and
end the strife, And waft
us to another clime.

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Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Union County, Ohio

Mixed feelings

Pleasant Hill Cemetery was recently restored by Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio, the 1800s gravestones cleaned and repaired so that they look almost like new.

After visiting, post-restoration, my feelings were mixed.

First: This looks a bit too much like a Stepford cemetery. Too clean, too straight, too perfect.

Then: Is that a bad thing? Granted, it looks less old, less vintage-y. But these were not old gravestones when they were originally placed and grieved over by family members and friends.

Maybe like new is another way of saying as intended.

The restoration of the gravestone for Wm. B. Stone (d. 1857) is dramatic. Compare my photo below to a 2010 photograph of the same stone on FindAGrave.com.

Wm B. STONE
DIED
Aug. 1, 1857,
AGED
61 Y. 6 m. 22 d.

Blessed are the dead who die in
the Lord henceforth they rest
from their labours; and their
works do follow them.

There can be no mixed feelings about the restoration of this gravestone. Look at the high relief of the pointing hand! A beautiful carving, a beautiful monument.

Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Union County, Ohio

A favorite brother-in-law?

Southard Parker Mayer

My brother and our grandfather share two things. More than two things, but these two are on my mind today. They share a birthday, July 2; they share a middle name, Parker.

Southard Parker Mayer (b. 1886, d. 1966) passed Parker on to my brother. But where had it come from?

Even after I started digging into our family history, Grandfather’ first name and middle name remained a bit of a mystery. No other man in the family tree—no other I had found—shared either of those names with him. This was puzzling in a tree that, like many others, was full of hand-me-down names.

I stumbled on a possible solution to this small mystery in a cemetery in Pennsylvania where many of my grandfather’s family, Mayers and Wilsons, are buried. That is where I found the gravestone of M. Isabella Wilson (b. 1845, d. 1930).

M. ISABELLA WILSON
WIFE OF
E. SOUTHARD PARKER
WIFE OF
SOUTHARD PARKER
BORN APRIL 8, 1845
DIED JUNE 10, 1930

Turns out, Aunt Isabella was my grandfather’s mother’s older sister. Was her husband, E. Southard Parker, a favorite brother-in-law?

Oh, and Happy Birthday to two of my favorites!

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Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery, Juniata County, Pennsylvania