Auntie, where are you?

Forgive me, gravestoners, because I am compelled to step away from the cemetery long enough to peek at the 1940 census.

Mother and Daddy were not difficult to find, even without an index. They both grew up in the same small town (my hometown!) and I knew exactly which houses they lived in.

No, that enumeration district is too far south. No, that one is too far east. Could be this one—or perhaps it’s that one.

Bingo!

After a few minutes of browsing, which felt like a virtual walk through the neighborhoods of my hometown, I found both of my parents living, as expected, with their parents.

The Mayer home, Franklin, Ohio

I was so excited to have found the images so easily, that it was not until later that I realized something was missing from one of them: Charlotte (“Auntie” to all the children in the family, including me) lived with her married sister and her brother-in-law (my grandparents) after her father’s death in 1926. 

The census lists Southard (who was called Mickey), Elizabeth (who was called Bess), and their three children, Ruth Ann, Jane (my mother), and Charles (Uncle By).

No Charlotte.

Quickly I confirmed that she was listed in the household on the 1930 census. Of course she was. In fact, she lived in that house until her death in 1981.

Where was she in 1940?

Grandmother, Auntie, and Uncle Harry (or Uncle George?)

The Children’s Home

A special section in Oak Grove Cemetery of Delaware, Ohio is marked with a touching white bronze monument.

THE CHILDREN’S HOME
A barefoot boy with curly hair cradles a lamb in his right arm. Another lamb rests at his feet.

Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio

“Of scarlet Fever”

Even though the gravestone is small and weathered, or perhaps because of its small size, I stopped to read the inscription.

The marker reveals little about Daizy Harner (d. 1878), but look closely: It tells us her cause of death.

DAIZY
HARNER
DIED
Jan. 28
1878

Of scarlet
Fever
Daizy (Daisy?) was almost certainly a young child. Not only does the small size of the marker (measure it in inches, not feet) suggest she was a child—perhaps an infant—when she died, but so does its badly weathered carving. It is almost certainly a broken rosebud.

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Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio

The miller’s wife

The grave marker for Lydia Slough (d. 1852) in Oak Grove Cemetery is only partly visible. Her year of death and (presumably) age at death are buried. If there was an epitaph, it is buried as well.

The rectangular marble tablet is carved with a rosebush in full bloom, its branches mostly downturned. Under the bush is a lamb, a familiar symbol for Christ.

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

LYDIA,
Wife of
M. G. SLOUGH,
Died Apr. 7
[1852]
The year of death is not visible today, but Delaware County Burials (published online by Delaware County Genealogical and Historical Societies) comes to our rescue once again. It shows Mrs. Slough’s date of death as April 7, 1852.

Matthias Slough and Lydia Hollenbaugh were married in Delaware County on May 17, 1845. The 1850 Federal Census shows Matthias (miller) and Lydia living in nearby Franklin County with four young children, James Slough (lawyer), and William Hollenbaugh (laborer).

Marriage record image, FamilySearch.org

1850 Federal Census image, Ancestry.com

Fast forward to 1880 and we find Matthias, an invalid at 62, living in the home of his daughter Abigail and family. Delaware County Burials lists Matthias Slough’s date of death as February 9, 1882.

1880 Federal Census image, Ancestry.com

Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio

Waiting for Spring

Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio