Wednesday’s child: Arthur M. Lindsey

The tablet marker is plain, with a touching epitaph for Arthur M. Lindsey (d. 1849). Someday I will return to get a better photo—in the morning, when the sun will be shining on the face of his gravestone.

ARTHUR M. LINDSEY
Son of Wm. &
Hannah Lindsey
died Apr. 17,
1849
Aged 3 yrs. 6m.
& 27ds.

I take these little lamb
said he, And lay
them in my breast.
Protection they shall
find in me.
In me be ever blest.

Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware, Ohio

Mausoleum in the hill

The mausoleum is built into the side of a hill in Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware, Ohio. Beside its rusty door is a plaque, placed well after the construction of the mausoleum.

REVOLUTIONARY
WAR SOLDIER
JOHN WELCH - PVT. CT.
BORN 1745 CT. DIED 1831 OH.
PLACED BY
MARY PENROSE WAYNE
CHAPTER IN. DAR

Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware, Ohio

Side by side

Side by side we lie and slumber
Where the weary are at rest,
But when time his years shall number
With our Saviour we’ll be blest.

MARGARET
wife of
William P. Davies
dies Sept. 29, 1845 in her 44 year.

Also on the right
MARGARET Daughter
of Wm. P. & Margaret Davies
dies Sept. 6, 1845
in her 16 year.

Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware, Ohio

Wednesday’s child: Elizabeth Vanbremer

Her marker is toppled over, perhaps by vandals, but someone who cares left silk flowers on her grave.

Elizabeth
daughter of
Abraham & Mary
Vanbremer
died Dec. 18, 1825
aged 9 years
Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware, Ohio

Centenarian: Pompey King

One of the toppled markers in the Old Graveyard section of Oak Grove Cemetery in Delaware, Ohio proclaims that Pompey King (d. 1844) was 100 years old at his death.

POMPEY KING
Died
Apr. 8. 1844
Aged
100 years

Before both were toppled over, Pompey’s marker stood next to the marker for Sarah King (d. 1837). Husband and wife, perhaps?

IN
Memory of
Sarah M. King.
died Feb. 13,
1837,
in the 82 year of
her age.

Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware, Ohio
Notes. A quick ancestry.com search revealed that Pompey King is listed in Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots. I also found another blogger who found evidence (not cited) that he was a former slave.

Obituary: John Voller

JOHN VOLLER
Former Councilman Passes to His Reward
John Voller, for many years active in financial and industrial circles of Franklin, died at his home on Second street, last Friday morning, at the age of 78 years.

Mr. Voller for many years was superintendent of the Harding Paper company, and was always interested in the betterment of conditions in Franklin. For 22 years he served on the village council and was one of the founders of the Miami Valley Building and Loan Association and the Warren National Bank.

John Voller was born in Haselmere, Surrey county, England, and came to the United states when he was 23 years of age.

In 1881 he was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Harlow, of Covington [sic], Massachusetts. Mrs. Voller preceded him in death about 21 years ago.

Surviving him are three daughters, Mrs. S.P. Mayer, Miss Charlotte Voller, both of Franklin, and Mrs. G.W. Brubaker, of Atlanta, Georgia; three sons, Harry, of Franklin, G.H., of Skull Valley, Ariz, J.W. of Ft. William, Ontario; one sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Morley, and one brother, Henry, both of Haselmere, England.

Funeral services were held at the residence Tuesday afternoon, conducted by Rev. Willis S. Webb, of the First Baptist church. Burial was made in Woodhill cemetery.

—From The Franklin Chronicle, Franklin, Ohio.

John Voller died December 31, 1926.

John and Fannie are interred in the
mausoleum at Woodhill Cemetery, Franklin, Ohio

 

Rising sun, setting sun

As recently as 2007, the gravestone of Abraham Call (d. 1847) stood upright at Oak Grove Cemetery in Delaware, Ohio. I found it toppled over, perhaps a target of vandals. (Quite a few nearby markers were on the ground as well, as if vandals had ripped down several rows, pushing over markers as they went.)

Abraham Call
died
Aug. 22. 1847
Aged 61yrs 7mo &
15 dys.
It is a simple tablet marker with a stylized sun. But is the sun setting or rising? Think about the symbolism—does this sun represent a beginning or an ending?

Wednesday’s child: Stamper babies

Their graves are side by side, Wanda E. Stamper (b. 1932, d. 1932) and Robert T. Stamper (b. 1934, d. 1934). Perhaps brother and sister. No other Stampers are buried nearby. In fact, I have found no cemetery records for other Stampers in the entire county.

WANDA E STAMPER
MAR 24 1932
SEPT 11 1932

ROBERT T STAMPER
AUG 31 1934
OCT 9 1934

Fannie’s fraudulent treatment

Fannie Voller’s obituary refers to her long illness and to the “strong hopes” with which she was taken to Binghampton, New York, for treatment. Letters written by Fannie and by her husband, John Voller, reveal that Fannie was a patient in New York of Dr. S. Andral Kilmer, remembered today as the inventor of the patent medicine Swamp Root.

John took Fannie to New York for treatment in early July, 1905, leaving her in the care of Dr. Kilmer. Later that month, home with the children, John wrote to Dr. Kilmer to ask after Fannie:

Dear Sir:—
     I regret to trouble you with correspondence, but I am very anxious to hear from you relative to my wife’s condition. It is not a matter of impatience with me, or time, or money. No sacrifice within my power would be too great to make, that will assist in her recovery, but I should be very glad to hear from you definitely and frankly as to her present condition, and the progress of the cure. I know you will appreciate my position in this matter. It is not from a lack of confidence in your ability; in fact, I feel that I have every reason to be thankful that my wife is under your care, but a word from you as to what I may hope for in the future will be very much appreciated.
          Yours very truly,

John’s confidence in Dr. Kilmer was misplaced.

From The Great American Fraud, Articles on the Nostrum Evil and Quacks, by Samuel Hopkins Adams:

Another quack family with a cancer branch is the Kilmer family of Binghamton, N. Y. Kilmer’s Swamp Root, one of the most blatant of the “patent-medicine ” swindles, was devised by Dr. S. Andral Kilmer, who sold out years ago (although Swamp Root dupes are still urged to write him), and is now proprietor of a “CanCertorium,” and an itinerant charlatan. “Cancer’s First Conqueror” is his modest description of himself. He “itinerates” through the large towns and small cities of New York State, advertising like Barnum’s circus. Free consultation, remedies at $3 a week, and treatment at $2 a week, constitute his traveling plan. At his CanCertorium at Binghamton, N. Y., the charges are higher. A campus caretaker at Hamilton College, afflicted with facial cancer, went to Dr. Kilmer’s Cancertorium on a fund raised for him among the undergraduates, who did not know of the nature of the institution. He was provided with all the liquor he could drink, evidently with a view to keeping him drugged, until Kilmer had extracted $800 from him, when the progress of his disease was so marked that he became frightened and left, going to a reputable surgeon, who at once operated. He is now back at work. This man kept track of seven of the CanCertorium patients whom he came to know well, of whom, so he tells me, five died and the other two are apparently going the same way. Dr. S. Andral Kilmer represents an old, picturesque and fast-disappearing tribe of bunco-artists, and when his side-whiskers disappear from the pages of the small city dailies, those publications will be the less amusing, though the more respectable for the loss.

The passage above appeared originally in an article in Collier’s Weekly printed in July, 1906—five months after Fannie’s death.

It saddens me even now—more than a century later—that my great grandmother spent precious months separated from her family during her illness. She visited home at least once during her stay at the Cancertorium. In early January, 1906, she returned home for the last time. Fannie died quietly at home on February 9, 1906, her family at her side.

By the way, you can still buy Swamp Root, at least some modern version of it, today.

Obituary: Fannie Voller

LOVELY LIFE
Closed Beautifully When Fanny J. Voller Passed Away.
Noble Woman. Fanny Julia [H]arlow was born in Cummington, Massachusetts, December 18, 1856. She died at Franklin, Friday evening, February 9, 1906. In 1881 she was married to John Voller. He and the six children, Harry, Elizabeth, Harlow, John, Charlotte and Marion, survive her. How well she fulfilled her duties as a wife and mother the husband and the children know. Their loss is beyond estimate.

Loved By All. As a neighbor Mrs. Voller was much loved and respected. It is unlikely that any one of her numerous friends and neighbors ever heard an unfriendly criticism of her. Her cordial relation with her neighbors is illustrated by an incident at the funeral. A lady said:

“I am going to this funeral. I loved this woman. I have lived neighbor to her for two years. Whenever my path seemed crossed with shadows, or I experienced any discontent it was my wont to go to this aged lady and talk with her. I found comfort.”

Courage in Affliction. When it became known that Mrs. Voller was afflicted with an incurable disease, she did not murmur, but met her strong enemy with her usual courage. With the spirit of absolute resignation, she was willing to avail herself of any means that would promise to lengthen her days. No expense or care was spared. With strong hopes she was taken to Binghampton, New York, for treatment. She passed her time there with cheerfulness and patience, although she must have felt in her heart the hopelessness of her condition. She came back to Franklin a few weeks ago with a full knowledge that the end could not be very far away. She said: “I will be brave,” as she certainly had been brave for many months before.

Strong Faith. One who is qualified to speak of this noble woman says: “Her faith was strong and abiding. She believed in God as her father and in Christ as her Savior. When she was about to leave the hospital for home, one of the nurses asked whether or not she was afraid to undertake as long a journey along. She replied that she was not going alone. When the nurse asked who was going with her, she replied, ‘Jesus Christ.’ And on her death bed she gave most beautiful testimony of a Christian’s trust and a Christian’s submission. She passed to her death peacefully and quietly. She was resigned to her fate and went to enjoy the blessedness which remains for those who die in the Lord. She was afforded the happiness to bestow her last look upon all of her loved ones who were gathered at her bedside.”

“Beautiful toiler, thy work all done:
Beautiful soul, into glory gone;
Beautiful life with its crown now won,
God giveth thee rest.”
~~~
Related post, 1880: When John Met Fannie.
Tomorrow, what about Fannie’s treatment in New York?

The Lebanon Press, Lebanon, Ohio, February 15, 1906

Aunt Marian’s little white lie

The 1900 census image clearly shows that two-year-old Marion (Marian), the youngest child in the family, was born in August, 1897. Later censuses report her age consistently:

1910, Marian is 12
1920, Marian is 22

Aunt Marian (my grandmother’s baby sister), who always had nail polish and lipstick to share with a curious five-year-old, died in 1974 at age 77.

Except dear Uncle George, who survived her, evidently thought she was younger. From her funeral card:

Was Uncle George confused about her birth date? Or had Aunt Marian fibbed about her age when she met the handsome man who was to become her second husband?

This is a question I may never research further—it is too much fun to imagine Aunt Marian’s little white lie.

Wednesday’s child: Baby Appler

No symbols, no epitaphs, but touching in its simplicity.

Baby Appler is likely the child of Harry and Sarah Appler, both of whom are also buried at Oller Cemetery. According to a list of burials posted by the Delaware County Historical Society, Harry, Sarah, and the unnamed infant are the only Applers buried in Delaware County, Ohio.

Oller Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio