Wednesday’s child: Romancy A. Good

The small tablet marker in Fletcher Chapel bears simple sunburst carvings and a rising sun. It marks the grave of Romancy A. Good (d. 1845), who died when she was nine years old.

Romancy’s epitaph is not readable, but begins by addressing her parents: My parents dear, ... .

ROMANCY A.
daughter of
Jacob &
Margaret A.
Good, died
Oct. 4, 1845.
aged 9 y’s.
Jacob and Margaret Good are listed with their large family in the 1850 United States Federal Census records for Violet Township, Fairfield County, Ohio.

Had Romancy lived, she would have been about 14 years old when the 1850 census was taken. Interestingly, there is a Good child, Jacob, listed as 14 years old in the census. And look at the tidy progression of the ages of the Good children: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18.

Where did Romancy fit, I wonder.

The elder Jacob is buried near Romancy. According to his gravestone inscription, he died in December, 1850.

Fletcher Chapel Cemetery, Fairfield, Ohio

Sarah Walker, between the lines

In
Memory of
Sarah Walker,
who departed this
life January 8^th 1833,
in the 72^nd year of
[her life.]

Look closely at the inscription on the grave marker for Sarah Walker (b. 1761, d. 1833). You can still see the guidelines that the gravestone carver used to keep the lettering straight.

Remind you of anything?

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Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio

“Their daughters made interesting marriages”

On August 29, 1912, an obituary for an Ohio-born noblewoman ran in the New York Times.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 28.—Baroness von Uechtritz, formerly Viola Lytle, daughter of J. R. Lytle of Delaware, died here to-day at a hospital of spinal disease. The Baroness was 38 years old. Her marriage to Charles Edgar von Uechtritz und Steinkirch, the African explorer, took place in 1895. A younger sister of the Baroness, while visiting in Berlin, was married to Count Bouta Eulenberg, who died suddenly two years ago.

The Baroness is buried alongside her parents and her brother in Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio. A metallic urn, perhaps bronze and now a striking verdigris, tops the family monument.

LYTLE

JAMES ROBERT
1841—1924
——
CORNELIA A. CHASE
1841—1917
——
JAMES WILLIAM
1869—1898
——
BARONESS VON EUCHTRITZ
1874—1912
The back of the monument shows a touching message, no doubt addressing Cornelelia, wife and mother:

To The Especial Memory Of My
Dear Unselfish Mother. In Love
And Gratitude Until We Meet
Again.

  

Excerpts from History of Ohio by Charles B. Galbreath, published in 1925 but clearly written before James R. Lytle’s death, tell us more about this family and the times in which they lived:

JAMES R. LYTLE. The acknowledged authority on local history in Delaware County, and author of what is regarded as the definitive work of county history in James R. Lytle, a man of versatile intellect, talents and accomplishments, who has been a member of the Delaware bar for over half a century, and is known to everybody in the county...

On July 28, 1868, at Delaware, he married Miss Cornelia A. Chase, daughter of Rev. Ira and Jane (Wilcox) Chase, her father a native of Maine and her mother of Pennsylvania. Her father was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Conference, and in the early days was associated with Bishop Thompson at Toledo. He frequently did missionary work among the Indians, and had many interesting experiences with them...

Mr. and Mrs. Lytle had three children, their only son, James William being deceased, Their daughters made interesting marriages. Viola M., after completing her musical education in Ohio Wesleyan University, went abroad to study in Berlin, and while there she met and married Baron Edgar Von Euchtritz, and has since remained in Berlin. Her sister, Cornelia Francio, during a visit to her sister in Germany met Count Boto Eulenberg, and they were married, and she too remained in Germany, though returning each year to visit her parents. Count Eulenberg died, and in 1921 she became the wife of Count Von Finckenstein, who was at the head of the Red Cross work in Germany during the World war and also a member of the Reichstag. Cornelia Francio was on the boat on her way to America in July, 1914, when the announcement of the outbreaking of war was received by wireless, and as she landed shortly afterward she brought this information to her father before it was published in the New York newspapers.

From 1880 United States Federal Census,  City of Delaware, Ohio

Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio

Joshua Thayer Skidmore, traveling salesman

His death certificate lists his occupation as traveling salesman, but perhaps Joshua Thayer Skidmore (b. 1869, d. 1931) was his family’s historian. He was certainly proud of his Skidmore heritage: His red granite gravestone features the Skidmore family crest.

1869 — 1931
Joshua Thayer
Skidmore 

According to “The Skidmore Family and College Seals,” an article on the Skidmore College website,

The family that would eventually be called Skidmore came to England from Normandy sometime before 1071. The surname is first recorded as “de Scudemer.” Scudemer/Scudamore gave way to Skydmore/Skidmore by the mid-14th century, though the Norman spelling enjoyed a renaissance during the reign of the Tudors, and still survives.

Joshua Skidmore died in Chillicothe, Missouri on February 22, 1931. Thirty years later his widow, Nina W. Skidmore (b. 1863, d. 1951), was buried in the plot beside him at Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio.

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Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio

Silent Sunday: Spring violets

Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio