Graveyard Rabbits Carnival: Genealogy on the Tombstone

The topic for the November 2010 edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival is: Genealogy On The Tombstone.  This topic was submitted by Diane Wright, who authors three GYR blogs: The Kansas Rabbit, The Wright Graveyard Stew, and The Grave Yard Rabbit Travels Wright.  Does the tombstone tell a family history?  You bet it does!  Have we found some genealogy clues embedded in stone? Absolutely! Even a tombstone can be genealogical paydirt!

Take, for example, the Willis family, buried in the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in San Bernardino, CA.  It looks ordinary enough, right?


Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2010 by Tombstone Jack

 
This one monument is chock full of genealogy... it contains birth and death information for eleven different people!

The front of the stone gives us information on Henry M. Willis (Sept. 21, 1831 - Sept. 1, 1895) and his wife Amelia who died on Aug. 12, 1889 at the age of 43 years.  You can calculate from that, that her year of birth was  1846.  Judging by the dates, I'd say these two are the patriarch and matriarch of this particular family grouping.
  

Photo by Tombstone Jack - Oct. 11, 2010

  

Side two, gives us the details on Judge Henry Montague Willis (Nov. 12, 1871 - Apr. 15, 1960) and his wife Clyda Ellen Willis (Dec. 13, 1885 - Nov. 9, 1977).  Below them, we have John William Willis (May 19, 1963 - Sept. 22, 1993).  From this, I would assume that Henry Montague is the son of Henry M., and that perhaps his M is really a Montague.  We also know that he was a judge.  If we didn't already know the name of his wife, we certainy do now.  To find her maiden name, I would start by searching California marriage records.  As for John William Willis, my guess would be that he is the son of Henry & Clyda due to the year of his birth.
 

Photo by Tombstone Jack - Oct. 11, 2010

 

Side three informs us about Amy Willis Hudson (Mar. 16, 1867 - Aug. 4, 1917), Louise Willis Dodsworth (Apr. 4, 1883 - June 2, 1955), and Elizabeth Willis (May 10, 1879 - Apr. 29, 1957).  I would say that all three are daughters of Henry & Amelia.  Although we don't have any husbands listed on this monument, we do know that Amy married a Hudson and and Louise married a Dodsworth.  More names to search the marriage records for!
  

Photo by Tombstone Jack - Oct. 11, 2010

 
And finally, the fourth side tells us about Edwin A Willis (who died May 28, 1871 at the age of 32 years), Jennie C. Willis (Aug. 3, 1875 - Apr. 9, 1948) and Matilda Willis Condee (Mar. 15, 1862 - May 15, 1948).  If Edwin was 32 when he died in 1871, that would mean he was born in 1839.  Obviously not a son of Henry M., but perhaps a younger brother?  Jennie C. would be another daughter, as would be Matilda.  We know Matilda married a Condee, so we have another marriage to research.
  

Photo by Tombstone Jack

 
This one tombstone answered several questions, raised a few more, and pointed us in the right direction for further research.  Isn't that what genealogy is all about?  We've got eleven names, birth and death dates, family relationships... and I haven't even touched Google yet!


Wednesday's Child: Eva, Percy and Grace Pool

 

Taken at Mt. View Cemetery by Tombstone Jack

This photo breaks my heart.  To loose a child is a terrible thing, but to loose three within three years!  I would have gone insane!  Eva was just over one year old when she died in 1890, Percy was exactly one year old and died on his birthday in 1892, and Grace, who born 12 days after the death of her brother, was only five months old when she died in 1982.  I can only imagine the grief and rage in their home.  Grief at the loss and rage at the unfairness of it all.  The verse beneath Eva's stone says it all:

She faltered by the wayside, and the angels took her home.

Wordless Wednesday: Tombstone Art

Photos taken at Pioneer Memorial Cemetery by Tombstone Jack

Tombstone Jack

The Adventures of Tombstone Jack

 

At Pioneer Memorial Cemetery (photo by Tombstone Jack)

 
I've managed to get my husband addicted to genealogy.  It really wasn't that hard.  Getting him to go trudge through cemeteries to take pictures?  That was more difficult.  Until I told him I was considering joining the  Association of Graveyard Rabbits.  Which, I joked, would make him a Jack Rabbit. 

We're only a few blocks away from the Mt. View Cemetery in San Bernardino. I had a class to teach Monday morning and Jack had the day off since he's lucky enough to get Columbus Day as a paid holiday.  Much to my surprise, he was up and out to two different cemeteries to take pictures and try to fulfill a few photo requests from Find a Grave before I got back from class!

I was told that it's harder than you would expect it to be. He visited the main office and got a map of the cemetery.  Only one request had a plot location, so he asked if there was a way to look up where the other requests were buried. They kept his list of names and said they'd call him when they found the locations and showed him on the map where Mary Snouffer's grave was located. One small problem... it wasn't there. He searched all through Lawn K and there was no Mary Snouffer.

Since he didn't have any luck at the Mt. View Cemetery, he drove over to Pioneer Memorial Cemetery, which is apparantly under the control of the County. Which means there was no one at the front office to get a map of the layout from. Pioneer Memorial is huge. It wraps around an entire apartment complex. Without a map, there is no way to locate any particular plot. So he went home and logged onto Google Maps and printed an aerial photograph of the cemetery. (Which, I must admit, would never have occurred to me!)

By this time, I was home. So off the two of us went, back to Mt. View Cemetery since he noticed that the plot was listed as "BUBA, Lawn K" and there was a Bubah section listed on the map. So we both hopped out of the car and searched. Still no luck. Mary will have to wait until they call us back with the other grave sites.

Once we were at Poineer Memorial, he handed me his aerial map and a pen and informed me that we were going to create our own map. We spent the next 45 minutes or so driving through the entire cemetery looking for the curb markings to create our masterpiece.

Unfortunately we had to leave since I had a dentist appointment, but with the help of our map I'm betting our return trip will fulfill several requests for gravestone photos.