Tombstone Tuesday - James W. Fowlie

This is the tombstone of James W. Fowlie at Parkers Grove Cemetery, Canton Township, Benton County, Iowa. James is a 2nd great grand uncle of mine and the son of my 3rd great grandparents George and Margaret (Cantley) Fowlie.

This is another one that I have conflicting dates for. The notes I was given say he was born 28 Oct 1839, but the tombstone says 3 Oct 1836. The 1900 Census says Oct 1939, the 1885 Iowa census says 1833 and the 1880 US census says 1830, so there is a fairly large spread of dates. It appears that James lived in Benton County with his mother and his sister Jane at least according to the 1880 and 1900 census.

The 1900 Census says he immigrated in 1861 and was a naturalized citizen. His occupation listed was "Capitalist" which apparently means he was living of off some kind of investments. At age 60, this might have been some form of retirement savings from a farm sale or something.

Tombstone Tuesday - Margaret Fowlie

This is the tombstone of Margaret (Cantley) Fowlie, my 3rd great grandmother, located at Parkers Grove Cemetery, Canton Township, Benton County, Iowa. She was married to George Fowlie. Their son Alexander Brown Fowlie was my 2nd great grandfather and his son Frank Brown Fowlie was my great grandfather.

There is a discrepancy in birth years. Notes from my grandmother list her birth date as May 19, 1792 rather than 1785 as indicated on the tombstone. The 1885 Iowa census has her listed as born in 1790 and the 1880 US census lists her as born in 1792. Whatever her birth year was, I think it is still impressive to live at least 94 years, have at least 10 children and travel from rural Scotland to rural Iowa. All this with minimal healthcare and no electricity.

A closeup photo is after the jump.

Sunday's Obituary - Glen Bird Parker

This is the obituary for Glen Bird Parker, my great grand uncle. He was the youngest brother of my great grandfather Lloyd Ira Parker. According to my notes, he was born May 22, 1899 and died around December 20, 1960. (assuming December 21 was the date it was written)

I believe this obituary was published in The News and Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina, December 21, 1960. It was likely written by a member of his family.

Glen B. Parker
SANFORD - Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Rogers Memorial Chapel for Glen Bird Parker, 60, of Sanford, who died yesterday. Burial will be in Grace Chapel Church Cemetery. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Annie Vera Gaster Parker, two brothers, Clyde of Fond [du] Lac, Wisc., and Lloyd Parker of Westfield, Wisc.; one sister, Mrs. Minnie Ades of Bradenton. Fla. Mr. Parker was a member of the [Rizpah] Temple of the Shrine in Madisonville, Ky., Past Patron of Dawson Spring Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, Past Deputy Grand Patron of Dist. 16. of Ky., Watchman of the [Shepherds] of the Acacia Shrine no. 17. Order of White Shrine of Jerusalem of Hopkinsville, Ky., Past Patron of Sanford Chapter no. 48. Order of Eastern Star, and A Charter Member of Jonesboro Chapter and a Member of the Buffalo Lodge of Jonesboro Heights, Sanford. N.C.

This was ocr'd from my scanned copy of the obit by using free-ocr.com
I only had to make a couple changes to the text so I think the ocr worked very well.

Blair Nebraska City Cemetery visit

A view of block 29 including Beistline and Hunt tombstones

On the return trip from Omaha, due to extensive Missouri River flooding, I was forced to detour to avoid the I-680/I-29 closure and my usual crossing at Mormon Bridge (I-680). Since I generally avoid I-80 if I can, I found myself on US30 in Blair, Nebraska and I decided to swing by the city cemetery there. Unfortunately it was fairly early in the day and the long shadows lowered the quality of the photos. Although I think it actually improved the readability of the Beistline monument, most of the other photos didn't turn out too well. This would probably be a good cemetery to visit in the afternoon, at least for the tombstones I was interested in.

The cemetery is quite large, but they have an excellent online capability to search Blair City Cemetery Burials. The blocks are well marked with metal posts and painted stencils, so the online database and markers made it easy to search. Without this capability, I doubt I would have even attempted a foot search. It seemed like a very genealogy friendly cemetery. 

More after the jump...

First Blogoversary

My first post was one year ago today on August 17, 2010. The focus of the blog hasn't changed, I'm still trying to post photos, and obituaries from time to time. I'm just past 275 posts, so I'm not doing too bad for quantity.

Hopefully I will have much more to add before the second blogoversary.

Expect more of the same. I have a good quantity of cemetery items to post, so expect to see those on Tuesdays. I also have a stack of Grandma's photo albums to go through and scan as well. As for the other side of the family, I have a good deal of material to post for that side too. I have about 6 generations of names in the database, so I'll try to cover the ones that I some details about.

Some of the posts that I have enjoyed writing include the following, in no particular order:

• Stotler plot at Crown Hill
• Arthur Brassfield at the Battle of the Coral Sea
• Military Monday - Oliver Ross
• What happened to the Wood family?
• List of Veterans
• Madness Monday - Joseph Fowlie

Tombstone Tuesday - Melissa B. Parker

This is the tombstone of Melissa B. Parker, my 2nd great aunt. It is located at Wautoma Union Cemetery, Wautoma, Marquette County, Wisconsin. She was the sister of my 2nd great grandfather Valois D. Parker.

The tombstone reads:

Melissa B.
Dau. of
Philander C.
Parker
Born Jan. 29, 1849
Died Feb. 16, 1935

McGinnis Cemetery

Entrance to McGinnis Cemetery

My last cemetery stop on the way to Omaha was McGinnis Cemetery, Crawford Township, Madison County, Iowa. This is a small rural cemetery that is off of a main road. In the photo above, you can see the long access road on the right side of the frame. It looks like you are driving up someone's driveway and the cemetery is not visible from the main road.

The tombstones were easily located at this small cemetery. The Stout headstones were within view of the entrance and Sarah Brasfield's tombstone was a few yards south of those.

More after the jump...

Sunday's Obituary - Melissa Parker

This is the obituary of Melissa B. Parker, my 2nd great grand aunt. She was the sister of my 2nd great grandfather, Valois D. Parker. It was published by the Stevens Point Daily Journal, Stevens Point, Wisconsin on February 21, 1935. Mellissa was buried at Wautoma Union Cemetery, Wautoma, Wisconsin near her parents, Philander and Harriet Parker.

Melissa B. Parker, daughter of Philander C. and Harriet N. Parker, was born in Nunda, Livingston county, N. Y., January 29, 1819, and died February 16, 1935, at the age of 86 years and 17 days. One sister and two brothers proceeded her in death. She came to Wautoma with her parents in 1861 and has been a resident of Waushara county ever since. The last years of her life were spent in the home of her niece, Mrs. John Jameson, where she was tenderly cared for in her last illness. Besides her many friends she leaves to mourn five nieces, Mrs. Mabel Jameson, Miss Katie Bird and Mrs. Minnie Ades all of Wautoma, Miss Lou Parker of Plainview, Neb., Mrs. Viola Wandrey of Cumberland and four nephews, Robert Bird of Wautoma, Clyde Parker of Fond du Lac, Lloyd Parker of Westfield, and Glenn Parker of Washington, D.C.

Keystone Cemetery

Entrance to Keystone Cemetery

Since I was passing through Benton County, Iowa, I also visited Keystone Cemetery, Kane Township, Benton County, Iowa. This cemetery is much larger than Parkers Grove Cemetery, but I was still able to find all the tombstones on my list in less than an hour. The primary ones I was looking for were straight up the main entrance road pictured above and a row to the left after the large cross. I spotted the large Kiesel stone from my car after less than 5 minutes in the cemetery.

I wandered the rest of the cemetery looking for Harry and Clara Andreson and Rudy and Elfreda Homire so I photographed a number of other headstones with the same surnames. The weather wasn't too great and it started to rain about ten minutes after I left the cemetery.

Click read more to see the list of tombstones I was searching for and some notes about how they are related.

Parkers Grove Cemetery

Entrance to Parkers Grove Cemetery

I recently visited Parkers Grove Cemetery, Canton Township, Benton County, Iowa on a trip through Iowa. It wasn't exactly "on the way" but it was an interesting diversion. Being a typical rural cemetery in Iowa, I had to navigate a few gravel roads to get there. It was a small cemetery, so I didn't bother to get a map and grave locations in advance. I found that it was small enough to walk and I had very little difficulty finding the graves I was searching for.

Click "read more" below to see the rest of this post

Tombstone Tuesday - August and Henriette Schauer

Main tombstone

Mother, Henriette Schauer

Father, August Shauer

Above are the tombstones of August Schauer and his wife Henriette (Brightenfelt) Schauer. They are my 3rd great grandparents.I'm not certain on the spelling it could be Breitenfeld or some variation of feld/felt and Bright/Breit.

Schauer
The Lord is My Sheperd

Mother
Henriette
1843-1927

Father
August
1841-1916

Sunday's Obituary - Melvin C. Reimann

This is the obituary of Melvin C. Reimann, my first cousin twice removed. He was the son of Conrad and Norma (Polsfuss) Reimann. Norma was the sister of my great grandmother, Alma (Polsfuss) Schauer. Melvin would have been a first cousin to my grandmother, and that's the "twice removed" part of the equation. He was the twin brother of Marvin Reimann, though I don't know if they were identical or fraternal twins. His parents and brother were buried at Roselawn Memorial Park in Monona, WI, but his tombstone is not in the immediate vicinity. He may not be buried at the same cemetery.Update:He was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Madison, Wisconsin, Section 8, Lot 161 according to cemetery records on find-a-grave.

This is from the February 15, 1999 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal.

Reimann, Melvin C.
MADISON - Melvin C. Reimann, age 73, died unexpectedly at home on Saturday, February 13, 1999. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison and was an investment broker in Madison for many years. Presently associated with Morgan, Stanley and Dean Witter, Inc. Melvin was an active member of Bethel Lutheran Church, serving on the Endowment Foundation, Television Ministry and for many years was a church usher. He is survived by his wife, Carol Jean; a son Mark; a brother-in-law, Fred (Geri) Nelson of Verona; a niece, Tiffany; and a nephew, Trent. He was preceded in death by his mother and father, Norma and Conrad; and a twin brother, Marvin. Fulfilling Mel's wish private family services will be held with no visitation. Memorials may be made to Bethel Media Ministry, Bethel Endowment Foundation or the donors choice.

The above obituary is from the Wisconsin State Journal, February 15, 1999. It was probably written by a member of the Reimann family and not the newspaper itself. I'm publishing it here for educational and genealogical purposes.

Wordless Wednesday - Anna Perry Stotler with the horse and buggy

Anna Perry-Stotler with a horse and buggy

This photo was captioned "Aunt Anna Stotler" and had "Harry" written on the back. It is Anna (Perry) Stotler, wife of John Harrison Stotler.

John was known to his sister's family as uncle Harry. He was my 2nd great grand uncle. The family lost track of him in the early 1900s after he finished preaching at Mt. Carmel, Illinois. He was said to be moving from Illinois to California or Pennsylvania and to my knowledge he was not heard from again.

His wife Anna was listed as single and living with her family in Ohio at the time of the 1910 census. She died a few months later.

The last record I have of Rev. John H. Stotler was from 1902 when he purchased two cemetery plots at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. One was for his brother who had just died and his father was eventually buried in the other. I have no idea where or when John Harrison Stotler died or where he was buried.

If anyone has any additional info, feel free to add a comment here.

Tombstone Tuesday - Fred and Eleanora Schauer

This is the tombstone of Eleanora (Popp) and Fred Schauer located at Saint John Lutheran Cemetery, Crystal Lake, Marquette County, Wisconsin. They are my 2nd Great grandparents on my mother's side.

It is transcribed as follows:

Schauer

Father
Fred W.
1864-1944

Mother
Eleanora
1876-1947