Memorial Day 2013

The Liberty Memorial at the National WWI museum in Kansas City courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Memorial Day is an opportunity to remember the sacrifice of soldiers and sailors that died in service to their country. Here is a listing of some of the relatives I would like to remember this Memorial Day.

Sorry, but this is pretty much a re-post of last year since I don't have any additional information on about relatives that died in service to their country. Click read more to see the list...

Tombstone Tuesday - Mason and Daisy Ross

This is the tombstone of Mason, Daisy and Eleanor Ross. Mason Ross was the brother of my great grandmother, Clara (Ross) Fowlie. I took this photo on a recent trip through Iowa.

Lake City Cemetery

Lake City Cemetery, Lake City, Calhoun County, Iowa is a cemetery I haven't visited yet. According to my notes, Mason Ross might be buried here as well as his wife Daisy (Barham) Ross. I don't have too many other details, but looking at the map, it seems like a very large cemetery. If I have decent weather, I should stop and visit it sometime on the way through Calhoun County.

Update: I added a photo of the main entrance and I was able to locate the Hipple group and Mason and Daisy Ross.

Three teens charged with 75 counts each in cemetery vandalism

I saw this article in today's Wisconsin State Journal. Click through to the article for a photo, but be prepared to be shocked at the damage. I don't think I have any relatives in that cemetery, but it's disgusting that this sort of vandalism happens. Rock Church Cemetery is a rural church in Grant County, Wisconsin, similar to other rural cemeteries.

Three teens charged with 75 counts each in cemetery vandalism

Three teenagers have been charged with 75 counts each of criminal damage for allegedly participating in an early morning vandalism spree that caused at least $500,000 in damage Aug. 10 at Rock Church Cemetery near Livingston in Grant County.
...
Located on Rock Church Road in the town of Clifton, the cemetery is the site of graves dating back before the Civil War. Dozens of gravestones were damaged or broken.

Vandalism at Rock Church Cemetery shocks families, caretakers

...this cemetery, with gravesites dating to before the Civil War, was desecrated during a night last month — 108 headstones and grave markers were damaged...
...They found granite and marble headstones of newer gravesites pushed to the grass and marble stones of older gravesites ripped into pieces. Some stones broke in half; some broke at the ground level; one broke into 13 pieces. ...

Find a Grave has information on 288 interments at the cemetery.

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...

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...

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

Lake Creek Cemetery Sign

Lake Creek Cemetery Sign, a photo by RBrass189 on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
This is the sign for Lake Creek Cemetery, Lake Creek Township, Calhoun County, Iowa. See my earlier post for a list of some of the relatives and extended family that were buried there.

Tombstone Tuesday - Mackey Cemetery overview

Entrance to Mackey cemetery

These photos are from a June 2007 trip to Mackey Cemetery, Sangamon Township, Piatt County, Illinois. These photos give a bit of an idea about the area. The cemetery is on a little bit of a hill considering the flat terrain of that area. 

William Ross (1856-1869), Rebecca Ross (1861-1862) and Henry Ross (1828-1863) are buried at this cemetery. William and Rebecca were Henry Ross's children. All three were featured here on a previous Tombstone Tuesday.

Mackey cemetery as viewed from the south

As I mentioned before, I have been discussing Brassfields, but there is no direct genetic link for these Ross's to Floyd Gipson Brassfield. The connection is by the marriage of Henry Ross's great grand daughter to a Brassfield.


Henry Ross (1828-1863) was the father of John Franklin Ross (1859-1943), father of Clara Bernice Ross (1897-1994). Clara's daughter married Elvis J. Brassfield and that's the connection to the Brassfield surname.

Tombstone Tuesday - Gilbert Alexander

This is the tombstone of Gilbert Alexander, father of Norma Elizabeth Alexander. Norma was the wife of Lloyd Ira Parker. Gilbert Alexander was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, Town of Westfield, Marquette County, Wisconsin.

Gilbert was born June 1873 in Wisconsin to Henry Alexander (1831-1899), who was born in Scotland and Elizabeth Dewar (1850-1916), who was born in Canada. Gilbert Alexander married Maggie Haney July 28, 1901.

Madness Monday - Joseph Fowlie

Joseph Fowlie was the uncle of Frank Brown Fowlie. Their common ancestors are George Fowlie and Margaret Cantley. Today I discovered his obituary from the Rockwell City Advocate on 25 March 1909, on an internet message board.

Joseph Fowlie was born in 1829 in Aberdeen, Scotland to Margaret (Cantley) and George Fowlie. He had at least nine siblings and many of them came to the US via Canada, then to Illinois and finally settling in Benton County and Calhoun County, Iowa. According to his obituary, Joseph was judged insane about 1890 near age 61. He was committed to a mental institution and in 1900 he was a patient at Iowa Hospital for the Insane at Independence in Buchanan County, Iowa, according to the US Census. I've ridden past the hospital on US20 many times over the years and have been intrigued by it, now it seems I have a sad family connection to the facility. It will certainly change the way I look at it next time I drive past.

Lake Creek Cemetery, Cahoun County, Iowa

This post is to help me prepare for a potential future trip to Lake Creek Cemetery, Lake Creek Township, Calhoun County, Iowa. I have some notes and there are a few transcriptions available online as well.

More after the jump...

Rosehill Cemetery, Rockwell City, Iowa

This post is to help me prepare for a potential future trip to Rosehill Cemetery, Rockwell City, Iowa. I have some notes and there are a few transcriptions available online as well.

Interestingly, there are two cemeteries with similar names in Calhoun County, Iowa. Rosehill Cemetery in Rockwell City and Rose Hill Cemetery in Manson. I believe the majority of the graves I am interested in are located in Rockwell City, but there is potential for confusion in my notes since Manson, Iowa is not too far away. There are some Ross and Fowlie surnames at Rose Hill, so it might be woth a trip there as well.
The list is after the jump...

Tombstone Tuesday - Ross Graves at Mackey Cemetery

This photo is from my last trip to Mackey Cemetery, Piatt County, Illinois in June 2007.

Left is the tombstone of William Ross (1856-1869), next is Rebecca Ross (1861-1862) and the third from left is Henry Ross (1828-1863). William and Rebecca were Henry Ross's children. All three were previously featured here on a previous Tombstone Tuesday.

As I mentioned before, I have been discussing Brassfields, but there is no direct genetic link for these Ross's to Floyd Gipson Brassfield. The connection is by the marriage of Henry Ross's great grand daughter to a Brassfield.

Henry Ross (1828-1863) was the father of John Franklin Ross (1859-1943), father of Clara Bernice Ross (1897-1994). Clara's daughter married Elvis J. Brassfield and that's the connection.

Tombstone Tuesday - Elvis John Brassfield

This is a photo of the reverse side of the tombstone of Elvis John Brassfield, located at Union Cemetery, Jefferson, Jefferson County, Wisconsin. Since his wife is still living, I will respect her privacy by not posting the front of the tombstone with her details on it.

Elvis John Brassfield (1920-2006) was the son of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield.

I've been working on some details about his service during World War II, so I thought it might be appropriate to put some of that information with this post. According to his separation record, Elvis accrued 8 months, 24 days of foreign service during World War II. He participated in the following battles and campaigns: Southern France; Ardennes; Central Europe; Rhineland. He also flew on 35 combat missions while in the European theater.

Elvis enlisted August 29, 1942 and entered active service February 25, 1943 at Des Moines, Iowa. His military occupation specialty is listed as 612, Airplane Armorer-Gunner. He served in this capacity on B-24 Liberator aircraft, I have been told one aircraft was named "Asbestos Alice" and another was named "Patches." While deployed to Europe, he was part of the 700th Bomb Squadron of the 445th Bombardment Group in the 8th Air Force.

One interesting item about his war service was a mission that he fortunately missed. Elvis was slated to fly September 27, 1944 to bomb the Henschel Aircraft Plant in Kassel, Germany, but a twist of fate kept him on the ground. It would have been his 4th mission, but instead Elvis and the rest of the crew if the aircraft he was on were taken off the flight plan and spent the day in London instead.

The mission they missed is now infamous for being one of history's deadliest air battles and the worst combat losses that the 445th Bombardment Group suffered during the war. According to the Kassel Mission Historical Society, 35 B-24's from his squadron left England, but only 4 returned to base. 20 B-24's were lost in 3 minutes in a clash with German fighters. Each B-24 carried around 9 men that were either killed or wounded and captured after escaping from their damaged aircraft. Elvis was very fortunate to have missed the mission.

Tombstone Tuesday - John and Jennie Hunt

This is the tombstone of John Hunt and his wife Jennie J. (Johnson) in Coleridge Public Cemetery, Coleridge, Cedar, Nebraska. This photo was taken in the mid to late 1910s sometime after the death of Jennie and many years before John's death in 1965.

The Nebraska Gravestone Photo project contains a more recent photo here.

Tombstone Tuesday - Verna C. Parker

Verna Catherine Pugh was born October 20, 1890 in Chicago, Illinois to John L. Pugh and Catherine Patterson. She lived with her mother in Washara county and married Clyde A. Parker January 11, 1911. They moved to Fond du Lac, WI around the 1920s. She died December 24, 1948 and was buried December 27, 1948 at Rienz Cemetery, east of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Wordless Wednesday - Graves of Clyde and Verna Parker

Grave site of Clyde and Verna Parker with memorial plaque for Vilas.

Reverse angle photo looking down hill towards the access road

These photos were taken by me during a recent visit to Rienzi cemetery, Empire Township, Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin.

Tombstone Tuesday - Rebecca J. Ross

Rebecca J. Ross

Rebecca Jane Ross was born March 30, 1861 to Henry Ross and Elizabeth (Cowan) Ross. She died March 12, 1862 and was buried at Mackey Cemetery, Piatt County, Illinois. I took this photo of the tombstone in June 2007.