Cemetery Surprises

When I started doing research I had some underlying assumptions. For instance, if a grave marker said someone was buried there, I assumed that meant they were buried there. How naive! As stated earlier, Rachel Wainright Jones (Pop's Mom) is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate, Kentucky. Interestingly there are grave markers on the plot for her father Britton, mother Mary Elizabeth, her brother Thomas, and her grandparents, Ruth and William Wainright. The people that run the cemetery office tried to help me out. They keep pretty good records. They told me that they had no record for the burial of William. They even had a sketch of the plot showing who was buried where -- still no record of William.



By the time I found Rachel, I had substantial information about her father, Britton. He had an interesting history I'll discuss in another posting. I knew he died "in defense of his country against the rebel John Morgan" of Morgan's Raiders fame. I knew he died of heatstroke near New Albany, Indiana in 1863. I had a copy of his Civil War Pension Index. I knew his widow, Mary Elizabeth, brought the family back to Cincinnati. I wondered how someone's body from the Civil War who died in Indiana made its way back to Cincinnati. The plot sketch says that Britton was buried in Evergreen in April, 1864 (a year after his death). I've read of families spending quite a bit of money to recover the bodies of their Civil War dead, but I wondered if Mary Elizabeth actually brought his body to Cincinnati when the family returned. The Cemetery Office could not locate a card for Britton in their file. But there was the grave marker -- spelling out all of the details about Britton's life.

Then there was William -- Rachel's grandfather. They had a record for the burial of Ruth, but not William. Again, William had a grave marker. Ruth was living with her daughter, Rachel Lusk, in Newport at the time of her death. Apparently, William and possibly Ruth had been living with another daughter in Athens, OH when William died. It wasn't until October 2008 that I was able to find William buried in the South Canaan Cemetery outside of Athens on the family plot owned by his daughter, Ann Eliza Broadwell. There was a wonderful verse engraved on his marker, yet his wife was not buried next to him when she died a few years later. Lesson number one: Sometimes it's not a grave marker, it's a memorial to a loved one they would have liked to be buried near.

Then there is the mystery of Charles Jones monument in the Walnut Hills Cemetery. I was fascinated from the first time I saw it. There was a symbol on the monument that referred to the "Golden Lodge" and "70". I've scanned in a copy so you can see the crossed swords, ivy, etc. I could not seem to identify a Golden Lodge.













A couple of years ago I found the Death Notice for Charles Henry. There was my answer! Again I found it interesting that the notice would acknowledge that he was a "Member of Golden Lodge, K. of P." but not mention that he was the father of Fred, Leo, and Edith. I guess Alwilda placed the Death Notice.

Further research allowed me to find out what the "K of P" was. It stands for the Knights of Phythias, a fraternal organization established by an Act of Congress in 1864. You can read more about the organization by following this link http://www.pythias.org/about/about.html The organization was devoted to international peace. If only their goals had been achieved. It gives me one more clue as to who Charles Henry was. He obviously valued friendship and service. Wish I could learn more.

Alwilda, Alwilda

So what do we know about Alwilda (Pop's stepmother)? When I first started on this family research journey, I contacted Patty Scardina Volz. I had been to the Walnut Hills Cemetery and located Charles and Alwilda's graves. She asked me if I spit on Alwilda's grave while I was there. She said that Pop had always told Margaret Ann to spit on Alwilda's grave if she ever went to visit. Margaret Ann apparently repeated this instruction to her children. So is it a fair characterization to say she fit the description of the "wicked stepmother"?

Here's the evidence:

• As I mentioned in the previous post, here is what Lillian's letter had to say: "His second wife was not a good mother to her children, mother said. . . the children needed Rachel's guidance. Had she lived she would have insisted on a good education for Fred, Leo and Edith."



• When Charles remarried on December 24, 1898 (a respectful six years after Rachel's death), he married a woman 16 years his junior. She was 32 years old when she married.



• My mother's notes say that "Pop", my grandfather, swam out into the river and "got a job on a boat as a cabin boy". I recall hearing that he did this when he was about 13. He would have been 14 when his dad remarried.



• When Alwilda died in 1937 at the age of 71, her Death Notice referred to her husband, brother and sister. No mention was made of her stepchildren. She died of a cardiac embolism with arteriosclerosis and uterine cancer being contributory causes.



• But by far the best evidence of how "Pop" felt about his stepmother is this picture.

Patty Volz is in possession of the original. We don't have any pictures of Alwilda and for good reason. Pop cut Alwilda out of the picture where she posed with his father. You can clearly see where he made the cut. I think this sums up his feelings. I also find it interesting that no survivor saw fit to pay to have her death date engraved into her grave marker. The poor woman was probably spared a lot of heartache as she died about the time of the '37 flood.

Charles Henry Jones

Charles Henry, sometimes referred to as "Harry" was born January 23, 1850 in Cincinnati. He was the third of six children and was our g-grandfather. I love what I know (and don't know) about Charles Henry. In Lillian's letter to Edith, she described him this way:

Charles Jones was a handsome, fair man, much like your Bob (my Dad's brother, father of Bob and Gina). Everyone liked him and people said he was the finest man who ever walked Eastern Avenue. He looked something like your father, (Fred --our grandfather) except that his coloring was different (blue-eyed and blond hair). See for yourself. Here is his picture.



I think we'd all agree -- he was handsome!
As a young man, Charles and his brother Tom, worked at the Crane Lumber Yard building caskets.

Once again Lillian's letter tells us "Your grandfather (Charles) and Uncle Tom (Charles' brother) worked for the Crane Lumber Co. on Eastern Ave. They manufactured caskets, and every noon the men would stretch out in a nice clean casket, before the satin linings were put in, and take a nap!"
In 1874 and '75, Charles' occupation was listed in the City Directory as a "sawyer". By 1876 he was a machinist. Eventually Charles made his living as a "carriage maker". On January 25, 1882 Charles married Rachel Adela Wainright in the Emanuel Episcopal Church.
Lillian's letter described Rachel this way:

Rachel was a very refined, intelligent woman who was slightly crippled, I think, walking with a little limp. Her health was delicate and she died early. Charles Jones remarried, but his second wife was not a good mother to her stepchildren, mother said. Charles was a kind man, very easy-going, but the children needed Rachel's guidance. Had she lived she would have insisted on a good education for Fred, Leo, and Edith.

Researching Rachel has been a labor of love. I have always felt drawn to her based on this description. I wanted to know more. Rachel was the daughter of Britton Wainright and Mary Elizabeth Darby. Believe me, each of them is a story in itself. Britton died at the age of 43, leaving Mary Elizabeth a widow with three children. They were living in New Albany, IN at the time of Britton's death. Mary Elizabeth brought the family back to Cincinnati. I'll write about each of their stories later.

Rachel had what we would now refer to as tuberculosis (they called it consumption). They lived in a two-family home on Gladstone which is just above the railroad tracks off Collins Ave. The house was just torn down a couple of years ago. Rachel's mother lived with them, I assume to assist in her care and help with the children. Rachel died in 1892 at the age of 41. At the time of her death, Edith was 10 years old, Fred was just short of 8 years old and little Leo was only 5 years old. After her death, I have some documentation that says the children were "put into private homes".

Charles married Alwilda Collins, who deserves her own posting. There seems to have been no love lost between Rachel's mother and Alwilda. Let me show you Rachel's grave in Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate, KY. I'll let you draw your own conclusion.







Note the inscription at the base of the grave marker:
"Erected by her mother and children"

Huh?

What about her husband?

Charles was only 59 years old when he died in 1909. On his Death Certificate, his son, Fred was the informant and apparently living at home at 2316 Gladstone. Charles' occupation was listed as a "millwright" and the cause of death was chronic nephritis.

He is buried next to his second wife, Alwilda, in the Walnut Hills Cemetery. I intend to blog on details related to that, too.