04 May 2010

Tombstone Tuesday--Jewell Cemetery

To say that this weeks cemetery is off the beaten path is an understatement. In Dayton Township, western Newaygo county, I grew up abut 1 1/2 miles from it but never knew it was there. (Of course the one room school I also should have attended for about 4 or 5 years was also near there, and I never saw that either.)
Jewell Cemetery has at times gone by the name of Doud Cemetery (the name shared by the aforementioned school) Dayton Cemetery and Dayton Plains.
This is one cemetery that we have a fairly complete transcription of. A patron recently spent a lot of time to compile information on the cemetery. She took pictures and they are organized by section so it is a fairly easy operation to find a grave of someone buried there once you find them in the book. I skimmed the book and found many familiar names--a neighboring farmer here, great uncle there, former Sunday school teachers. Graves as recent as the 2009 are listed. I just wish she had made an alphabetical index.
The cemetery, according to this transcription was established in 1871. The above stone for Maria says she died in 1889. I wonder how large that tree was then.
While our new book on this cemetery is full of pictures, not every grave was pictured. I was not able to find the above stone of Clarence somebody in the book. The obviously hand made stone is still in good shape, with very few pebbles missing.
These two stones are so alike with the same picture of the weeping willow. The taller, for Mary Amanda who died at age 13 in 1861 is a bit more ornate, with the carved border around the stone. The shorter fatter one for John is a bit harder to read. Possible death date is 1850, and a different last name. Are they siblings? Or even relatives? If not, why so close in death?
Another buried stone, this time in grass and, what appears to be day lilies. However;
It does appear that this nearby stone is part of the same plot. The names of Edward, Lillian and Ada Peckham are all inscribed on this side of the stone. More questions-- is it a second wife, a child maybe, and what is on the other sides? And who is the small stone for?
I must get to this cemetery.
I picked this picture because of the contrast between the two stones. The larger one in the foreground for Bigelow is older looking with the crosshatching on the base, seen so often. The one in the background for Gronso was striking in its use of two different colors of stone. This area family has large stones in several cemeteries, the nearest to this being the East Hesperia cemetery. I have never seen one using the two color combination before. I like it.
This is definitely a cemetery I am going to have to visit soon. The varieties of shapes, colors, and ages of stones are a feast for this diva's eyes.

1 comment:

  1. You have captured some great historical accouns of Jewel cemetery, great work keep it up.

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