Tombstone Tuesday--Shippy Cemetery

This week's focus cemetery is Shippy Cemetery. Located only a mile from the southern boundary of the county, it is another cemetery that I haven't yet visited. But these pictures make me want to schedule a trip soon.
Shippy Cemetery has the rural feeling of so many of our cemeteries. It appears to be well cared for despite the tall grass you see in the foreground. That is only the weeds from the roadside ditch. You can see the flowers and well cut lawn on the rolling hill. And did you notice the stones behind the sign? One side of the base high above the surface, and the other a bit buried, as the stones, and presumably the bodies, lie across the slope, and not up or down it.
Here you can see the sloping drive as well as the wide deep ditches in front of the cemetery. With Michigan's past as a state covered in either pine trees, prairies or marshes, it is not uncommon to find these deep ditches along Michigan roads.
This picture is one I find so fascinating. The bordered plot with several different types of stones. The massive carved stone of the McInnis family is inserted into the border of this plot. Left of that, the smaller stone with a front that looks like a unfurled scroll. Other than the large family name on the large stone, the rest of the names are to blurry to read on the picture. I see a break in the border in front of the scrolled stone. I wonder if that was once on the border, or if that is a marker for the McInnis's infant son, whose name I see next to theirs in our transcript.
The stone on the border, that of the Carpenter family, is rather unusual as well. A sturdy though short obelisk style, it clearly is missing something. There should be more on the top of the stone. Perhaps an urn, or some other embellishment.
As you can see from this section in the Wright family plot, the cemetery is visited and decorated currently. I like the trees, but I can see in the distant future that the stone may not be so easily seen.
This beautiful obelisk stands tall and although any writing is faded, the evidence remains of carvings on the edges.
I find this an interesting stone, listing both the Tollman and Clough names. I am full of questions about why they are on the same stone. Cost? Neighbors? Or, more likely, related somehow?
As this wider view shows, Shippy Cemetery is a peaceful, pastoral place. Surrounded by fields, this rural cemetery is a place I must visit soon.

Obituary--Mrs. Cynthia Dobe

Today's obituary is of a woman that typifies many of those who came to Michigan to settle when there was mostly pines and prairies. The names mentioned are names still found in the area today.
From the 1 March 1917 Fremont TimesIndicator:

MRS. CYNTHIA DOBE
Cynthia Isabelle Cain was born May 16, 1940, in Oakland county, New York. On November 26, 1859, she was maried to Joseph dobe, and on December 1, 1859, Mr. and Mrs. Dobe moved to Michigan and settled on the farm where they lived until their death. This place, now in Holton, Muskegon county, was all a wilderness and they saw all the hardships of pioneer life. Their nearest market was Muskegon. Mrs Dobe was the last of the early settlers.
To them were born eight children who lived to adult life. Six of them are now living, namely, Wm. Dobe, and Mrs. Elmer Huntoon, of Holton; Linnie Dobe, who lives at home; Mrs. C. J. McKee, of Twin Lakes; Mrs. J. S. Brown,of Gary Ind., and Mrs Otto McGee, of Fremont. She is also survived by 12 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild. Mr. Dobe passed away seven years ago.
Funeral services were held Monday, Feb. 19, from the home, Rev. A. R. Elliott, pastor of the Holton M. E. church officiating. Interment in Holton cemetery.

A simple and short obituary, yet hardly missed an item of value to genealogists. Birth date and place, death date and place, survivors, spouse, marriage date, and even a maiden name. For this time frame, obituaries rarely are more complete.

Reach Us Now

I have recently had some followers try to reach Sandy and I through the comments. Often though we are unable to e-mail them back.
To make it easier for people to reach us directly --I have added some Contact Me information below the picture of Diva # 2.
Hopes this makes it easier to reach us for more information.
We can also be reached through the Fremont Area Local History Room, whose link is also shown on the sidebar.

Obituary--Dake, infant son

There are times, when the community (gossip) columnists reigned supreme, when a person's death would not just be reported once, but several times in the same paper. Three mentions of the death, but never once is the name of the year old child mentioned.

From the 5 April 1917 Fremont Times Indicator:

The infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Dake died with pneumonia last Friday. Funeral services were at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dake's parents, Mr. and Mrs. McGowan, near Wooster. Rev George Vanwingerden conducted the funeral services and the little one was interred in the Bull cemetery last Sunday. A little bird of promise was thus cut down, but it will bloom again the the garden of paradise.

Almost sounds like Mrs Robertson near the end of that one. Then came this small mention.

The funeral of the year old child of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Dake was held Sunday at the home of Mrs. Dake's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank McGowen. Interment was made in Bull cemetery.

More details in this next one on the cause of death, and the rest of the facts seem to match what was told before.

The infant son of Mr and Mrs Julius Dake died last Friday, of pneumonia. He was thought to be better and typhoid fever was contracted. The funeral was held Sunday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank McGowan, and interment made in the Bull cemetery. They have much sympathy in their sadness.

Where was that typhoid in the previous articles? A point to remember when browsing in old newspapers for genealogical tidbits. Don't stop at the first bit of news, dig through the entire paper. You may find more items about the same death or other event. And each with a different point of view.

Tombstone Tuesday--Sherman Township Cemetery

This week our focus is on Sherman Township Cemetery.
Unfortunately, we have no closeups of any of the individual stones there. But the pictures we have do reflect the cemetery overall.
As you can see it is a wide open, neat cemetery. There are few trees within the cemetery itself. Part of the reason the large stately trees so common in other county cemeteries are missing is the age of Sherman Cemetery. In our cemetery records we have an article from 10 November 1960 that appeared in the Fremont Times Indicator. It is about the first burial in the new cemetery, a Mr. Louis Rupp. And not only was he the first burial there, he was also one of the men on the cemetery board who helped to establish this new cemetery.
According to the article, 10 acres were donated by Larry and Gloria Hansen for the new cemetery, in memory to his parents. This plaque is near the entrance to commemorate that gift.
The article further stated that 3 acres of the 10 acres were cleared and fenced. At that time there were 170 plots. You can see here that there still is plenty of room. I am no judge of acreage. I think this is larger though than the 3 acre hay field on our farm......maybe.
The land here is flat, the grass well maintained and all nicely lined up. Nothing haphazard, as can be the case in older cemeteries with jumbled rows.
From the back looking to the road, you can see that all the different sizes and shapes of stones are modern styles. On some, you can also see the military plaque fastened to the back of the stone.
All in all, a peaceful place.

They Turn Up Everywhere--With Obit--James Quigley

After reading a posting by Eastman Online about a woman who was remodeling and found a gravestone behind her shower wall, I had to write about this story.
One of my jobs in the Local History room involves going through old donated newspapers before the mustiness drives us crazy. I recently found an item in the 26 January 1983 Fremont TimesIndicator. It was written by (then editor) Doug Hostetler:

The Sheriff's Department called us this week with an unusual lost and found item. It seems that Deps. Johnson and Sutton have found a tombstone.
The two were dispatched to an accident to an accident on M-37 south of Newaygo near Derk's Marine. A car struck a grave marker that was lying in the middle of the road.
They picked up the stone, which was inscribed James J. Quigley 1895-1952 and took it back to White Cloud.
Max Jordan, county clerk was contacted to see if he had a record of this man. He doesn't. They contacted the Michigan Department of Health to see if they have a record of this man. They don't.
Finally the Times-Indicator was contacted, and he's not on our subscribers list.
Does anyone know anything about this man?

Sandy and I were quite intrigued by this. Not enough to look through the microfilm for all of 1945, searching for an obituary, but intrigued none the less.
Since the obituary index we had is still searchable on our computer, while we wait for our new one, I looked for the name of Quigley. Bingo! There he was.
While we still don't know if the stone was returned, at least we do have some info on him.
And if we find out the Sheriff's Department still has it, we will be sure to let them, and you know.
In the mean time, here is the obituary from the 12 March 1942, Fremont Times Indicator.

James Quigley, 46, Resident of Holton Eleven Years, Dies

James Quigley, resident of Holton for about 11 years, died early Monday at his farm a mile west of Holton after an illness of three years. he was 46 years of age.
Mr Quigley was born at Tipperary, Ireland, May, 1895, and came to Holton fom Chicago. He was a member of the American Legion and the Moose and Elks organizations.
Surviving are his widow; a brother Chris Quigley of Colorado; a sister, Mrs Richard Walsh of Chicago and his mother, three sisters and three brothers, all in Ireland.
Funeral services will be held this morning at ten o'clock at the St. Michael's Catholic church at Brunswick with Rev. Julian Moleski officiating. Burial will be at the Brunswick cemetery.

This obituary does clear up some items. If he died west of Holton, he was in Muskegon County, not Newaygo. Brunswick Cemetery is next to the church, right on the county line.
But why would the editor think he would still be on the subscriber roles, 41 years after he died?

Tombstone Tuesday--Reeman Cemetery

Reeman is one of my favorite local cemeteries. Fairly small, and rural, it is only a few miles from my home. Neatly fenced in with a prominent sign, it is one that is not on the way to anywhere. Located in Sheridan Township, on a road that turns to gravel right after the driveway, it is actually several miles from the small community of Reeman and the Christian Reformed Church located there.
When the main road home was being "improved" I often took the road passing this cemetery, rather than the regular detour. I love the peaceful atmosphere.
The drive through Reeman Cemetery is a large U. In one side and out the other. The most striking feature is that the drive is lined with large cedar trees. You can see some of them above.
Other than that, Reeman Cemetery does not have a lot of trees within the cemetery, but is surrounded by tall trees. As you can see here, it is still in active use as a cemetery. Other than first name of Ralph E, I cannot make out the last name. It does say US Army. Perhaps this is too recent a stone for our transcript.

Here again you can see more modern granite stones, mingled with the older obelisk type of stones. And while the bushes are close to the Tanis family stone, they are not overpowering it.
That is one thing I have noticed about the cemetery. The shrubs, although large as shown here with the stone for Garrit Wesselink, are all neatly trimmed.
Here is one of the many Sneller family stones, a stately obelisk style. You can tell that this area of Newaygo county, near both Reeman and Fremont was heavily settled with Dutch families. The transcript of graves is rife with the names of neighbors with the old Dutch spellings: Van Eeuwen, Teusink, Terlaan, Boes, Freriks, Blaauw, Zandvliet, and Hoekert. This last family modernized their family name to Hooker and now some in the younger generation have changed back to the original spelling.
I close with a great overall view of the cemetery. You can see that all the evergreen shrubs are neatly trimmed. And at this opening to the cemetery, you can see the beautiful cedars on either side of the drive.
A beautiful cemetery, full of names of the families who still live in the area, all around me.