Tombstone Tuesday--Replacment Stones

Well, not entirely replacements. Maybe just additional is more accurate. I have several branches where subsequent descendants have decided to place a more durable granite stone to sometimes replace, but more often supplement the original stone.
An example is Hubby's Walsworth branch, located in Clark Cemetery. The stone below shows the original obelisk style stone, along with the newer granite stone behind it.
While the face of the stone, with the family name on the base is not the patriarch, he is the son of the original Muskegon county immigrant. Artemas and his wife Amanda are on what I would call the front of the stone. This side faces the U-shaped drive through the cemetery. On one of the other sides can be found that patriarch Elijah and his wife Lucina.
The gray granite stone, shown below, has the family name and all the names from the stone. Unfortunately they are kind of jumbled around. Elijah and Lucina's names are on either side of the family name, in the corners. Artemas and Amanda are on the bottom, left side, and the two other names together on the right side.
These other two people, James and Frank are on the third side of the original stone. While they have the same surname, they don't fit any of my husband's known family members. I am only guessing, but perhaps they are cousins of some degree.
For the supposed age of these stones, the letters are fairly clear, and unworn. But I am glad that both the original and the new one are together.
When it comes to cemetery stones, my thoughts are, the more the merrier.

Tombstone Tuesday--Walsworth Discovered.

One of the "funnest" things about genealogy, for me at least, is when you stumble across information and or family graves when you weren't even looking.
In researching Hubby's family, I often wondered where the early Walsworths were buried.  I knew they lived in this area but was not able to find their graves.  One May, I was visiting the graves of my grandparents at Clark cemetery, a nearby private cemetery.  It is a fairly small, tree filled cemetery on the corner of Oceana and Muskegon counties and along the west side of Newaygo county.  I talked about it here.  Just as I was pulling out of the U shaped drive, I happened to glance to my side and saw this.

Hey!  Hubby's family.  Of course I had to get out and check it out.   The names on the front were those of my husbands Great-grandfather and Great grand mother.   The stone was intact, although a bit weathered and getting hard to read.  On a later trip I got the picture below.

Artemas Walswarth (1849-1915) was the son of the original Michigan family member.  The stone is easily readable, both his information and that of his wife Amanda Rogers (1855-1891). I was so surprised to find them here, as all the later members of this family were in Holton cemetery, a nearby cemetery in Muskegon county. 

On another side was the information for his father Elijah Walsworth, (1825-1878)and mother Lucina Henry (1823-1908).  Elijah was the original Walsworth to come to Michigan.  And he was the generation who added the "s" to the name.  Prior generations in New York went by Walworth.

Everyone mentioned on the stone, which included two children,  are also recognized by individual stones.  One of the children was the son of Artemas: James F. Walsworth, (1874-1881).  The other child was Frank (1881-1881) , who was probably the son of Artemas's brother James.
The stone below was a newer stone that lies just behind the tall obelisk stone. All the names are listed here, along with the additional information of the father's names for the children.

Important lesson learned.  Don't just assume because most of the family is in one cemetery that everyone will be there.   After all, some of the family did live in Oceana county, as well as in Muskegon and Newaygo counties.  Check them all out.

Tombstone Tuesday--Clark Cemetery

Clark is nearby cemetery that is not city or township owned. It sits near the corners of 3 counties and 4 townships. Across the street from a farm machinery dealership, and sided by a large pole building, it still maintains it rural touch. This classic stone shown above for Amanda Wright shows the clasped hands that was often shown on the graves of wife's who had died.

I have several family members in this cemetery. The below stone is from my paternal grandparents. Although I have found unusual first names are helpful in genealogy, they can also present a problem. Gramp's name is misspelled here and never corrected. At least they had a stone. Grandma's brother and wife are buried here also, near Grandma and Grampa. However, although Uncle Bert had a stone, Aunt Lyla had none. Apparently that small aluminum marker was all she had. Dad made up this stone for her out of cement and wooden letters. Although the letters have since fallen out, you can at least read the name and in real life, the dates. I liked Aunt Lyla. She taught me to enjoy Perry Como.

My Hubby also has family in this cemetery. Although most of his family is in the Holton cemetery, I had searched in vain for the older generations of Walsworths. Imagine my surprise, when, as so often happens, I saw the name Walsworth just before the cemetery exit. The name is carved in the base, and around the sides were the names of Hubby's great-grandparents Artemas and Amanda, but also his great-greats--Elijah and Lucina. I love cemetery serendipity!
Of course I am not related to everyone there. The stones are varied while some are almost hidden in the tall flowers.

One of the nearby roads in one of the adjoining counties are named for this family. I love the log style stones. This one looks like pink granite.

This is such a sad stone. It incorporates many of the commonly seen symbols. The drapery and the lambs. The top of the stones says "Our Little Lambs." And also "the children of _____ and ______ Stevens." Apparently the Stevens children died at the same time. I don't see the names of the children, maybe they are on the sides or back of the stone.

This last tombstone seems to have an urn on the top. I cannot read the name of this rather hidden stone.

But did you notice the little slab leaning against the bottom?

Intro to Me

I’m Linda, the quiet and shy snow-loving member of our twosome. I’m married to a farmer who has never lived more than half a mile from where we now live. I have two grown sons, both farmers through and through. While I have moved around some, I have stayed in the West Michigan area all my life. My love of family history began with my grandmother telling me stories of how we were related to Ethan Allen (un-proven as yet) and how Gerald Ford used to attend our Ford family reunions as a child. Much work had been done on my father’s family history, so my first breakthrough came when I discovered my first Civil War ancestor on my mother’s side. It has been an exciting quest to dig into the Allen, Ford, Cross, Samis, Gilbert, Cunningham, Wells, Stiver, Hagen, and Walsworth lines. (Just to name a few.)
One of my biggest college regrets was that I decided not to pursue a history minor. Digging into the family history as well as the area history has been never-ending and rewarding adventure.