what about the plastic animals?

Cashdollar

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was compelled to stop at a cemetery in Saugerties.  The reason I had to stop was to take a picture of the Cashdollar headstone.  Cashdollar!  Who would have guessed such a surname existed.  A little googling uncovers that Cindy Cashdollar is a well-regarded steel guitar and dobro player who happed to grow up in Woodstock, which is only about ten miles from Saugerties.

Cemetery Quiz

Quiz time!  There are at least two interesting things to notice on the headstones of John and Gerritude (Gerritile?  I can't tell with that crack running through her name) Ten Broeck, what are they?  Answers after the jump.

I got off the Thruway in Saugerties on Sunday thinking I could quickly find an ice cream shop.  That didn't work out too well.  For a reason to be revealed later I had to stop at this cemetery on the south side of town.

Quiz answers and close-up photos below.

Lifetime Dedication to the Accordion

Visitors going to Lincoln's tomb have no choice but to pass by Mr. Accordion, Roy Bertelli.  As the story goes Mr. Bertelli was pleased as punch when he was able to buy the triangular plot near the entrance to Oak Ridge Cemetery.  A couple weeks after his purchase he got a letter from the cemetery saying they had sold him the plot in error.  What set Mr. Bertelli off, though, was the letter that followed from the cemetery's lawyer.  The lawyer demanded that Bertelli return the plot, otherwise the cemetery would take him to court.

Well, the crypt is there in the cemetery today so we know how that story turned out.  Bertelli purchased an above ground crypt and a tablet with an accordion engraved upon it.  Apparently Bertelli would entertain cemetery visitors by climbing on top of the crypt and playing his beloved accordion.  Mr. Bertelli chose to be buried elsewhere when he died in 2003, but not before arranging for perpetual care for his Oak Ridge crypt and tablet.

The Flintstone tomb is the final resting place for John Tanner, Illinois governor from 1897 to 1901.  I don't know anything about Illinois governors except that the last few have wound up in jail.  Tanner had integrity!  He was the first governor to not send in state police during a strike, he eliminated Illinois' deficit, he set up the Western Normal School in Macomb, and sent ten regiments, including one African-American regiment, of state militia to Cuba for the Spanish-American War.  I don't know if he played the accordion.

Lincoln's Tomb

Abraham Lincoln, along with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and their sons Edward, Willie and Tad all rest in the Lincoln Tomb in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery.  The oldest son, Robert, is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Inside the tomb is a smaller version of Daniel Chester French's sculpture for the Lincoln Memorial.  The big Lincoln head outside is a bronze version of the marble head that's in the Capitol in Washington, DC.  I don't know if I took that photo in black and white on purpose or if I accidentally switched settings.  Lincoln himself is a couple feet behind, and ten feet below, the red granite cenotaph in the burial room.

The receiving vault where Lincoln's funeral took place is not too far away behind the tomb.

Robert Earl Hughes

As one of those weird kids that would read the Guinness Book of World Records from cover to cover I was well aware of the legend of Robert Earl Hughes.  This trip gave me a chance to pay my respects to him. 

When he was six years old Robert Earl Hughes weighed 200 pounds.  His peak weight was estimated to be 1069 pounds but the heaviest he ever weighed on a scale was 1041.  Hughes made a living by appearing at events, signing autographed photos of himself and hitting the carnival show circuit as a sideshow attraction.  By all accounts he loved the work.  He got to travel and talk to lots more people there than he ever would have in the nearly non-existent town of Fishhook.  At 32 Hughes contracted measles and died from complications from that disease.  He is buried next to his parents in the Benville Cemetery, a couple miles north of his hometown of Fishhook.

The Washington Times-Reporter has a great four-part (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) biography of Hughes.

As a special bonus, while looking for information about Hughes I was pleased to find the AOL Benville Traffic Report.  All you really need to know about traffic conditions in Benville is on this map.

Killed by ye Bloing up of ye School houfe

Young Richard Bernham of Hartford, Connecticut had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The British Parliament repealed the hated Stamp Act in May 1766.  Later that month there was to be a celebration.  Gunpowder and fireworks were stored in the brick schoolhouse.  There was an explosion and Richard Bernham along with five other men were no more.  Bernham is buried at the Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford.

Doctor Nathaniel Ledyard was among those killed.  His tombstone, which I didn't notice, has this poetic epitah:

Excerpt from The Magazine of American History (Vol. 7, 1881) found via Google Books.

Beginning and Ending Points

One advantage to all my recent travel is I got to see Mark Twain's boyhood home in Hannibal, Missouri and his grave in Elmira, New York. 

Twain is buried in the Langdon family plot in Woodlawn Cemetery.  Olivia Langdon, Samuel Clemens' wife, was the daughter of a prominent mover and shaker of Elmira.  Gabrilowitsch is Ossip Gabrilowitsch, concert pianist, founding director of the Detroit Symphony, and husband of Twain's daughter Clara Clemens. 

Anyone care to guess the height of the Twain-Gabrilowitsch monument?  Hint:  It is an appropriate, safe, height.

The Davis Memorial

John Davis married Sara Hart over her family's disapproval.  When Sara passed away after 50 years of marriage in 1930, John built an elaborate memorial to her.  It is estimated that he spent over a hundred thousand dollars on the memorial during the depression.  Was it out of devotion to his late wife?  Was it out of guilt for not treating Sara better?  Was spending on the memorial to keep her family from getting an inheritance?  The city of Hiawatha desperately needed a hospital and swimming pool and could have used a donation.  Was Davis embittered toward Hiawatha?  Nobody knows for sure.

There are eleven statues depicting John and Sara at different stages of their lives.  John lost his left hand to an infection at some point.

Sharp

Remember my great-great-grandfather Vincent who kept a diary during the Civil War?  His great-grandfather Frans was a lieutenant of the 9th Regiment, Claverack Batallion, Albany County militia during the Revolutionary War.  As I was driving home from upstate I remembered the Claverack connection and stopped at the Dutch Reformed Church graveyard to look around for him.  I had no idea when or where Frans died, but the old part of the cemetery wasn't very large.  I didn't find his grave, and when I got home found out that he actually lived in East Claverack, which is now known as Hillsdale.

While I didn't find any dead ancestors I did see John Sharp's tombstone with the unusually modern looking typeface. 

The Dust of a Young Girl

Traveling east on Ohio Route 52 aside the Ohio River I came upon this graveside assemblage.  The grave is of Diana Whitney, 16, daughter of Lemuel and Sarah Whitney, and who died on July 23rd, 1823.  Diana has the unusual distinction of being the only person known to have died in Ohio while in a wagon train headed west.  It is believed she died of cholera.  The tree stump with the cross carved into it was once a sapling planted to commemorate Diana's death.

The marker, well, I'm not sure what to say about the marker.  Here's what is written:

There rests here, in the quiet beauty of the valley of the Ohio, the dust of a young girl.

On July 23 1823, a wagon train, creaking toward the west, came to a halt close by.

When the train moved forward, one of it's party had been left along the trail, a hostage against time.

Diana Whitney, sleeping where the morning sun paints with strange scarlets and magic golds of the surface of the river, was sixteen on that summer's day long ago.

In a later summer this tablet was placed on Diana Whitney's grave to remind those who pause to read of a humble sacrifice woven into our country's greatness.