Tombstone Tuesday: Walter and Betsy Cronkite - Follow Up

Betsy Cronkite preceded her husband in death and was originally marked with the stone pictured below. This marker was removed when Mr. Cronkite's cremated remains were interred and the new joint marker placed.

Cronkite

Mary E. (Betsy) Maxwell

Jan. 25      Mar. 15

1916         2005

Wordless Wednesday: Our Son John

Elmwood Cemetery

Kansas City, MO

BlackSheep Sunday: Clell Miller, Notorious Outlaw

Clell Miller was a Confederate and a notorious outlaw from Clay County, MO. He was a member of Quantrill's Raiders at the age of 14 and then the famed Jesse James Gang. Clell participated in many robberies - bank, train, stage, and home - and is credited for killing a number of people.

Clell was killed in a bank robbery in Northfield, MN, at the age of 26, and is interred in Muddy Fork Cemetery near Kearney in Clay County, MO. Clell is listed on the family stone and a new military stone has been added with Southern Cross of Honor and Quantrill's name misspelled.

PVT
Clelland D Miller
Quautrill's Company
CSA
Dec 15 1849
Sep 7 1876

The family monument lists three family members.

Clelland D. Miller
Sept. 7, 1876
Aged
26 Yrs. 8 Ms.
& 22 Ds.

Francis M. Miller

Died

Sept. 12, 1874

Aged

21 Yrs. 2 Ms.

& 2 Ds.

Moses W. Miller
Born
May 26, 1798.
Died
Jan. 3, 1879.

Wordless Wednesday: CSA Week: John L. Holder

Interred in historic New Santa Fe Cemetery, Kansas City, MO.

John L Holder
SERG CO A
9 BM MO Sharp Shooters
Confederate States Army
APR 28 1839 FEB 14 1910

Tombstone Tuesday: CSA Week: Confederate in Kansas

Even though Kansas was a Free State, if you look hard you can find a few Confederates who lived out their lives and passed away just on the other side of the Bloody Border. Often their military affiliation was not marked or the term Confederate or CSA used.

Abbott

GeorgeW. Abbott

July 19, 1840.

Feb. 17, 1921.

Co. A. 6th Mo. Cav.

Docia C. Abbott

Dec. 22, 1842

July 30, 1924

This large granite marker bears the distinctive pointed top of the classic marble Confederate military tablet. The American Flag is under the point in place of the Southern Cross of Honor. His service is listed as the 6th MO Cavalry, but the reference to CSA is omitted.

CSA Week: Confederate Memorial Cemetery

With Memorial Day coming up, this week I'd like to remember those who fought for the Confederate States of America in the Civil War.

What better way to start the week than a glimpse of Confederate Memorial Cemetery in Higgensville, Lafayette Co, MO.

A peaceful place to rest.

View of the Confederate Memorial from the entrance.

The Confederate Memorial, dated 1906.

A small view of a large cemetery.

Wordless Wednesday: Capt. Ketchum, Chief of Delaware Nation

White Church Delaware Indian Cemetery
Est. 1831
Kansas City, Wyandotte Co., Kansas

Delaware Nation

Captain Ketchum
1780 - 1857
Chief of Delawares 28 Yrs.

Capt. Ketchum
Chief of Delaware Nation
28 Years
A Member of the
Methodist Church
T P (?) South
22 Years
?? Born
1780
Died
July 11, 1857
(illegble)

See the Digital Cemetery for more of the Ketchums at White Church: http://bit.ly/pI6Q1

Wordless Wednesday: Links to the Past

Dorothy Dudley Reed

www.dorothy-reed.com

Aug. 21, 1930 Jan, 19, 2008

Johnson County Memorial Gardens

11200 Metcalf Ave.

Overland Park, Johnson Co., Kansas

Tombstone Tuesday: Sibley Cemetery at Ft. Osage

The site for Fort Osage was recommended by Lewis and Clark on their early expedition along the Missouri River, and was later built under the direction of Clark at what is now Sibley, Jackson County, Missouri. The cemetery, located a short distance from the Fort, is one of the earliest cemeteries in this part of Missouri. It was used by the Fort for military personnel as well as by the civilians in the community that grew up around it.

The cemetery can be categorized as a "Customary" cemetery. The cemetery was not originally planned or platted. When the need occurred, individuals chose a spot and took care of their own, and as a result, while the graves are oriented eastward and are in family groupings, there is no real order to the cemetery.

As was common for the military, the soldiers were placed in unmarked mass graves. With no stone carvers available in the area, it is likely many of the earliest settler graves were not markedwith a gravestone. Many were likely marked with a stone, wooden cross, tree or other planting, or flowers. Those with some means would have had to mail order a stone, likely from the St. Louis area.

One of my favorite early markers at this cemetery is this marble scroll-top child's marker. The marker sits on a concrete base and features a lamb, a common symbol of innocence and youth usually associated with babies and small children.

Reading the inscription (below) we find this marker is, in fact, for a small child. As settlers new to the area, the surviving parents also felt it important to let those that follow know that this child was born in Utica, Mississippi, only two short years earlier.

Anna,
Daughter of
J.A. & A.E.Hollis
Born at Utica, Miss.
Aug. 5, 1854
Died Aug. 17, 1856

Tour Ft. Osage and Sibley Cemetery on Flickr: http://tinyurl.com/dbkv8r Click Show Info to see captions.

See the Digital Cemetery for more about Sibley Cemetery.