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

Tombstone Tuesday: Marble Masonic Mausoleum at Mt Moriah Cemetery

Mount Moriah & Freeman Funeral Home and Cemetery, located in southern Kansas City, was established in 1922 to serve Freemasons and their families. See more in this quick flickr picture show: http://bit.ly/Qty8f

The cemetery includes several Masonic features, including a massive marble mausoleum.


The mausoleum has two levels. At the entrance, on the second level is the Temple meeting room.

The dedication plaque inside mausoleum entrance reads:

Mount Moriah Temple

Dedicated May 1928

Robert E Peden - Architect

Grand Master seat in Temple meeting room.

The Lodge room contains many symbols and features reprentative of the Shriners, Masons, Scottish Rite, and Eastern Star. The meeting room is topped by a stepped pyramid ceiling with a skylight that is not visible externally from the ground.

Large and small ornate burial chambers predominate the Mausoleum.

The upper level wings are filled with large and small private burial chambers and ornate display niches. The lower level contains some burial chambers but its wings are more open halls and open rooms.

See more in this quick flickr picture show: http://bit.ly/Qty8f

BlackSheep Sunday: The Horse Thief

In the West, stealing a horse was a hanging offense. Sometimes the horse thief was lynched on the spot where he was captured and other times the thief was brought into town, locked in jail, tried, convicted, and hanged at a scafford or hanging tree in town for all to witness.

When a horse thief was hanged where captured, they were often placed in an unmarked grave nearby, but when the thief was hanged in town they were normally buried in the local cemetery. Many times they were unmarked, with no one willing to order and pay for a permanent marker, and sometimes they had a temporary marker.

This particular horse thief was marked much later. While his name was unknown, his deed is remembered forever.

The Horse Thief

1898

New Santa Fe Cemetery

Kansas City, MO

BlackSheep Sunday: Jesse Woodson James and Family

Jesse Woodson James, one of the most prolific outlaws of the west, grew up near the Kansas City area - near Liberty, Missouri. Jesse served Quantrell's Raiders, a guerrilla company of the Confederacy noted for burning and slaughtering a path to Leavenworth KS and and the burning of Leavenworth. After that James, with his brother Frank, the Younger brothers (3) and several others from Quantrell's Raiders formed the James-Younger gang.

The James gang is credited for many bloodbath robberies throughout the midwest. Eventually James was shot in the back of the head by Bob Ford. For this act, Bob Ford was labeled a coward and James was romanticized and became a legend.

Jesse has certainly not been left alone to rest in peace after death. Jesse was originally interred on the family farm in Clay County, Mo. For many years Frank James earned money by giving tours of the family farm and graveyard. Years later the family cemetery was moved to Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Kearney and the Clay Co Historical Society now provides tours of the James family farm.

After James was moved to Mt. Olivet, he was disinterred two more times to try to prove the person interred was actually James. The final disinterment resulted in DNA testing.

JAMES
Jesse W
Born Sept.5, 1847
Assassinated
April 3, 1882

Zerelda
Born July 21, 1845
Died Nov. 13, 1900

Confederate Military Stone
Jesse W James
Taylor's SQ
Quantrell's
Regt
CSA
Sep 5 1847
Apr 2 1882Marker in memory of Gould and Montgomery James, children of Jesse and Zarelda (interred elsewhere)

Zerelda Samuel
Jan. 29, 1825
Feb. 10, 1911
(mother of Jesse James)

Dr. Reuben Samuel
Jan. 12, 1829
Mar. 1, 1908
"At Rest"
(Jesse's mother's last husband)
Archie P. Samuel
Born July 26. 1866
Killed by a Bomb
Jan. 26,1875
(son of Reuben and Zerelda)

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.

BlackSheep Sunday: Bob Ford, The Man Who Shot Jesse James

Robert Newton Ford, one-time member of the James gang, is remembered forever in history as the "coward who killed Jesse James."

History records that Bob Ford was born in 1862 near Richmond, in Ray County, MO. His grave marker, however, records his birth as 20 years earlier. Ford's last days were spent in Creede, Colorado, where he was gunned down by Edward O. Kelley and interred. Years later Bob's remains were removed to Richmond, MO, where he remains today.

Bob Ford
Dec. 8, 1841 - June 8, 1892
The Man Who Shot Jesse James

Richmond City Cemetery
Richmond, Ray County, MO

Sponsored by the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists.

BlackSheep Sunday: The Younger Gang

The Youngers
Lee's Summit Historic Cemetery
291 Hwy and SE 3rd St.
Lee's Summit, Jackson Co., MO

Individual Markers

Mother
Bursheba Fristoe
Younger
1816 - 1870

Robert Ewing
Younger
October 29, 1853
September 16, 1889

James H.
Younger
January 15, 1848
October 19, 1902

Cole
Younger
1844 - 1916
Rest in Peace
Our Dear Beloved

Confederate States of America Marker

Southern Cross of Honor
Captain

Cole Younger
Capt.
Quantrill's Co.

C. S. A.

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.