Tombstones

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 46  (Nov 15-21)
Prompt: Tombstones
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Time takes its toll on tombstones.  About thirty years ago, I was researching Charles M. McCurley and his family in Smith County, Texas. A visit to the local library led me to Dean Baptist Cemetery where Charles and his wife, Ann Matilda Hines were buried.

 This was before GPS, but I was lucky enough to find a librarian who knew where the cemetery was located.  She gave me detailed instructions. Even with the instructions, I felt lost before we finally arrived at the small country church with the cemetery. It was on a Saturday so there was no one at the church. We carefully opened the gate and begin to look for their tombstones.  As we went down each row, occasionally a car would slow down and check to see what we were doing. I’m sure the locals were looking out for vandals.

 In the very last row, near the back fence we found their tombstones. They were made from what looked like sandstone or some other soft rock. The names were hand chiseled and were very sparing of letters. There were no dates.  Just C McCurley on one stone, and A McCurley on the other stone.  They both had footstones that had no legible information if there was any at one time. The next grave over was J M which I assume was James McCarley their son. 

Photo on the right taken by David Cook.

I haven’t been back to the cemetery in a long time, but a more recent picture taken by David Cook has been posted on FindAGrave.  The picture below shows that time has eroded the stone even more. The stone is laying on the ground either due to vandalism or weather.

Ghost Story

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 45  (Nov 8-14 )
Prompt: Ghost Story
#52ancestors

 My paternal great great grandparents were John Golightley and Elizabeth Caroline Johnston. John immigrated from Sedgefield, County Durham, England and Elizabeth came from Canada.  They had two sons, worked hard, and became successful in Wellington, Kansas. They raised my grandfather, Johnnie.

 It is well known in my family that Johnnie was afraid of ghosts his entire life. I don’t know why or how that started but it played a part in his life’s story. 

 John and Elizabeth owned two houses in Wellington and the farm with the farmhouse between Wellington and Belle Plaine at the end of their lives. One of the houses was a two-story brick home with a basement in a nice part of town. The other house was a small wood frame house at the edge of town which included a gravel pit behind it.

 After his Grandfather’s death, Johnnie was in the basement of the brick home working on the furnace.He heard his grandfather call his name.He tried to ignore it but being skittish about ghosts to begin with he became more frightened as his Grandfather continued to call his name.He bolted from the basement and refused to ever go in the basement again.

After his Grandmother’s death, Johnnie was given a choice of the two houses in Wellington as well as inheriting a part of the farm.   Since he was sure that the brick home was haunted, he chose the smaller less affluent house on the edge of town.

 There is a rumor in the family that John had some oil and/or silver certificates hidden away. Speculation is that they were hidden in the basement of the brick house and that he was trying to tell Johnnie where they were located.