Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Tombstone Tuesday - David C. WILSON

We don't often get to Alabama to do research and cemetery visits, but a wedding in Pensacola, Florida, on Saturday provided to perfect excuse. My wife has been attempting to determine the date and place of death of a great-uncle for several years. He had retired in 1880 and seemed to move between Farmington, IL, northern MO, and Citronelle, Alabama over the following 25 years or so. Recently, she has gathered much information on Citronelle during that period, so we were ready to do some searching on our arrival last Friday.

We arrived in the area about 11 in the morning; the library didn't open until 1. She had the location of what appeared to be a main cemetery, so we drove around a bit, to find the road, that led out to the correct edge of town, where it was supposed to be. Upon arrival, we saw that it was our favorite kind, where we could do a first pass in the car - it was quite cold, even for a December day.

We drove down the first aisle, turned right, up the hill, driving slowly, I looked at the surnames on the left, she was watching the right. Suddenly, she said: "WILSON!" There, about a hundred feet out, was a tall WILSON marker. I got out to check [note the "I" not her ;-)]. A few seconds later, when I gave her a "thumbs up" - she was out of the car immediately with pad and camera in hand... ;-)

Not only were David C., and his wife, Martha C., WILSON buried there, with dates, their only two daughters were there, as well. As you can see, my wife, Nancy, was very happy with our "find."

Families are Forever! ;-)

6 comments:

  1. That's a great story. We drive through the cemetery and I swear, I have one foot out of the car at all time, ready to pounce on a "great find". I share your joy at locating this grave.

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  2. Oh, wait, you are Annette's parents! I thought you and your wife seemed familiar. I am super excited.

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  3. Small world, huh!? Nice to complete the connection...

    ;-)

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  4. This is too funny! The world is getting smaller and smaller!

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  5. I know this same feeling. In my opinion, there is nothing more exciting than finding an ancestor's gravesite, but then I have always loved cemeteries.

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  6. Sandra, I couldn't agree more. Thanks for your comment! ;-)

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