Family Memories

Marlene Cornelius

2009-11-10T14:29:00.001-06:00

I received sad news recently that the wife of my second cousin, Dennis Cornelius, passed away in October. Dennis’s wife’s name was Marlene and she had battled cancer for a long time. Here is her story.

Dennis is the son of Ford and Lou Cornelius (Ford and my dad were first cousins). He lives in Rockford, Illinois and is the only Cornelius relative that I know of who lives close to me.

USS Admiral Hugh Rodman

2009-09-22T07:42:00.002-05:00

In going through some of my dad’s papers the other day, I found a couple of yellowed newspaper clippings containing news about my father’s return to the States after the war ended. According to the newspaper accounts, he returned to New York on the Navy transport vessel USS Admiral Hugh Rodman.

Although the newspaper clippings are not dated, it appears he left Okinawa on April 19, 1946. It is not clear when the Rodman actually arrived in New York.

Dad began his tour of duty when he left the United States on February 14, 1945 and was in Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands and arrived on Okinawa on June 7, 1945 where he was stationed for the remainder of the war. After the Japanese surrender, he spent a few days in Tokyo in November 1945.

Here is a photo I found in Wikipedia that I saved on my Flickr site:

The history of the Rodman is interesting. It was named after Admiral Hugh Rodman (1859 – 1940) -- a naval officer who was at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War. He was later Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) in July 1919 and retired from the service in 1923. The ship itself was launched in February 1945 and was commissioned in July 1945. It served in the Navy for a year and then was recommissioned as an Army vessel (the USAT General Maurice Rose) in August 1946. The ship was eventually decommissioned in June 1970 and was scrapped in 1997.

Short biography of Henry P. Cornelius

2009-09-18T09:59:00.006-05:00

Last summer I posted about my visit to the gravesite of my third great grandfather, Henry P. Cornelius. Today I was going through some of my father’s mementos and found a photocopy that my uncle Eldon sent him that contained a short biography of Henry. The book was entitled: Portrait and Biographical Album Champaign County, Illinois. It contains “…full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county.” [Note: I guess if you were not included in the book, you must not be very important!] The book was published in 1887 by Chapman Brothers of Chicago. This is what the book says about Henry:

During the early settlement of Central Illinois there came from Kentucky a hardy band of pioneers. That state not only took the lead as to the time of sending its sturdy sons and devoted daughters to settle in the beautiful woodlands which skirted the broad prairies of this section, but in the number of its pioneers it excels all other states. It was characteristic Kentucky hospitality that won for the pioneers such an enduring reputation in this respect, and made life on the frontier happy. We have as our subject one of these veteran Kentucky pioneers who, although not an early settler of Champaign County, is a pioneer of this part of the state. He now lives in Brown Township, where he is the proprietor of a good homestead of Section 16, and employs the greater part of his time superintending the cultivation of 160 acres of improved land. He took up his abode here in 1882, and although not classed among the pioneers of this township, has by his age, experience and most excellent personal qualities, secured the respect and esteem of all who know him. His head has been whitened by the frosts of eighty-one winters, yet he possesses in a marked degree the energy of character which distinguishes him in his youth. Mr. Cornelius was born within seven miles of Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky on March 16, 1806, and is the son of John and Martha (Profitt) Cornelius, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Virginia. After marriage they commenced their life together in Christian County, Kentucky where they reared a family and spent the remainder of their days. The children of the parental family who grew up on the farm in the above county were eight, four of whom are now living. The subject of our sketch removed to Tazewell County, Illinois in 1836 and lived there over forty-five years. He first located in Hittle’s Grove Township, where he lived until the spring of 1877, and from there removed to Minier, where he lived five years, and thence removed to Brown Township, this county, locating upon his present farm. Mr. Cornelius was first married, in his native county in Kentucky, July 17, 1828, to Miss Mary Quissenberry, who was of Southern birth and parentage, her father and mother being natives of Virginia, of which she was also a native. Of this marriage there were born nine children, whom they named as follows: John H.; Edward, deceased; Nancy A.; Gustavus, deceased; Agnes, deceased; Lin; Jesse, deceased; Mary and Levi. The wife and mother, while the family were living in Hittle’s Grove Township, folded her hands for her final rest in 1845. The second wife of our subject, to whom he was married in McLean County, Illinois, in July, 1847, was Miss Catherine Quissenberry, also a native of Christian County, Kentucky, born July 20, 1826. Mrs. Catherine Cornelius became the mother of eight children, all of whom are living, namely, Ann, James, Charles, Millard, Laura, George M., Ida and Julia. Mr. Cornelius is greatly opposed to the manufacture and sale of spirituous liquors, and in voting upholds the principles of the Republican Party.

You just don’t find writing like this anymore! By the way, I bolded the name of Henry's son Jesse Cornelius who was my second great grandfather.

The Cornelius Family Farm

2009-08-31T14:47:00.002-05:00

For years and years, there has been a photograph hanging in our finished basement. It’s an aerial photo taken of my grandparents’ farm in Perkins County, Nebraska sometime in the late ‘50s or very early ‘60s.. The farm site was originally settled by my great grandfather, William Seborn Cornelius, in 1910. He settled a total of three farms in the area. In about 1918, he turned over the farms to his three sons—one of which was my grandfather. My grandparents were married April 4, 1922 and settled on one of the other farms located about 3/4 of a mile north of this farm. My dad was born there on February 8, 1924 and his younger sister, Elaine, a year later on August 12, 1925.

I’m not certain of the date, but my grandparents and the two kids moved to this farm and it is the farm on which my dad spent his boyhood. The rest of my father’s siblings were born on this farm beginning with Eldon on November 1, 1927.

My grandparents ran the farm through the mid-‘60s, but my grandfather started cutting back on his farming once the boys grew up and married. My uncle Lowell was the last of the boys to get married in 1957.

As a young boy, I would look forward to summer vacation when we would visit my grandparents and spend days walking all over the farmland. For a kid from the city suburbs, it was a treat to go out to the country and play. My favorite building was the hog house because it had a low slanted roof and I could climb on to the roof and look south for miles and miles. I have a lot of fond childhood memories of seeing my grandparents and all my aunts, uncles and cousins.

Here is the original black and white photo.

For fun, I also “aged” the photo by applying a sepia tint.

In 1965, my grandmother suffered a stroke and my grandfather turned over the farming to his sons and spent his remaining days caring for my grandmother and for the house. He passed away in August 1968 and my grandmother in March 1969.

After their deaths, the farm remained in the family, but the house and buildings were rented out to tenants. Sadly--over time—the condition of the buildings deteriorated and the decision was made to burn down most of the structures. Today, only the granary is still there. Because of my dad’s declining health, he never saw how the farm looked. The two photos below were taken in January 2002 after he passed away and we buried him in Madrid.

This is the granary and is the only original farm structure still on-site.

This is approximately where the barn and the chicken house stood.

After my dad passed away, I brought the photo over to my house and displayed it in my den. The original frame was starting to show it’s age and so I removed it from the frame to eventually put it in a nicer frame. Since I had it out, my brother-in-law arranged to have it scanned by a commercial scanner (the original photo is 11 x 14) and so now I have a digital copy.

Happily, the land still remains in the family and my cousins farm the land. Hopefully it will always remain in the Cornelius family.

Here’s a Google Map inset showing the location:

View Larger Map

Harry Truman

2009-08-26T12:47:00.001-05:00

This morning my mother was telling me about a book review that she heard about on the radio. The book was about Harry Truman.

She said: "Did I ever tell you that Dad knew Harry Truman?" I told her that--no--that little family tidbit was withheld from me.

Apparently my grandfather--Edward Kostal--knew Harry Truman from their days in France with the American Expeditionary Force. Truman was an Army captain; my grandfather was a private. We don't know if my grandfather served in his unit or was otherwise aware of him. He apparently did not make much of an impression upon my grandfather as he told my mother that he did not like him and that Truman "would not amount to much!"

Halloween 1990

2009-08-22T09:38:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture I took of Lisa and her kids the night they went "Trick or Treating" in 1990. At that time, Lisa and I had been dating for about eight months and were married in August 1992.

My fourth great grandparents

2009-08-10T15:20:00.001-05:00

I was surprised recently to check my inbox and see photos taken of the headstones of my fourth great grandparents – John and Patcey Cornelius. For a long time, I’ve known they were buried in Kentucky, specifically the Cornelius Family Cemetery in Christian County. John and Patcey are the parents of Henry Cornelius whose grave I visited last summer.

About a year ago, I joined the Find A Grave community. I enjoy the site – not just for morbid curiosity – but also as a genealogy research tool. You can go on Find A Grave, look for a cemetery listing and request photos of a friend or loved on who is interred there. That’s what I did with John and Patcey…and a kind soul sent me the photos.

Both lived long lives – especially considering the times they live in. John was born on May 20, 1776, a month and a half before the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th and 219 years to the day before my son Kevin was born!

Here is the memorial page for John and for Patcey and the photos themselves.

Happy 150th!

2009-07-29T18:56:00.001-05:00

My mom reminded me that today is the 150th birthday of my great grandmother, Maria Rogers.

I wrote about her back in March 2005.

Worth reading

2009-07-24T19:18:00.001-05:00

I regularly bookmark items of note using the service Delicious. The most recent five bookmarks appear in the “Worth Reading” box in the left sidebar, but you can see all of my bookmarks -- tagged according to category — via my Delicious page. These are bookmarks of pages that I find interesting including news items and Internet-related stories.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Cattle mutilation story

2009-06-16T15:49:00.001-05:00

I recently came across a cassette recording of a telephone conversation that my dad and his brother, Eldon Cornelius, had in 1975. Uncle Eldon had farmed in the Madrid area for many, many years. One day in September 1975, he came across a dead cow in his pasture that had been thoroughly mutilated. He told my dad the story and my dad wanted to record the conversation. They agreed upon a date and time to talk.

The conversation took place on October 28, 1975 and lasted for about 65 minutes.

My recollection was that Dad made several copies of the conversation and arranged to give a copy to Dr. Allen Hynek of Northwestern University. Dr. Hynek was one of the best-known UFO researchers at the time and had studied other incidents of cattle mutilation. As far as I know, there was no follow-up with Dr. Hynek and the tape was never returned. He died in 1986.

Anyway, I found the cassette tape in a box and figured out how to hook up my old tape recorder to my PC. The transfer went fine and I burned a few CDs, including one for Eldon who is now retired and living in North Platte, Nebraska.

Cornelius Cemetery, Christian County, KY

2009-03-31T20:53:00.001-05:00

I found a website the other day that contains information about a number of my direct ancestors. It’s a cemetery website for the Cornelius Cemetery near Sinking Fork in western Kentucky. My fourth great-grandparents – John and Martha “Patcey” Cornelius – are interred there.

What was also interesting are the names of some of the other relatives. On this page, I found a Woodrow Wilson Cornelius and a Chester Arthur Cornelius – the latter apparently named after President Chester A. Arthur.

What was really interesting was a John Wilkes Cornelius. John was born in 1875 -- ten years after the Lincoln Assassination -- and passed away in 1876 after only six months of life.

Here is the link: Cornelius Cemetery Christian County, KY.

Military photos

2009-03-18T09:48:00.003-05:00

I recently came across a cache of photos that my father took in 1945 while in Okinawa. I have scanned several of the photos and have created a Flickr set to contain these photos. I will be adding more photos as time permits.

Class of 1958

2009-03-11T15:43:00.001-05:00

In the interest of fairness, I present my 1958 kindergarten class photo for comment! Earlier I posted my dad’s 1942 high school class picture so I thought I should provide some “transparency.”

I’m the well-dressed young lad in the far left of the top row!

Class of 1942

2009-03-11T12:07:00.001-05:00

I recently came across a class photo for my father’s high school. He graduated in 1942 from Madrid High School. Dad is in the top row, third from the right.

Twitter

2009-01-15T14:07:00.001-06:00

If any of my family members – or anyone reading this blog – would like to follow me on Twitter, I’m at http://twitter.com/sscornelius.

Winter of Death

2008-10-31T12:00:00.001-05:00

I recently blogged about my great aunt, Emma Kostal Psota, who died at a young age as a result of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919. This week I received a copy of a new booklet by local Ravenna author, Valerie Vierk, that chronicles the flu pandemic.

The booklet is called Winter of Death: Ravenna Area Victims of the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic. Readers of this blog who may be interested in obtaining a copy of the booklet can do so by contacting Valerie directly by e-mail. The cost of the booklet is $10.00 plus $1.50 shipping.

[Disclosure: I provided Valerie with some material for her book. I have no financial interest whatsoever.]

Brad Tilsch

2008-10-17T22:44:00.001-05:00

A “shout-out” to my old neighbor, Brad Tilsch. He and I lived in the old Northbrook neighborhood in the ‘50s and ‘60s. I spoke to him on the phone a few days ago and he told me his daughter had read this blog!

Welcome!!!

Emma Kostal Psota

2008-10-14T17:57:00.001-05:00

My grandfather, Edward Kostal, had four step-siblings and three full siblings. He was the only boy among his full siblings. Two of his three sisters grew to adulthood and lived long, long lives. I knew both of them.

While in France with the AEF, my grandfather learned that his third sister, Emma Kostal, contracted Spanish Flu during the great pandemic of 1918. Even though The Great War ended on November 11, 1918, my grandfather was severely wounded and did not return to the states until the following spring. It was too late as Emma succumbed on April 2, 1919. She was 23 years old.

Emma married Fred Psota and they had a daughter together named Jeanette. After Emma’s death, my great grandparents took care of Jeanette. Fred remarried another Emma and moved to Fairbury, Nebraska.

Emma is buried in the Ravenna cemetery. This photo has been in the family for a very long time. Back then, it was common practice to hire a studio photographer and have him/her take photos of the deceased with all of the floral decorations. For a small town like Ravenna, this was a lot of flowers!

I’m unsure if this was photographed at a funeral home or in a private residence. I know that some memorial services were held in the home rather than in church or a funeral home. For example, the service for my great grandmother (Emma’s mother) was held at her home.

Nebraska “Rocks!”

2008-08-22T16:56:00.001-05:00

I thought it would be fun to post a slideshow of photos taken during my ancestral homeland visit to Nebraska. Here are photos of Courthouse, Jail, Castle and Chimney Rocks. Flickr has a new slideshow application that I wanted to try.

Those Kostal Kids

2008-08-13T19:06:00.001-05:00

My mother recently found a photo taken of her father and his three sisters. In his family, there were a total of eight children – four half brothers and sisters, his three full sisters and himself.

In this picture, from left to right, is Albie Kostal Psota, Edward Kostal, Emma Kostal Psota and Agnes Kostal Glodowski. Three years ago, I posted a photo of all eight children with my great grandparents. I guessing the picture above is more recent than the full family photo. I’m basing that solely on Aunt Albie looking slightly older in this picture – maybe a year difference at most. She was born in 1899 so this picture was probably taken somewhere in the 1904 – 1906 range.

I really wish I knew more about these old pictures.

Wordle

2008-08-01T15:24:00.001-05:00

For the fun of it, I took this weblog and created a word cloud in Wordle. Here’s how it looks! Click on the cloud for more detail.

Brief Autobiography of William S. Cornelius

2008-08-01T14:10:00.001-05:00

William S. Cornelius – Hunting trip
Red Bluff, California, 1883

In going through some family material, I came across this autobiography of my great grandfather, William S. Cornelius. I guess everyone referred to him as “W.S.” This autobiography was written on April 12, 1942 when he was 81 years old. He still had another 20 years to go!

It’s great to have this written account and it is contained in the Cornelius Roots and Shoots book written by Uncle Jay Cornelius, one of William’s sons.

Brief Autobiography of William S. Cornelius
April 12, 1942

I was born near Delavan, Tazewell County, Illinois February 14, 1861, and lived there for eighteen years except for one-half year I lived in Missouri. We left Illinois on June 26, 1879 for Columbus, Cherokee County, Kansas to join my Uncle Edward who had left in March 1879. The whole family moved except for two little sisters. One had died before we left Tazewell County and the other, Sarah, died on the trip and was buried near Hannibal, Missouri, where we crossed the Mississippi River by ferry.

Father and I worked for Les Patterson, whose wife was a “school-marm” until the early part of 1882. On February 8 of that year, I started for California by train, came through Salt Lake City, Utah. They were just putting up the big Mormon Temple and I stayed over one day and attended the Mormon Communion meeting that evening.

I arrived at The Willows, California on February 17, 1882. I came out with Frank and Marion Hilliard and we went over to Dr. Hugh Glenn’s Ranch Headquarters at Jacinto, east of The Willows on the Sacramento River. Frank had come out to California seven years before and had a good job as foreman of the Glenn Ranch. The next morning I had a job about three miles southwest of the Headquarters on the G.W. Hoag Ranch. Charles Newman was the boss.

I worked there about two and a half years, then went into stable boss and then herded geese off of the wheat fields during the winter months. The bookkeeper and foreman for the goose herders was W.P. Mason. I rode a horse most of the time while herding; her name was Daisy. She was a good mare because you could shoot off of her and she wouldn’t scare. We herded from the first of November to the first day of May and used Winchester rifles “45-60,” which used big bullets and made lots of noise. I killed hundreds of geese and just let them lay. A Chinaman on the ranch moulded and loaded all of the ammunition for the seven herders. They bought lead by the bar and powder by the keg. We had to save our empty shells for reloading.

The important thing was to keep the geese moving and not to let them light. The foreman said that the best herders killed the fewest geese. Each herder had a regular beat to follow. About a half section was an average beat. We were paid $30 cash per month, plus board and room, and they supplied us with a horse and ammunition.

In 1885 I went over to the Glen Ranch Headquarters and worked with the Hilliard boys. There were many Chinese around at that time. Every town had a Chinatown and everyone who could afford it had a Chinese cook and laundryman. I had herded about two months for the Glenn Ranch when I received a telegram that my father was very ill, so I immediately left for Columbus. But when I arrived back home in Kansas, Father had died a few days before, On Christmas Day, December 28, 1885.

I stayed there for a while and farmed Father’s place. I had bought a team of horses and a little equipment. Mother later married David Lewis and moved to town. Lewis was a butcher in a partnership with a man by the name of Duncan. I decided to return to California the following spring, so sold the team and machinery and rented the place out.

I went back to California to work on the Dr. Glenn Ranch in the summer of 1886. I got the same job back again that I had before. The same job I had the day that Dr. Glenn was shot and killed on February 11, 1883.

I went to work on the Mud Ranch, also owned by Doc Glenn, and that was in 1886 and Jim Snowden was then the foreman. I drove a jerk-line team of ten mules. They never allowed less than ten for each foreman, there were usually about fifteen for each foreman. We were never allowed to let our team stop and rest. Each driver had a big black snake whip. A driver could either ride a mule or walk or sit on the wagon and had to pull off of the road if anything went wrong. I quit the Mud Ranch and went to work for Jim Boyd for a while, then from there went to Vacaville for one winter and worked for Duff Hawkins as a roustabout. I finally decided to return to Kansas. I married Cassie S. Evans in Columbus on February 14, 1888 and had planned to return to California to make our home, but Mrs. Evans objected to Cassie leaving Kansas because she was not yet eighteen years old. So, we stayed in Kansas.

Times were very hard in the 1890s. I sold fat hogs for $2.25 per head. I worked hard; all horses and walking machinery. Had to hunt and trap in spare time to make a living. Corn was selling for 10 to 12 cents a bushel. There was a $400 mortgage on the home place when my father, Jesse, died that hadn’t been paid. So I farmed it and rented an adjoining 80 acres. I had about $100 left so bought thirty-seven shoats. I cut and threshed my grain and ground it to fatten the hogs to sell so that I could pay off the mortgage. Later bought 40 acres, [another] 80 acres and [then] another 40 acres from Tommy Orbison. Then, in 1910, I sold and traded the Kansas land and bought and moved to a new farm in Perkins County, Nebraska. The war started a few years later and farm products went sky high and I made a “barrel of money” in just a few years. I bought a big house in town for $4,500 [in] Madrid, Nebraska, in 1918 and moved there, leaving the farms for the boys to run (Evan, Leland and Floyd).

In February 1922, when I was the President of the Farmer’s Union of Perkins County, I made a trip to Sacramento, California with seven carloads of hogs. I sold them all there in Sacramento and went up to Willows, California to see if any of my old friends were still there. Found Marion Hilliard working for Golden State Orchards south of Hamilton City (Monroeville). We had a good long visit – too long – I missed the train back to Orland. I still liked California, so bought a house and 10 acres on south side of Orland, California for $7,000 and moved there in June 1922 with my wife Cassie and two children, Gladys and General. This is where I am living now.

W.S. Cornelius

William Seborn and Cassie Evans Cornelius

2008-07-31T22:15:00.001-05:00

Here are photos of my great grandparents -- William S. and Cassie Evans Cornelius -- courtesy of my Uncle Eldon. The photo of my grandmother states it was taken in 1920. I assume the photo of my grandfather was taken around the same time.

William was a grandson of Henry Profitt Cornelius.

Just back from Nebraska

2008-07-30T15:51:00.001-05:00

We returned late Tuesday afternoon from our trip to Nebraska. We met up with cousins Sarah and Amanda Johnson in Grand Island and then some genealogy work in the Ravenna area. We toured the two Ravenna cemeteries and found the Horak Cemetery, an old Czech cemetery located out in the country north of town. Sarah found her great great grandfather’s grave – John Helebrant.

We then moved on to North Platte and met up with Eldon and Jeanie and then on to the Madrid area. We saw a number of cousins (Kevin was a little overwhelmed with the size of his family!) and then found time to drive up towards Scottsbluff to meet Mack and Sandy.

Kevin said the highlight of his trip was seeing Chimney Rock (plus Scotts Bluff National Monument, Castle Rock, Courthouse and Jail Rocks).

We then started our trip back. First we laid some flowers on Dad’s grave (saw Rod’s wife Robin in the Grant flower shop).

We then drove back to Ravenna for a little more family detective work. Sarah and Amanda stayed on in Ravenna for a little bit and then they headed home.

On our way back, we stopped at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa.

Here’s a little picture tour of our trip. I’m adding more pictures as I sort through them.

It was great to see everyone again. Eldon gave me a lot of family pictures that I’ll be adding to this weblog.

Henry Profitt Cornelius

2008-07-09T23:06:00.005-05:00

[Update: August 10, 2009] There seems to be some uncertainty regarding the correct spelling of Henry's middle name. The name is actually his mother's maiden name and her records show the spelling as Proffitt. As I wrote below, one of Henry's sons was named Jesse with the same middle name. Today I found Jesse's gravesite and it also shows his middle name spelled as Proffitt. I am going to assume this spelling is the correct spelling as opposed to what Henry's record shows. Incidentally, I received photos of the gravesite of Henry's parents -- John and Patcey.

# # # #

I had a fun day today. I fulfilled a long-held desire to take a short trip back in time and visit the gravesite of my third great grandfather. His name was Henry Profitt Cornelius
Henry was born on March 16, 1806 in Christian County, Kentucky and was the oldest of eight children. He was first married to Mary Ann Quisenberry in 1828. They had ten children together with the eighth child being my second great grandfather, Jesse Profitt Cornelius. (“Profitt” was Henry’s mother’s maiden name and was used these two times as a middle name.) Mary Ann passed away in 1845 and is buried in the Hittle Grove Cemetery, Tazewell County, Illinois. Henry married Mary Ann’s cousin, Catherine Quisenberry, in 1847 and they had eight more children together. Thus, Henry fathered 18 children!
Henry passed away at the ripe old age of 89 on August 29, 1895. Catherine passed away in 1902. They are buried together in Mt. Hope Cemetery near Foosland, Illinois.
I became aware of Henry’s existence when I read about him in my Uncle Jay’s Roots and Shoots book. It became somewhat of an obsession for me to find Foosland and to find Henry’s grave. In fact, Dad and I talked a number of times about driving down to find the location, but his declining health made the trip unlikely.
I’m on a four-week sabbatical from work and I decided this morning to make the trip. I packed a cooler of water and energy drinks and made the trip to Foosland. Actually, it’s not a bad drive at all and certainly one we should have made years earlier. The town is “off the beaten path” and it took several turns before I found the county road leading to it. It took even more time to locate the cemetery. I had to ask some locals to point me in the right direction.
But I found it!
Foosland is located northwest of Champaign which is home to the University of Illinois. I thought my father’s hometown of Madrid was small, but I believe Foosland is even smaller. It’s accessible by county roads only.
The cemetery is very well maintained. It took me about an hour to find his tombstone. Since they both passed away over 100 years ago, I was fearful of not finding the grave at all or finding a tombstone that was weather-worn or in very poor condition. To my relief and surprise, their tombstone is in excellent condition.
Here are some photos that I took. I thought of Dad today as I was sitting at the tombstone.