7 October 2011

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

Conditions were perfect for today's workday at Spring Hill. The crisp autumn air was invigorating, and the recent rains kept the dust down for our labors. Our focus was on setting the last of the wooden Finley markers, removing debris, and maintaining the paths. Additionally, I was able to pick up copies of our newly updated map from Sebastopol Blue and distribute them to the local historical societies. All in all, we had a great session today.

Paul Schoch, our map maker, organized the revisions to our official Spring Hill Map. In the year since our original map was crafted, we located and set 2 of our missing headstones (James Erb and Mary Catherine Small), discovered a footstone (Mary Robertson), and discovered the location for/ and replaced the wooden marker for Ada Finley (thanks Sally and Dick for the labor and Jerry for the redwood). Joe Hughes of Phelps and Associates of Sebastopol kindly updated our CAD file with the changes, and Sebastopol Blue once again holds the original from which hard copies can be ordered. I have attached a .pdf version of the updated map, but if you would like to order a hard copy, Paul's instructions are:

The map file has been sent to Sebastopol Blue, located on S. Main Street in Sebastopol. Their e-mail address is sebastopolblue@sbcglobal.net You can e-mail them or call them direct at (707) 829-2699 for prints. The large 24" x 36" size is the best for reading all the numbers. Ask for "Fran" when you call.

The first attachment shows the group setting the last of the remade wooden Finley markers. Ada F Finley's monument base was discovered earlier this year. Subsequent research led us to determine the base belonged to Ada. Her marker is now beside that of her sister, Eva Cential Finley. The sisters were two of the thirteen children of Samuel Emanuel Finley and Mary Jane Stanley, and both died very young. Eva died in August of 1877 when just over a year old. Her sister, Ada, died in 1880, less than a year old. From Finley family researcher Carmen Finley, I have been told that Eva and Ada's father, Samuel, crossed the plains with his parents, Spring Hill's John Finley and Keziah Head, in 1852 when he was just 6 years old. The family story is that there were many hardships on the journey. At one point they were surrounded by Indians and kept prisoners for 2 days and nights until one man escaped, stole a horse from the Indians, and went to a fort and brought the Cavalry to their rescue. They arrived in California in October 1852 via the Overland Trail through KS, CO, UT, and NV. Samuel was educated at Ocean View School.

The second attachment shows volunteer Jeremy organizing the Regional Parks' tool trailer. It was MUCH needed!

And the last attachment is of today's group. We were once again joined by my cousin, Claudia, who gets the distance prize, coming all the way from Germany. We also welcomed a first timer - Pamela Angleman.

I remain extremely appreciative of the generosity and support local business have given our cemetery restoration efforts. To mention a few of our contributing businesses, there were the headstone repairs by Gary Galeazzi of North Bay Monument, GPR scans by Ken and Dave of NORCAL Geophysical Consultants, special milling of vintage redwood for our Zilhart enclosure by Sturgeon's Mill, and now map help from Phelps and Associates and Sebastopol Blue. My thanks to all the volunteers, business, neighbors, and local historical societies who have joined in our restoration efforts.

Our last workday of 2011 will be November 18th. We will hope to resume as usual in February of 2012. Evelyn has kindly invited the work party to her house after the November 18th session for minestrone soup. Please come and join us!

Best Regards,

Sue

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