8 August 2008

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

With a hint of fog and cooler temperatures, we had another lovely and highly productive work day on Friday. 10 enthusiastic volunteers continued to gather debris in preparation for the GPR scan, while Glen of Regional Parks chain sawed more of the downed SOD trunks. We even rediscovered 2 additional foot stones through our efforts.

As you can see from the pictures, we cleared away copious quantities of materials from the cemetery floor. Jim, Candy, Patsy, Evelyn, Rae, Jerry, Arden, Sally, Jeremy, and I rolled, lugged, raked, and tugged obstacles away from the potential GPR scan path. Sal and Javier of Regional Parks were fully engaged in just packing it all into the large dump trunk. I will be calling Ken Blum of Norcal Geophysical next week to update him on our progress, and hopefully schedule a date for the scan.

The layout of the cemetery is becoming more and more evident as we delve beneath the covering debris. Friday we rediscovered foot stones of Telitha Cooper McReynolds, and Jacob (Sr) McReynolds. The "new finds" were physically in line with Anna Christina Miller McReynolds' foot stone, uncovered last month. It now seems we have at least two very long rows of graves in the center of the cemetery with fairly regular spacing. I have high hopes that the GPR scan will further clarify our basic layout.

Telitha Cooper McReynolds was born 4 Sep 1834 in Dover, Lafayette Co., MO; one of 10 children born to her parents, Nancy (Holt) and William Cooper. Her husband, Jacob McReynolds Jr., was born in Washington County, Virginia and moved as a child with his family to Illinois then to Missouri. It was in Missouri that Jacob and Telitha met. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California with his brother, William, and cousin, George Ragle. Jacob made several trips back to Missouri. 22-year old Jacob married a 17-year old Telitha on 26 Mar 1852, in Dover, Lafayette Co., MO. Jacob and Telitha helped his younger siblings and parents (Jacob (Sr) McReynolds and Anna Christina Miller McReynolds, both of whom are buried alongside Telitha in Spring Hill) make the Westward journey in 1852. They settled in Green Valley in Sonoma County, California near Jacob's parents and brother, William. It was in Sonoma County that all Jacob and Telitha's 9 children were born. Telitha died of consumption on November 3, 1869 after the birth of her last child. She was just 35 years old. In 1882 Jacob and his children moved to Battleground, Washington State, where Jacob later died. Jacob's brother, William, also moved north in 1882 to Portland, Oregon. Both Jacob and William are buried in Lone Fir Cemetery, Portland, Oregon.

...I haven't yet verified the dates with Regional Parks, but am hoping to have our next work days on September 5 and again on October 3. MANY thanks to those of you who joined me on Friday for the August clean up day. I am looking forward to seeing many of you in September. ...