8 June 2012

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

I am delighted to tell you that yet another of our missing headstones found its way back to Spring Hill on Friday, June 8th. Eleven of us were on hand to welcome him home. Although our main workday focus involved repairing our returning stone, we also were able to clean up the paths, and remove weeds and undergrowth. All in all, we had a very productive workday.

Happily, I was contacted about a month ago by Barbara and Fred Parmeter. They were in possession of three pieces of James Lee Parmeter's headstone. As I understand it, the pieces had been removed from the cemetery about 40 years ago by a cousin. The pieces came down to Fred's father, and then to Fred. About 40 years ago (the 1970s) there was quite a bit of destruction at Spring Hill. I think it likely that the stone had been toppled and vandalized. The cousin was probably trying to salvage the stone to keep it safe. Although the Parmeter cousin removed 3 big pieces of the stone, during our cemetery restoration efforts we found over a dozen small pieces from the bottom and base of James Lee Parmeter's monument still at the cemetery. Some years ago we brought the multitude of pieces to Gary Galeazzi of North Bay Monuments and he magically repaired the bottom of the stone for us. And then last year we reset the JLP base and inserted the bottom of his stone. The first attachment shows the three retuning pieces held in place on its base.

Brad DaVall kindly joined us at the cemetery. Brad has repaired stones at numerous Sebastopol area cemeteries. The second attachment shows Brad and Jeremy tackling the repair. The third shot is a group shot with Barbara Parmeter, our angel who returned the stone, on the left. And the fourth shot is a closer shot of the repaired stone, with Sally and Patsy (Patsy is a Robertson/Parmeter descendant) proudly standing behind our newest addition.

James Lee Parmeter was the son of Lavinia/Levina/Lavina Robertson and John Spencer Parmeter. James died November 16, 1871 when 8 years old. From a Parmeter researcher, I was told that James died of a head injury. Lavina and John Spencer Parmeter were married on September 12, 1857 (or 1858) by the Rev. James Milton Small. [Bit of a digression here, Martha Thompson Small, James Milton Small's wife, and their daughter, Mary Catherine Small, are also interred at Spring Hill]. James' stone is just to the right of his mother's, and his brother, Jefferson Davis Parmeter, lies on the other side of their mother. Barbara Parmeter told me that Lavina's husband, John Spencer Parmeter, is buried at Duncan Mills.

Richard Parmeter, one of the "Friends", has given me the following on Parmeter history in Sonoma County:

The Parmeter family has been in Sonoma County since the early to mid 1850's. I do not know the year John Spencer came to California. He was born in Athens Ohio in 1832 and left home at an early age. He is listed in the 1840 Ohio census as living with this family and then listed separately away from his family in the Athens County census in 1850. He is then listed in the 1860 census in Sonoma County with Lavinia and if I remember correctly, Harriet Alice. I do not know why he left Ohio. From word of mouth of my relatives, John Spencer did not come to California the same was Lavinia did. He took a boat to New Orleans, then a ship to Panama. Crossed the Isthmus of Panama on a donkey and then took another ship to the San Francisco area. This manner of travel was not unusual at that time. One reason he may have left Ohio is because of slavery. Athens Ohio is very close to the Ohio River which was the dividing line between the north and the south. Two of his children have interesting southern names, Jefferson Davis and James Lee. I also have records of two of his younger brothers, Samuel B. and James W. who fought for Ohio in the Civil War. However, this is all conjecture.

The last two attachments show the results of our debris removal. We left the cemetery looking stately and serene.

Our next workday is scheduled for Friday, July 20th. Please come join us if you can!

Best Regards,

Sue

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