8 June 2018

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

Yesterday was lovely at the cemetery, with warm, pleasant conditions and a light cool breeze. We had a skeleton crew - just six of us - but were able to get the cemetery in pretty good shape, focusing on the paths, removing berry bushes and invasive plants, and tackling eucalyptus debris. And we made yet another new discovery.

While cleaning out and raking the Crayne area of the cemetery, I raked over what looked to be a touch of marble. On further inspection, it turned out to be the very top of Florence Lavender's footstone, barely peeking above ground. We had discovered Florence's headstone back in October of 2014, but at that time could not find the footstone, although we did try our best. Jeremy spent yesterday morning cleaning the stone and resetting both it and Daniel Crayne's footstone, so that they would be above ground. Florence's footstone is unusual in that it is tapered. Jeremy said that was common in wooden footstones, but hadn't see that in a marble one.

Just why Florence Lavender was buried near Daniel Crayne had been a mystery to us. Jeremy did a bit of research yesterday and came up with our answer. It turns out that Florence is a granddaughter of Daniel Crayne. Jeremy found an obit on Daniel Crayne's wife, Rebecca, who is also at Spring Hill, although we've not found her marker. The Obit said that one of Rebecca's daughters had married A. F. Lavender. Florence's death notice from the Petaluma Courier, Sonoma Democrat, and the Daily Republican report she was the only child of A.F. and Annie Lavender. Mystery solved! Annie was born a Crayne.

We have yet to find Rebecca, Florence's grandmother and Daniel's wife. We assume she is buried between Florence and Daniel, but we will keep searching. Jeremy says that her family may have interred her at Spring Hill without a stone.

Our next workday is scheduled for August 3rd. Please mark your calendars ahead of time and come, if at all possible. We need our volunteers!

Many thanks to those who were able to make it yesterday. Hope to see more of you next time.

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