19 August 2023

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

Eight of us gathered yesterday at Spring Hill for the workday. The weather was a bit muggy, due to tropical storm action down south, but the air was cool and lovely to work in. The cemetery was in very good shape. We spent our time raking the paths, pulling invasive plant species, and resetting Mary A Rogers' footstone!

We don't have very much information on Mary A Rogers, and what I have is included at the end of this recap. She died when just 26 years old. From the 1870 census records, she was born in Alabama and was married to William Rogers, William being 16 years her senior and from Maine. In 1870 they were keeping a hotel in Freestone. They had two young sons in the census record, William and James. When and where they met and married, and how they came to find themselves in Sonoma County is all a mystery. Mary died in 1872, and I assume the remaining family moved on. William Rogers is not found in the 1880 Sonoma county census. Many of Spring Hill's inhabitants have a relationship with each other - family lines, or neighbors. But I have yet to find a connection between Mary and any of our other burials. We found pieces of Mary's footstone sometime back. Jeremy kindly repaired the stone for us, and yesterday restored it to what we think is its original position. Many thanks, Jeremy!

I am hoping we will have our next workday on Friday, October 6th. Please pencil it in on your calendars, and plan to join us if you can. I will send out another email confirming the date once I hear back from Regional Parks on whether that date will work into their schedules.

Best Regards,

Sue

Attachment #1
Jim

Attachment #2
Patsy and Mike

Attachment #3
Charlie and John

Attachment #4
MAR Footstone Install

Attachment #5
MAR Gravesite with Footstone

Attachment #6
Cleared paths

Attachment #7
Group