20 August 2010

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

It was a glorious day at the cemetery today.  Weather-wise, it started out rather foggy and drippy, but the sun came out, and the temperature was perfect for hard work.  And hard work we did - resetting and straightening more monuments, cleaning bird droppings off our stones, raking and maintaining our paths, pulling more ivy and hauling off more downed branches - AND uncovering more stones!  

I will be out of the country most of the next 4 weeks. I will definitely be back in time for the September 17th workday, but may not be back in time to send out all the usual reminders. So - PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW, and come join in if you can.

Last month I reported our futile efforts at straightening and resetting Raymond Robertson's headstone. With the gigantic mound of cement at its base, we hadn't the muscle to move it. This time we came back with a "come-along" winch, and it did the trick. The second attachment shows the process, and if you look at the rear of the base you can see the "come-along" in the picture. Flush with success, we moved to Raymond's neighbor, WR Robertson, and reset his stone back onto its base (third attachment). Continuing along Roberston/Parmeter row, we next tackled James L Parmeter's badly broken stone. First Patsy cleaned his base (picture 5, Arden can also be seen in the picture cleaning bird droppings off of WR Robertson's stone). We reset James' stone into its base, attached another piece we had previously found, and - when raking the nearby area at the end of the workday - found 2 more pieces to James' stone (the two "new pieces are in the 4th attachment at the right lower edge of the stone, currently held in place with a brick). The epoxy had run out at this point, so the "new" two pieces will have to be permanently attached next time we come with epoxy.

Also in Robertson/Parmeter Row, Patsy found another complete footstone! This is rather surprising, as this area of the cemetery is the most raked and maintained area we have. If we can find new stones here, I am certain there are many more to find in the more remote parts of the cemetery. Attachment 6 shows the new stone, Mary Robertson's footstone, with initials "M R." You can also see the newly uncovered stone in the first attachment, the group picture. The footstone is leaning up against Mary Robertson's headstone at the bottom left of the shot, in front of Patsy.

As I mentioned in the reminder I sent out 10 days ago, another of our missing stones has come home. Leni C Ogan's stone was purchased in a San Francisco antique store a few weeks ago. The purchaser kindly googled her name, found our website, and contacted me to have her returned to the cemetery. Just how Leni's stone made it to a San Francisco antique store is a mystery, but I am grateful that her purchaser cared enough to find her proper home. The stone is in great shape - you can see it being reset in the 7th attachment. There are 4 Ogan stones at Spring Hill, and now the grouping is back in place and complete. I had written the Ogan story in the SpringHill recap of April 2007; I am partially repeating it here:

"DPV Ogan was married to Francis (Fanny) Leah McReynolds; granddaughter of Jacob and Anna Christina Miller, who are also buried at Spring Hill. DPV Ogan was a schoolteacher in the area.

From his headstone, he was born 26 August, 1827 (in Kentucky according to the 1860 Sonoma County census). DPV married Fanny in 1861, when she was just 17 years old. A daughter, Leni, was born in 1864 followed by daughter, Ada, in 1866, and son, Lewis, in 1870. By the end of 1870, all three of those children were buried at Spring Hill, and in June of 1872 they were joined by their father, DPV Ogan."

Fanny McReynolds Ogan was just 29 at the time of her husband's death.

I did follow up the Ogans to see what happened to Francis "Fanny" - and to see why she wasn't buried at Spring Hill with three of her children and her husband. From newspaper clippings, I found the following: DPV Ogan and Francis Leah McReynolds (or Leah Francis, or Fanny Leah) had at least one more son -

"Feb. 16, 1871

Born near Santa Rosa, January 27, 1871, to D.P.V. OGAN & wife, a son.

Russian River Flag February 1871 Location: Healdsburg "

The widow did remarry,

"Marriages:

Santa Rosa, Apr. 23, 1873, John S. SIMONS to Mrs. F.L. OGAN."

And the new couple had a son who died,

"Born:

At Santa Rosa, Jan. 20, 1874, to the wife of J.S. SIMONS, son.

Died:

At Santa Rosa, Jan. 20, 1874, infant son of J.S. and L.F. SIMONS."

AND another son for which I have no further info --

"Born to the wives of: [a listing, one of which was JS Simons below]

J.S. SIMONS, Santa Rosa, Sept. 10, 1875, son."

Not finding any further references to Fanny or her new husband in later census or newspaper reports, I assume they moved out of the area sometime before the 1880 census.

I close the attachments with a picture taken from the southern edge of the cemetery looking north. In the foreground is the Zilhart enclosure; the Titus monument is to the right, Ward monument to left of the tree, Ogan row to left of that, and McReynolds row on the left side of the picture. I am grateful to you all for joining with me in transforming this abandoned tangle of debris into the lovely, tranquil cemetery I saw today.

Hope to see many of you on September 17th!