November 1, 2006

Return to Kinkade Cemetery

Ever since our last trip, I wanted to get back and do a real cleanup on this vanishing cemetery. I also hoped to find more headstones just under the surface (we did). Our Kinkade cousins from Poughkeepsie, NY, Bob and Joan Kinkade, had contacted me via e-mail and said they were making a trip to the area to visit Bob’s aging father. This was a great motivation to get in the car and go hunting. It was 1168 miles in 22 hours of driving, but this time we spread it over 4 days. So we got our autumn camping trip in and accomplished something as well.

I wasn't sure if Quinn would want to do this much driving, so I just asked him if he wanted to come.  Quinn enjoyed the last trip and he was happy to miss a day of school.  He also loves watching DVDs and reading in the minivan, so I had my companion.  We camped at Mark Twain Cave Campground Thursday night. We got in after dark in the rain, so we just made the bed, had a snack of canned potatoes and oysters and turned in. I love eating from cans when I’m camping. Got that from my dad.

In the morning, we got down to business and crossed the Mississippi into Illinois.  We stopped by Green Pond Cemetery in Pike County, IL to see Quinn’s 5dm’s grave. This cemetery is well-kept and her 1873 stone is still standing, although it will be unreadable in another 50 years, like most stones of this era.

Cynthia

wife of Wm. McPherson

Died

April 10, 1873

Aged

82 years

Cynthia Barnett Patton (Kinkade) Severs McPherson. Cynthia's the mother of Wm Porter Severs, 1815-1890, my 4d. For more on the circumstances of his birth and how we descend from the Kinkades, please see my cousin Bonnie Gorman's site.

Next, we headed across the Illinois river to Alsey, IL to find Bower’s Cemetery.

I’d been there 10 years ago and photographed everything. We know from the cemetery index that my 3dmd, Rev, Wm McPherson, is buried there with his first wife, Mary Ann Gale. Their stones have been lost, but I wanted to look again and see if I’d missed them. I wasn’t surprised not to find them this time, but you sure know you’re in the right place by looking at the names on the markers. Here’s William’s brother, James McPherson, 1796-1879 and his 1st wife, Elizabeth Johnson, 1799-1846:

Wow, I just looked at the photos of James' stone I took 10 years ago.  I posted it here for my cousin Melissa Kellstadt who is descended from James.  You can see that 10 years ago, it was still standing.  Elizabeth's was lying down, but is now significantly covered with sod.  Sometimes they are laid down on purpose to minimize mower damage.  But here they're not trimming around the stones so the sod buries them in time.  Might be what happened to my Wm McPherson's stone.  Next visit, I'll bring a shovel and cut the sod back.

Perry Day's stone had a marvelous picture of his family.  He was a 1st cousin of my 3d.  His mother, Sarah McPherson Day, was a sister of my 3dm, Elizabeth McPherson Severs, 1820-1915.

I snapped these while we were there.  Have to do more research to identify them.

We had 4 hours of driving to make it to Lawrence County on the other side of Illinois.  We had planned to meet Jay Dee White again. He’d helped us immensely on our first trip, and planned on helping us again but this time he hurt his shoulder so he couldn’t. It rained all day Friday and we pulled into Red Hills State Park about 4 pm. This gave us time to find the Kinkade cemetery before dark. I had written the road number down wrong on the last trip, so it took us a while to find it. But we did, and were in good position to get an early start on Saturday. We walked in a bit and found the field to be swampy, so we made a quick trip to Wal-Mart and got Quinn some rubber boots. The forecast said the rain would stop by morning. We were just happy to have the driving done and we went back to Red Hills and had a great supper at the Trace Inn right across the lake from our campsite. I don’t know where all their customers come from in this corner of Illinois, but I’m glad they keep this place in business.

In the morning, my Scottish tenacity made me head out despite the fact that we had only 2 rakes. Quinn and I were on-site by 8 am and by 10 am we had made several large brush piles and raked most of the leaves to the perimeter. My steel rake found one new stone, a blank one near Ealsa Miller’s marker:

Ealsa was a daughter of George Wilson Kinkade, my 5d.

About then, our Kinkade cousins showed up with more tools.  They brought along Bob's brother, Ron. He immediately went to work probing the ground and discovered several more stones. Here are 2 infant stones with no markings found in a north-south row on the east side of the cemetery.  The 3rd pic is some glazed bricks Ron found a few inches down.

Joan thinks the two infant markers are for three children of Hugh Orr and Elizabeth Jenney.  Hugh was the son of Agnes Kinkade (sister of GWK) and Alexander Orr, so he'd be a cousin of GWK's children.

Elsa Orr, b. 17 Sep 1838; d. 16 Jun 1846

Melissa Orr, b. 12 Feb 1845; d. 01 Feb 1846

Ida Orr, b. 17 May 1858; d. 29 Nov 1864

These stones were in a north-south line with Caroline Matilda Kinkade Potinger’s marker on the east side of the cemetery. With some more digging in that area, Bob found the fragments of another stone. He reassembled it to reveal the initials “S. K.”. This could be Sarah Kinkade, GWK’s wife, or Samuel Kinkade, his father. I suspect it’s for Sarah, since the stone is of the same type as Caroline’s stone. Caroline died in 1888 and my guess is that the large obelisk was placed at that time and that smaller grave markers were placed at her grave and at her parents’. If I’m right, another small marker with “G. W. K.” should be there. Next trip! 

Here is GWK's obelisk.  The pics from last trip are better.

This is taken looking NE, showing the pile of bricks, the two infant stones, SK and CMP.

Here's a stone base we found on the first trip, with the stone fragment found at the same time about a foot down.  There is no lettering on the stone, which appears to be sandstone, so it might be older than the others.  This could be Samuel Kinkade, 1752-1834, George's father and Revolutionary War veteran, or Hugh Kinkade, who died at the age of 35 in 1824.  Incidentally, the slots in this base and the base near Ealsa Miller's EM don't match any of the stones we have found.  Ron did some more digging in this area and found the stone in the 2nd photo.  It's our mystery stone, since it is hand-carved and the name doesn't match anyone in the family.  I read it "W ROSIE" or "A V ROSIE" or "A V RONE". 

This pic is taken looking SW showing what we'd cleared.  Believe me, we took a lot of small and fallen trees out along with lots of sticks and leaves.

This one was taken looking SE showing the newly uncovered row of stones starting with CMP, then SK, then the two infant stones.

These are from the north as you approach the cemetery.

Here we see Joan, Bob and Ron Kinkade at work.  Thanks for all your help, gys! Wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much done without you.

Here we have Bob and his brother, Ron Kinkade, and myself.  I'm their half 4th cousin (lineages below).  I participated in a DNA study (link takes a while to load all the data) a year ago and confirmed our kinship.  Here's a much better link to the same data.  We're still looking for paper proof of GWK and Wm Porter Severs' relationship.  We have no reason to doubt it since it's well chronicled in The Severs Clan book by Mayme Severs Whittlesey and the circumstantial evidence is considerable.  The best such evidence is the family names.  The Severs Clan book says that Wm Porter Severs was raised by his aunt Matilda Kinkade.  GWK had a daughter Caroline Matilda Kinkade, who was Wm Porter's older half-sister.  Wm named one of his daughters Matilda and one of them Frances Caroline.  He named a son George.  I think we're in the right family.

Don Severs

Gene Severs

Shafter Severs

Wm Scott Severs

Wm Porter Severs

George Wilson Kinkade/Cynthia Barnett

Bob Kinkade

Howard Kinkade

Charles Kinkade

Albert Gallatin Kinkade, Jr

Albert Gallatin Kinkade, Sr

George Wilson Kinkade/Sarah McAllister

Well, we had a very successful outing and Quinn and I were surprised it was 1 pm when we returned to the car.  We got hot showers at Red Hills State Park, then pointed the van towards Galesburg, IL.  We had planned on staying at Lake Storey Campground, but found it was closed for the season.  We drove another half hour to Delabar State Park on the Great River Road.  Made a campfire, read a bit and turned in.  Next morning, another campfire and a stroll to see the Mississippi and we were on our way to New Boston, IL looking for breakfast.

After steak and eggs, we went to Eliza Creek Cemetery in Mercer County, IL.  My 2dmdm2d, Aaron Mannon, 1782-1860 is buried there.  I hadn't been to this site in 10 years and had never taken Quinn along, so it was time to pay a visit.  It was a warm and sunny October Sunday morning, quiet and remote.  We lingered and Quinn climbed on headstones amid the tender country sounds.  Mannon history records that Aaron's second wife, Miriam Hill Mannon, died while living with her daughter in Council Bluffs, IA in 1874 and that her body was transported and buried here, but I've never found a stone.

Here is Aaron's grandson, Sylvester Mannon.  Not sure why he died so young, but he was a favorite of his uncle James.  Sylvester was a brother of my 2dmdm, Miriam Mannon Ryals and a son of my 2dmdmd, John Hartford Mannon.

Here we have Aaron's son, Amos Preston "Pret" Mannon and two children.  Then, Pret's baby, Albert.  Third, "Aron" was a boy who died at 17.  Family record says that Aron never developed mentally and his mother carried him everywhere his whole life.

This is Rebecca Shirkey Mannon, first wife of James Monroe Mannon, 1823-1901, son of Aaron.  They had no children and James remarried to Sarah J. Moore.  James and Sarah are buried in Aledo, IL.  Lots of Mannon stones there.  There's a Mannon Cemetery in the little town of Mannon, IL nearby as well.

We were almost done and headed for home.  But we just had to stop in Baxter, IA since we were so close.  I hadn't visited these sites in 10 years either and we needed to stretch our legs.  Here's Quinn at Restland Cemetery with his mdmd's parents, his md2m's parents and his mdm's parents.

Just west of Baxter we find the older Bethel Cemetery.  Joseph Vansice, Quinn's mdm3d, came to IA from PA in the 1860s.  This was an important visit since we can see a stone about to vanish.  Note the little headstone behind Quinn's right foot. 

Here it is 10 years ago.  This is Joseph Vansice, FATHER JUNE 16, 1824  MAR. 10, 1887.  I used flour to highlight the markings at the time.

Here it is today.  I had forgotten there was writing on the front face, so I took the photo from the top only.  "FATHER" is almost invisible but you can see the tops of the word JUNE from this angle.  I want to go back and take a better photo of the front, but it is clear that this stone is vanishing before our eyes.

My 1990s photos of these stones clearly show the word INFANT on the top.  You can still read it on the first one.  Mower damage is evident on the second one.