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In my effort to not just post about politics, because ffs sometimes we all need to have some joy, even in these treacherous times, I'm going to share some of my nerd.
I'm a lover of graveyards and cemeteries, they feel peaceful to me, and I especially love interesting names. My brother and I stopped at this country church off a gravel road and saw a sign on the parking lot that said, Parking For Hudson Wilson. We thought maybe the pastor, but no. I told my brother I bet there's a bunch of Wilsons in that graveyard, and sure enough. The first one I found was Orbra L. (Big) Wilson, a first name I'd never seen before. Close by my brother found one for Ordra Wilson nearby, we checked the dates, and sure enough, TWINS. Did some research, and found their parents, and get this, their mother Alice Crump, lost several children either in childbirth or while they were still very young, but in January of 1924 got pregnant with the twins. Tragically in March of 1924, she lost her husband Charles "Obra" Wilson to Typhoid Fever. She might not have even known she was pregnant. In October of 1924, she gave birth to twins as a widow.
I'll admit I went down a rabbit hole with this, and got several friends amd family members involved. Anyway, sometimes the internet is cool.
@RickiTarr As the family historian, I’ve spent a little time in cemeteries; the family is scattered around California. I want to tell you a story about an investigation I did trying to find a missing family member. Her name was Ella Chilson. The #Wilbur family nexus, as it were, was focused on two brothers, both born in Iowa and died here in California. One, my name sake, Curtis D Wilbur, distinguished himself as both Calif Supreme Court Justice and Secretary of the Navy under Coolidge. The other, Ray Lyman Wilbur, was president of Stanford and Secretary of the interior under Hoover. I came into possession of somewhere around 6000 family letters when my dad passed away in 2007, and I began archiving them, sorting them by sender. Took a while, but I discovered that Curtis married my great grandmother Olive as a widower. Some letters from the 1890s mentioned an Ella, and there were photos of another woman (with a much younger Curtis). Further study discovered her full name. But where was she?
@RickiTarr Some relatives ended up in the Angelus Rosedale cemetery, and the #wilbur plot was all laid out. But no record of an Ella Wilbur. I went to Curtis’s gravesite in Colma. He and Olive Doolittle, my gr grandmother were there. No one else. Meanwhile a cousin did some investigation and determined Ella had died from tuberculosis. Rereading the letters now about her going to Arizona for “the air” now made heartbreaking sense. Her’s was a tragic story, and doubly so because she had no one to remember her. I made a vow to find her and tell her story. After months of friutless searching, I went back to Angelus-Rosedale, fully armed with names: Ella, her brother, and mother had all moved to California together. Were they still? Office double checked. No records, but worth walking around the family plot. So I did that. The first person I found was Ella’s mother. If Ella was there, she’d be nearby. Then I saw a stone with Curtis’s name on it. That’s not right. He’s not here. I looked closer.
@RickiTarr There she was. I was standing right in front of her. I literally fell to my knees and cried. I had found her! #Wilbur #History #AngelusRosedale #cemetery
@lawrence_stevens @RickiTarr I have used that, and I understand it keeps getting better as more photos get added.