Friday, April 9, 2021

Hiding in plain sight!

      Do I feel foolish?  Well, yes!  A consultation with the sexton that supervises the cemetery revealed that the "missing" gravestone was in the family plot. Admittedly the sir name was obscured by lichen, but I don't find that a very credible excuse for missing it. Even after calling a couple of my cousins who also didn't have a clue the sexton came to my rescue. 

     So the graves of Oscar Helmer Bergh, who died May 31, 1885, age five weeks, and Marie Cecelia Bergh, who died September 6, 1886, of "summer fever," age three months, have been located. You ask "What is 'summer fever?'" I have no clue but that's what Grandpa wrote in his autobiography as the cause of death.

     Now that little mystery is solved I will make arrangements for resetting the six markers in the family plot. When it's a bit warmer I'll remove the lichen on the infants marker. Not surprisingly it's a different style from the later ones. The next burial after them was Ella's, who died in the flu epidemic in 1918. That's a 42 year span.

     The fact that these grandparents, who were born in the 1850s, still have eight grandchildren surviving is interesting. Of the eight I am the youngest now. There was one younger than I but she died a few years ago.

Takk for alt,

Al

      Infants, Oscar's and Marie's grave marker. (The lost is found.)


                       Earl, of  Pickles, and I went to the same plumber's school. :)


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