Tales The Tombstones Tell - Republican Observer - June 12, 1958

 Buried here are Charley Dilley, a Civil War veteran, Thompson Dilley and his wife Jane. Thompson Dilley was 49 years of age when he passed on December 27, 1863. Jane died in 1883 but her age is not given.

 A flag was on the grave of Wilder Beebee which led us to believe that he may have been a Civil War veteran but there is no other indication on the grave. Mr. Beebee died May 20, 1892 at the age of 69. His wife Sarah, lived until March, 1911, when she passed away at the age of 83 years, seven months and six days.

 Isaac Anderson reached the ripe age of 82 when he died February 10, 1912. On stones in this cemetery are names of folks in that area who were buried here. Brown, Troxel, Craig, Miller, Flynn, Anderson, Bell, Owens, Toney and McDowell are some of them.

 Thomas Davis, who died February 13, 1891, at the age of 76 years, 10 months and 21 days, has this engraved upon his tombstone:

 A flag waves on his grave. Another stone which has been knocked down is on the grave. It also bears the name of Davis but cannot be read. It might be that the flag was for him.

 Another soldier lies close by and the marker says it is for William H. Wey, who was born in 1837. He was a member of Co. E, 50th Wisconsin. His record says he enlisted on February 6, 1865, giving Hazel Green as his residence. For some reason or other he was not discharged until December 18, 1884, and, like Aaron Sharp, buried in the Dayton Corners cemetery, he served 20 years in a four year war. His discharge was dated back to Sept. 4, 1865. Mr. Wey's wife, Lillian, is buried here. She was born in 1844 and died in 1915.

 A flag also waves over the grave of James Hutson, who died March 31, 1879, at the age of 40 years. A flag also waves over a grave close by but the name and inscription cannot be read.

 There are also stones that bear the name of Lightfoot, Jones, Logan, Randall, Couey and Shaffer here.

 John R. Smith, born in 1846 and died in 1922, served in the Civil War with Co. M, 9th Indiana Cavalry. His wife, Marian, is by his side. She was born in 1844.

 Warrington Jones, buried here, is given the honor of being the first settler on the west branch of Knapps Creek. He entered land in the spring of 1853 but did not take up his home on it until 1855. He was born in Georgia in 1811 and went to Tennessee where he married Minerva Howard and they came to Grant county where he engaged in mining. His wife died in 1874. She was born, the tombstone says, in 1813. 

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 A marker for a World War II veteran is in this burying ground. It is for George P. Dilley, Pvt. 64 B.M. Laundry Bn. He was born June 18, 1899, and answered the last roll call on December 17, 1949.

 The West Fork cemetery is not far from the Crawford county line which is about a mile and a half to the west. Some Crawford county folks are no doubt buried here.
  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

 Several children of James and Martha Lease are here buried and upon the marker it says:

 Franklin Seely, Co. B 25th Wis. regiment, died August 8, 1890, at the age of 56 years and 19 days. There are other members of the Seely family buried here as 11 stones mark their graves.

 Eve Babb, born January 8, 1804 and died September 25, 1871, found final rest here. Jane Morrison, wife of Friend Morrison, is also in this cemetery. She died May 5, 1859, at the age of 42 years, seven months and three days. There is no indication that Mr. Morrison is here. Robert Milligan, born in 1800, lived to be 64 years of age. Irene, wife of M. Yakley, has a marker. She died May 7, 1878, at the age of 51 years, five months and three days.

 George Fruit, who died January 27, 1899, lived to be over 84 years of age. Evidently he was twice married as Mary, his first wife, died in 1858 at the age of 39, and E. J., born in 1829, died in 1894.

 Ellen Rogers, aged 20 years, died in 1871, the date of her death being December 25, Christmas day. Nancy Morrison, wife of Darius Morrison, born in 1835, passed from this world in 1870. John Scoles died December 8, 1875, at the age of 44.

 John Douglas, a Civil War veteran, was born in 1817 and died in 1913. There is also another Civil War veteran buried in this cemetery. He is Robert Smalley, a member of Co. D, llth Wisconsin.
 Henry B. De Hart died in 1877 at the age of 70 years. He and his family located in the town of Bloom when it was a wilderness back in 1855 or thereabouts. His wife Elizabeth died in May 1876, at the age of 60.

 Here is a marker for Sarah, wife of A. (Adam) Shambaugh, born in 1824 and died in 1893. She and Mr. Shambaugh were married in 1850. There is no indication that he is buried here. He was well known as a family doctor, a book he wrote gives remedies gathered in the woods and fields. We are told that Mr. Shambaugh is buried here.

 Nancy Lepley was 82 years of age when she died April 18, 1879, which would place her birth back in the days of George Washington. Another member of the Lepley family was Willett Lepley, who was born in 1833 and passed on in 1896.

 H. B. Chapman is buried here, together with some of his children, two of whom met death in a fire. Mr. Chapman was born in 1832 and died in 1898.     

 Charles Tillou who died in 1943, is here. He was a storekeeper in West Lima for a long period. Jobe Hurless and his wife Cynthia, are here. They were numbered among the early settlers of the town of Bloom. Mr. Hurless was born in Virginia in 1831. He moved to Indiana where he married Cynthia Trobough who was born in 1836. They came to Richland county in 1854 and settled in Bloom. Mr. Hurless for a time, owned an interest in a store at West Lima. He died in 1907 and his wife in 1925.

 Harvey Tillou born in 1845, is here together with Letitia his wife, who was born in 1844. He died in 1905 and she in 1931. A 13 year old son is also buried on the lot.
 There has not been a burial here for quite some time and it is possible that none will be made in the future.
  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

 There are numerous members of the Marshall family. Mose Marshall appears to be the earliest born of those buried here. He came into this world in 1818 and left it in 1907. Another of the Marshall family was Andrew K. and his wife Eliza. Andrew was born in 1832, and passed on in 1907. Eliza born in 1837, died in 1905. On her monument it says:
   "Go home dear friends,
    Dry up your tears,
    I must lie here till
    Christ appears."

 Members of the family were town office holders in Bloom township. Jehu Marshall and his wife Cena are buried here. He was born in 1859 and passed on in 1939.

 One Civil War veteran is buried here. He was W. H. C. Ammerman, a member of Co. B 20th Regt. When he enlisted on July 10, 1862, he gave West Lima as his address. He was discharged in 1863 on account of disability. Other members of Co. B who gave West Lima as their address were: D. H. Bean, Lewis Clark, Samuel F. Curtis, Mr. Curtis was killed in action December 7, 1862 at Prairie Grove, Ark.; Daniel De Hart, also from West Lima, was in Co. B, as was Alfred T. Favorite, John Fruit, John H. Smith, Joseph Todd, William A. Yakley, who also was killed in action at Prairie Grove.

 A World War veteran, Hans C. Berg, is buried on this hilltop cemetery. He was a private in I Co. 341 Infantry, 86th Division. The date of his passing was October 23, 1943.

 Familiar names upon the stones include Riley, Hawkinson, Burt, Matthes, Poorman, Hunter, Fanta, Thompson, Essex, Jordan and Lewis.

 Diamond Lawton and his wife Margaret are buried in this cemetery. He was born in 1838 and died in 1894. Margaret was born in 1848 and passed on in 1909.

 Martin M. Marshall is here and a World War marker is on his grave. He was born in 1896 and died in 1951.

 Thus it is that life ebbs and flows and here and there are monuments and markers to indicate the burial place of those who have gone down the long, long road into the land of the setting sun., Peace be with them all.

S. F.  

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 Tales The Tombstones Tell - Republican Observer - July 17, 1958

 Such names as these appear upon the markers: Powell, Rouse, Leffler, Dobbs, Mathews, Bell, Taylor, Hamilton.

 Henry Cook was 67 years of age when he died on October 9, 1881. A daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Washburn, was a bit past three years of age when she died on September 17, 1880. An early birth was the wife of Henry Bailey, who was born December 23, 1803. Her given name was Mary. Another early day birth was Harriett Phelps, who was born in 1815. She was the wife of O. W. Phelps and her death occurred on April 16, 1883.

 Mr. and Mrs. Asa Wood and a son are buried here. Mr. Wood died on October 7, 1895, at the age of 73 years, 8 months and 18 days. The son, Lafayette, died in 1888, at the age of five years and eight months. Luzena Wood, the wife and mother passed away in 1889, when she was 50 years old.

 Levi Persinger and members of his family are buried here. Mr. Persinger was a native of Virginia, born on July 26, 1816. He moved to Ohio and then to Indiana and there he was married to Christena Brunnemer in 1838. He came with his family to Richland county in 1851 where he engaged in farming. For 22 years, from 1861 to 1883, he acted as mail carrier on a stage route and got the mail through in spite of floods, bad roads and sickness. He was a member of the I.0.O.F. lodge and his death took place May 12, 1888. His wife was born in 1808 and she died in 1899. A son Levi, Jr., is buried near his parents and he died at the age of 32.

 Mary Pound was 73 years, 10 months and 25 days of age when she died on February 10, 1888. Orange S. Pound, born in 1851, and died in 1925, has a marker as has his wife Rosallia, who was born in 1851, and passed away, January 15, 1906. Another early day couple is Alexander E. Lowery and his wife Amanda Jane. He was born in 1842 and died in 1903 while she was born in 1852, and passed on in 1896. Others born well over 100 years ago to be buried here are Isaac J. Powell and Jane, his wife. Mr. Powell was born in 1831 and died in 1914. His wife died when she was 63 years of age. Aliza Cohen, wife of Samuel Cohen, was born in 1807 and had reached the advanced age of 82 years, six months and six days when she breathed her last on December 7, 1889.

 A number of the Buchanan family are here buried. Robert, a native of Ireland, is one of them. He was born, so his tombstone says, September 2, 1809. From Ireland he went to Canada and then to New York where he learned the trade of a stone mason; later moving to Illinois and to the town of Richwood, Richland county in 1864 where he engaged in farming. He was chairman of the township at one time, also treasurer. He was married in 1838 to Mary Shannon, a native of Ireland, born in 1815. Among their children was Robert Jr., who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1843. He enlisted in Co. C 95 Illinois regiment. Wounded at the battle of Vicksburg and again a year later at Yellow Boyou. After the war he learned to be a harness maker and established a business at Excelsior, being the first person to be engaged in that business in the village. In 1873 he was married to Belle Hawkins. S. M. Buchanan, buried close by, was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Buchanan Sr. He died September 24, 1888, at the age of 35. 

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 Artless Brown, a daughter of J. J. and Huldah E. Brown, came to their home on Christmas Day, 1868, and died April 14, 1893. On her marker it says: "Weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth."

 Dorothy May, daughter of C. E. and M. P. Dobbs, had a brief life, born in February, 1905, and passed on the following month. On her marker is engraved:

 William T. Howell has an I.O.O.F. emblem carved on his marker. He was born in 1847 and died in 1927. By his side is buried his wife Sarah, born in 1848 and died in 1909. Another of the older folks to be buried here is Orton Taylor, who died in October, 1897, at the age of 87.

 There is an unfilled grave here in the older part of the Haskins cemetery. A tombstone and also a government marker is here for Osborn Gamage, member of Co. I 16th Regt. Wisconsin Vol. According to his marker he was 33 years old when he died on September 5, 1862. He is one of the "Boys in Blue" who never came back home from the Civil War. According to the government record he was a resident of Darlington when he enlisted September 30, 1861. In the battle of Shiloh he was taken prisoner and died September 5, 1862, at Nashville, Tennessee. His marker is on an Indian Mound, The grave of his daughter Emma, is also in the Indian Mound; she died in 1878 at the age of 16 years. Another to be buried in this mound is John Ross, who died in 1876 at the age of two years. He may have been a son of Dr. and Mrs. 0. Ross, who came to Excelsior in 1864.

 A. A. Hathaway and his wife, Elizabeth, are buried here. He was born in 1821 and she in 1828. Mr. Hathaway died in 1874 and his wife in 1908.

 Cpl. Charles J. Moore of the 27th New York Light Artillery found rest here. A government marker stands on his grave. Jackson Dobbs, who died in 1910 at the age of 73, is here as are also Chas. Powers, born in 1823, and his wife Jane, born in 1828. He died in 1905 and she in 1908. A son Lawrence, who passed on in 1870, is also here. David Bartells and wife have markers. He was born in 1811 and she in 1820.

 On the stone for Adaline and Adalide Coats is this verse:
   "Our Twins-"
   "Peaceful be thy silent slumber,
    Peaceful in the grave so low.
    Thou will no more join our number
    Thou no more our song shall know.
   'Dearest sisters thou has left us,
    Keen thy loss we deeply feel,
    But 'tis God that hast bereft us,
    He can all our sorrows heal."

 Elizabeth Duncan was 80 years of age when she passed on in 1894. Born in 1814 she lived in a pioneer age and we know that she and others of the folks who were boys and girls in the days of "away back when" would have many an interesting story to tell of the days of long, long ago.
 Mary Haskins, wife of Rev. William H. Haskins, is here among her old time friends. Her maiden name was Winton and she came to Richland county with her husband in 1853. He is said to be the first or at least one of the first, ministers of the gospel to settle in Richwood. Their home was on Sand Prairie. Rev. Haskins was a United Brethren minister