Salem Cemetery and other updates

I had intended to stop noting Salem Cemetery updates here and post notices on the cemetery site itself (accessible from the sidebar at left), but hit a snag. As soon as I posted a "2009" entry at Salem, the 2008 archive log which lists all 52 lots plus index, disappeared from the sidebar leaving behind only a "2008" header and I couldn't figure out how to get it back. That made the blog less convenient to use, and use by others is the principal reason for it, so I deleted the update notice and brought it back here.

+++

I've already complained about the continuing battle against paper elsewhere, so won't go there again --- other than to repeat a warning: If you, like I, have a habit of boxing up stray paperwork a couple of times a year and moving those boxes out of sight into storage, promise yourself never to look in those boxes again. When the time comes to move or downsize, throw them away unopened. I decided to sort the contents of my boxes. Big mistake.

So far as the weather is concerned, we had a thunder ice storm here on Thursday and it's still slippery in places and darned cold. That 10-degree difference between north and south Iowa really does make a difference and I wish I were there right now. But I will be soon enough.

Tuesday was a beautiful day in Chariton with a spring-like afternoon --- ideal weather for dealing with the front-yard trees. Lee came over with the necessary equipment and made quick work of it (thank you very much), leaving the equavalent of another tree piled across the front yard. So I spent most of the afternoon hauling limbs and branches down to the city burn pile --- not a bad way to spend the day, all in all.

On the newspaper front, it seems all who still have jobs are on furlough. In Colorado, the Rocky Mountain News bit the dust entirely. And in Iowa, The (Cedar Rapids-based) Gazette Co., whilst cutting 100 or so jobs, renamed its news chief "local content conductor" or somesuch. Huh? That caused one commentator quicker on the draw that I am to note that The Gazette seemed to be going somewhere, although it wasn't exactly clear where, and it seemed to be going by train.

All this is, of course, another fairly clear sign that daily newspapers haven't a clue about what to do. Most, I suspect, would really like to stop being "papers" entirely, dispose of vast numbers of pesky people who have to be paid plus newsprint and production costs and refocus entirely online. The difficulty is that online doesn't generate that much revenue (especially during hard times)and there's little chance anyone would pay much attention to a newspaper Web site gone adrift from its newsprint moorings. Plus the fact anyone, and I do mean anyone, can start an online news site. While I still value The Des Moines Register for its (online) obituaries, I've discovered I depend for news almost entirely upon WHO, KCCI and MSNBC plus specialty sites, a mix of electronic and digital. Glad I don't have to worry about all of this any more.

But back to the Salem update, which was where I was going when I started.

+++

Lot No. 47: Ekin and Elizabeth Lovell purchased this lot when their youngest son, Ezra, died during 1882. They were English and among the organizers of what probably was the earliest congregation of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), now Community of Christ, in Lucas County --- down in the southwest corner of Benton Township where it alternated meeting Sundays in the Palmer Schoolhouse with a long-vanished Seventh-day Adventist congregation. The Lovells moved soon thereafter to Decatur County, where the strengthening RLDS church had established Lamoni as headquarters, a gathering point and the site of Graceland College (now University), which still is there although headquarters long since was relocated to Independence, Missouri. Only Ezra is buried here. That's his tombstone up top.

Lot. No. 37: Charley and Christena Johnson both died young by today's standards, in their mid-40s, but left a rich legacy in children --- nine of them, including my great-uncle, Carl Johnson (who married Minnie Myers). So these Swedish emigrants parented half of Lucas County, or so it sometimes seems.

Lot. No. 36: John William and Williminea (or Whilhelmina) Schreck were natives of Germany and the founders of another vast Lucas County family. I'm lagging on this lot primarily because of my own deplorable photos of the tombstones upon it. I've got to get out there and try it again.

I'm starting work now on the White family lots, No. 8, 9 (both mostly done), 26 (Paris White) and 27 (James and Tobias White). So that's probably where I'll be focusing next week.