I took a stroll through the Chariton Cemetery Saturday afternoon, figuring that the apocalyptic forecast --- hard to believe when temperatures were in the upper 40s --- might come true and produce conditions that would deter such jaunts for a few days.
And I was gratified to find four brand new tombstones marking far older graves in the section above, bounded by the main drive and its southerly west-end turning as well as two lesser lanes. Two of the graves had never been marked before --- those of Nancy (Lindsey) Wilson (1816-1889) and her husband, William D. (1817-1902). Some distance to the west, new stones had supplemented (but not replaced) the badly worn stones of their daughter-in-law, Maggie (Badger) Wilson (1859-1888) and her infant daughter, Tillie (1887-1888).
I have no idea who among their descendants arranged to have the graves marked, but it's always a positive development when such things occur.
Nancy Wilson, daughter of William and Nancy (McCormick) Lindsey, was an Indiana native, born Jan. 14, 1816, in Owen County where she married William D. Wilson during 1836. They moved west to Van Buren County, Iowa, during the 1850s and then, just before the Civil War, arrived in Lucas County. Nancy was nearly 73 when she died at her home in Chariton on Jan. 8, 1889.
William D. Wilson, son of William and Charity (DeVore) Wilson, was native to Kentucky, born Nov. 29, 1817, in Harrison County, but removed with his parents to Owen County, Indiana, when a child. William and Nancy had 14 children, but of course not all survived. He and Nancy were charter members of Chariton's First Baptist Church, where funeral services were held after his death on April 7, 1902, at the age of 84.
The only original tombstone on this lot marks the graves of two Wilson children who died relatively young --- Martha A., of unknown causes during 1865 at the age of 16, and Cyrus, a railroad worker who was killed while coupling cars near Davis City at age 19 during 1880. Their inscriptions are badly worn, however.
The only original tombstone on this lot marks the graves of two Wilson children who died relatively young --- Martha A., of unknown causes during 1865 at the age of 16, and Cyrus, a railroad worker who was killed while coupling cars near Davis City at age 19 during 1880. Their inscriptions are badly worn, however.
William D. and Nancy Wilson's son, William Lindsey Wilson, born March 26, 1856, in Iowa, married Margaret Ann Badger in Lucas County on Oct. 7, 1877. Margaret, born May 25, 1859, was a daughter of Ebenezer and Margaret (Wyant) Badger, and was born and grew up on the old Chariton Point farm along the Blue Grass Road just southwest of town --- at the turning marked by a Mormon Trail monument. William, called Lindsey, and Margaret had five children before her death at age 28 on Jan. 17, 1888. She was buried next her father, Ebenezer Badger, on the Wyant-Badger lot some distance to the west of the William D. Wilson lot. Maggie's original stone, in the shape of a tree trunk is so badly eroded that most of the inscription is illegible so the new stone has been placed beside it.
Tillie, their youngest child, was born in Chariton on March 1, 1887, and died of cholera on July 24, 1888, just six months after her mother died.
Her original stone --- the inscription still legible --- was left in place just north of her new monument.
1 comment:
How wonderful that someone in the family cared enough to pay attention and to step up and mark these graves. They are to be commended.
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