Keep Looking

This past weekend, my Aunt from Alabama traveled to Colorado for a visit. My parents, my sister and her family, myself and my family, and our Aunt, all gathered in Leadville, Colorado to create some fall memories. While there, I wanted to get back to the Evergreen Cemetery to correct a mistake I made a few years ago: insufficient headstone photos. 

Thomas Perkins was born in England, and I first discovered his headstone about five years ago. The story is a bit long, so bear with me. 

Thomas Perkins was the first husband of Mary Isabelle Daniel. Mary was born in 1868 in Cornwall, England, and is the mother of three children. She arrived in America and appears to have traveled almost directly to Colorado. Although still unclear where the marriage between them took place, they ended up in Leadville, which is the highest incorporated town in the United States, sitting just above 12,000 feet in elevation. In the late 1800s, it was a booming city, and was even considered for the Colorado state capitol at one point. The town was the epicenter of the various mineral rushes in Colorado through the late 1800s and through the 1900s. 

After Thomas died in 1900, Mary continued on in Leadville for a few years. She ran a boarding house on East 5th Street, just three blocks from where my sister lives today. For whatever reason, in 1910, she and her children traveled to Springview, Keya Paha County, Nebraska, where she married my great grand uncle, Dick Heerten. Technically, she responded to his ad in "Lonely Hearts" magazine, or so the family story goes, and they were married within minutes of her stepping off the train. They then headed out to his farm, where they raised her three children, and life appears to have progressed fairly smoothly for the couple. 

What does all this have to do with Evergreen Cemetery? 

The thing is, our family never knew about Mary and her first husband until just a couple of years ago when I managed to dig it up from the black hole of history where family stories go to die. I put the pieces together and when I finally realized the truth of the story, my family was a little more than surprised. Not only has this particular line (the Heerten's) never before had any connection with Colorado, it was absolutely crazy to us that Mary and Thomas lived in Leadville. The town where my sister and her family had moved to about twelve years ago. A town that none of us had ever heard of before that point, and a town that has since captivated us a bit with its history. 

As this story started to unravel, I went to Evergreen Cemetery in Leadville and found the headstone of Thomas Perkins. I was unsure of his birth date, and his actual death date, and was really hoping there would be more information there. With no images available online that I could identify (at the time, at least; after I found the memorial, I created a place for him on FindAGrave.com), I really felt I needed to see the headstone. And I'm glad I did. 

Headstone of Thomas Perkins, Evergreen Cemetery.
Leadville, Lake County, Colorado
Copyright Jen Baldwin, 2014.

I was excited to find his marker, and several other's with the surname Perkins. I took the time to document all of the stones in the plot, and got the close up of course of the iinscriptionon Thomas' stone. 

Headstone of Thomas Perkins, Evergreen Cemetery.
Leadville, Lake County, Colorado
Copyright Jen Baldwin, 2014.

My mistake came when I walked away without a clear image of the two symbols on his marker. Although relatively common, they are significant enough that I knew I needed to confirm them, leaving no doubt as to their meaning. If you are familiar, you may immediately recognize them. This is what I was determined to correct this past weekend, and I did just that when I visited the site again, accompanied by my husband and my Dad. (Great experience, to walk a cemetery with the two men in this world I love the most.)

Copyright Jen Baldwin, 2014

Copyright Jen Baldwin, 2014

You may know them, you may not. The top one is a bit harder to see, but it is the anchor and shield of the Association of United Workmen. The initials, A.O.U.W. are often inscribed across the symbol, as seen here.  The lower symbol is an Elk inside a shield, representing the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks. Both were prominent organizations in Leadville history. 

The Elks is a great one for me, as I already know the lodge is still active, and my sister has friends who are members. I have an "in" for any future research I may want to do. The A.O.U.W. may be a little more challenging, however, as the Leadville lodge has since gone defunct, and in fact, the organization as a whole has evolved into a life insurance company. The great part for me was as we walked over to the next plot, and I found this: 

A.O.U.W. Headstone, Evergreen Cemetery
Leadville, Lake County, Colorado
Copyright Jen Baldwin, 2014

I do not know if this person is affiliated in my research of Thomas Perkins in any way, but I'm grateful for them, nonetheless. Why? Because the Lodge for the A.O.U.W. is identified on their marker! "Excelsior Lodge No. 5" is inscribed along the top edge, with the A.O.U.W. symbol on the front angle. Although more ornate than the version on the Perkins stone, there is no doubt that this is the same organization. YES, there could have been more than one lodge in Leadville. NO, there is no guarantee that this was also Thomas Perkins' lodge, but it is a place to start. I almost missed it; I almost just walked on by. But for whatever reason, I didn't. I looked down and paused. I took a second look. 

And that is why I say, keep looking.  You never know what is going to be right under your feet. 

Central City and It's Cemeteries

The final of three posts focused on our day long family adventure in Central City, Gilpin County, Colorado and the surrounding area. We explored the Masonic Cemetery, the downtown area featuring multiple fraternal lodges, and finally the historic cemeteries of Central City. There are six cemeteries within walking distance of each other, including the Knights of Pythias, the Catholic Cemetery and the I.O.O.F.

A few select images from that afternoon of exploring to share.

All images ©Jen Baldwin, 2014. 

Knights of Pythias Cemetery

Turn around from the gate, and this is what you see.

The view of the Catholic Cemetery from the gate of the Knights
of Pythias Cemetery.

We found these wooden markers in the Central City Cemetery, one was more readable than the others. 

The Central City Catholic Cemetery

What appears to be the main gate is chained and locked. 

The human entrance is to the left of the main gate seen above.
Up and over the fence! 

My family going over the stairs. They did also have a memorial
plaque on one side, recognizing a local couple. 

The original main gate is still intact, about 20 yards inside the current
fence. The wooden frame, sign and the actual gate is all that's left. 

These are three sisters, all very young at time of death, and all had a
peeled onion in front of the headstone. 

This round brick structure is in a far back corner of the cemetery, which
covers a fairly large piece of property. There was once a cross on the top according
to one source I was able to locate. 

The original use of this structure appears to be unknown, even by the
local historical society, though there are a few theories floating around. 

We have these metal pipes with wooden stake in the Valley Brook Cemetery
in Breckenridge, also. In Breck, they are used to mark the borders of the various sections
of the cemetery, but there didn't appear to be any obvious reason for them
here in Central City. We only found them around a handful of family plots. 

Although this wooden marker is not in the pipe, it was very obvious
that's where it was intended to be. This was the only other pipe we found
with the wooden stake still in it or nearby.

Central City's Masonic Cemetery

My family recently visited Central City & Black Hawk, Colorado for a day of exploring and history. We enjoy these excursions, and are often guided by one of the many ghost town or Colorado guide books in our collection.


For this day of adventure, we started by veering off the highway just before Central City and went to the ghost town of Nevadaville. My husband had spotted a cemetery from the main road, so we headed there first. It turned out to be the Masonic Cemetery. We ended up visiting a few more cemeteries, and I will blog about those in the coming days, as well as the many fraternal buildings still standing in the two communities. Nevadaville featured the "Masonic Block" or Lodge, which was built in 1875. This, too, will be mentioned in a future post.


One thing we noticed immediately, and it was a theme that continued throughout the day, was the number of damaged markers, as well as those that have fallen victim to earth's natural movement. You could look in any direction and recognize a marker that had fallen off of its based, showed evidence of tampering, or in many cases, was leaning so dramatically, it was actually dependent on a nearby marker to keep it off the ground. Since we had our daughter with us, we had to be quite cautious; there were many headstones that I would consider a hazard to her, so didn't let her wander off much on her own, or touch many of the markers.


So far, I have been unable to locate any formal group online that is working to preserve these cemeteries beyond what the community has already done (fences, gates, etc.).

All images are ©Jen Baldwin, Ancestral Journeys, 2014. 

Note that Mr. Polglase has both the Masonic and I.O.O.F. symbols on his marker. 

An interesting example of a tree marker including the Masonic square and compass.

Jennie S. Potter, aged 43 ys, 7ms, 3d. Her Masonic square and compass also says, "Holy Bible" across the top.

Weidmann family plot. Look at how severely this is leaning to the right.

General landscape and view of the cemetery.

William Henry Harper. This headstone is new, but includes Masonic and GAR symbols, as well as his photo. 

Sadly damaged, the marker for bothers William and Freddie Faull is in two pieces.
The top piece is actually completely gone.

A white bronze marker, unusual for this area.
It also included GAR markings on another side. 

The view from the cemetery. Note the white building to right of center at the back of the property.
This was likely once a tool shed, but also has an outhouse built into the corner.
In the distant background, to the far right, is one of the casino's of modern day Central City/Black Hawk. 

The tool shed, with the Masonic square and compass at the top.
It is unlocked, but houses nothing more than a few random boards and graffiti. 

More Gifts! Cemetery Santa, Part Two

Last week, I wrote about my “Cemetery Santa.” I knew that I would have the opportunity to work with him further, but I had no idea just what he had in his bag of gifts!

I discovered him, and his assistant, working one the headstone of Jennie Carter. They were already into the process, but I was able to watch, learn and ask questions of them both as they went about their work.

Jennie’s marker had started to lean, and was sitting about 11 degrees off, towards the grave. Simply put, the earth and gravity work together to apply force to the stone, which then of course, makes it move. The task of the day was to give the marker enough of its own stability so that it could sit upright once again – plumb. (This is where that handy Bubble Level app I mentioned last time comes in. Download it now. Really.)

Some of the photos I took during the next three hours tell the story better than I could, so I will share a few of them here. When I joined the party, they had already dug out the earth from in front of the marker enough to accomplish the task. They were inserting pieces of stone underneath the marker (very carefully, I might add) so that it was level in all directions. As they worked through that process, they measured and calculated, and determined that this marker and base combined were probably around 800 pounds. They quizzed me and at some point must have made the determination that I was worthy of more education, so eventually, I was asked to come back.



Above: This is where I walked into the process. They are lifting the approximately 800 pound stone marker and base with a central fulcrum point, just a little at a time. As Cemetery Santa (he looks like Santa, doesn't he?) lifts, his assistant cleans out underneath the grave any loose debris and inserts carefully shaped pieces of stone, to build a platform for the marker to sit on top of.



Above: After the inserted the correct amount of stones to bring the marker back to plumb, they filled in some of the dirt and loose sand. Once the sand had been poured in, they added water, so that it would filter down underneath the marker and around the new platform. It works its way into the small gaps and other places, providing an even more stable base. After this picture, they also used a soft brush to clean the front of the base – the part that had worked its way underground during the last 100 years or so. This area would now be visible, so they made sure it was as clean as the rest of the area. Note the difference in the pictures below.




Above: They had carefully removed the sod from around the front of the stone before I arrived, and had done so in a particular order, placing everything on the tarp. Once the loose dirt was back in, they moved the tarp close and put those sod blocks back, in the same order. The objective was to leave as little disturbance as possible, it was very clear they wanted it to look like they had never even been there when they were done.



After putting all the dirt and sod back in, this is what the disturbed area looked like.



Above: A bit more work to get it just right. We stripped old branches of dead pine needles to add the duff back to the grave site.



Above: The project is complete! The headstone is standing erect, and you can hardly tell any work was done at all. It’s been a couple of days since this work has happened, so I’m sure it looks even more natural now. I think Jennie would be very happy with it.


I am excited to say that I will be joining them once again this coming week, and will be much more actively involved in what Cemetery Santa called, “easy re-setting.” I’m very much looking forward to getting a hands-on lesson in preserving the cemetery I care so much about. The opportunity really has been incredible.
I hope you are enjoying my journey as well! Please comment or ask questions here on the blog, I can perhaps get an answer!

The Cemetery Santa

The meeting had been planned for some time. I had weeks to prepare a list, the task deceptively simple: compile a list of the headstones in Valley Brook Cemetery most in need of attention, repair, conservation or other work.

Sure. I can do that. 

I walked the grounds, reviewed previous notes, flipped through the hundreds of photos I have taken there. I even started to plot the damaged stones on a map. I spent several hours, really, as I wanted to be sure that I was really getting to the most important memorials. My list at the beginning of this walk about at the cemetery started with about twenty names. It ended with so many more.

I was so completely unprepared. 

When I got home, I put this simple statement on my Facebook page:

"Every - and I mean EVERY - genealogist should walk a cemetery with a professional headstone preservationist. I had the pleasure of doing just that this morning, and I learned SO MUCH. Fantastic opportunity, and I am looking forward to working with them more in the next couple of weeks."

And I meant it. His name is David Via, and he is a preservation professional. He travels the country, logging around 20,000 miles a year, traveling from cemetery to cemetery. He is, as he himself stated it, engrossed in the cemetery preservation community. You can see one of the many stories of his work here, on progress-index.com, from August, 2012.  (I've posted this article, as he does not have a website of his own.)

He's been working on Valley Brook Cemetery off and on for the past ten years, starting after a large storm did severe damage in 1997. He has an outstanding memory, considering the number of memorials he touches each year. Remember Bertha's story from earlier this summer? When her headstone disappeared? He knew exactly who she was and where her site was on the grounds, and that was before we even walked away from our vehicles.

As we walked the grounds, he was able to provide commentary on what makes our cemetery unique, the types of stone used to create the markers, and more. We actually came to realize - there were five of us altogether - that our entire cemetery has shifted to the east. When you look at where the markers are from the original plotting process and where the roads are now... they are all off of the original design. We had one of each of us stand at the markers of a corner, and one in the center, and you could physically see the way the landscape had changed.

He was as excited as I was about my newest discovery here, these wooden posts that are inscribed with the various sections of the cemetery. The one pictured clearly states I.O.O.F. and I.O.R.M. on two sides, marking two of our fraternal sections (International Order of Odd Fellows and Improved Order of Red Men). Anything fraternal usually gets me excited, so to have someone else share that with me was a great moment. These markers were not necessarily unknown, but are not included in the vast majority of documentation available on the cemetery, so for many in our local community, this is new information. It was an incredible moment for me to realize that Mr. Via not only shared my passion for the historical significance of these posts, but also for the cemetery itself.

One of the seven section markers I have
been able to locate in the cemetery.
©Ancestral Journeys, 2013.

The post, labelled "I.O.O.F." on one side
and "I.O.R.M." on the other, indicating
the sections for fraternal societies.
©Ancestral Journeys, 2013

Have you heard of the pinky finger test? 

I learned so much from David Via, including the pinky test.  He showed me, quite literally, how an unstable monument can be tilted over with just the force of his pinky finger. The things he taught me to look for in terms of identifying a potentially unstable headstone were truly priceless. He described how to spot those that have had work done to them, and those that need work immediately. The lesson even included a new app on my phone, "Bubble Level." This is a digital version of the classic level, which will tell you what angle the headstone is sitting at. Anything more than 10 degrees, and the headstone needs attention.

The three hours we walked the twenty acres provided, as he put it, a "truckload of information." 

I did my best to soak it up. 

Interior of the sexton house shed walls.
©Ancestral Journeys, 2013.

He gave me suggestions on "properly" photographing a headstone for preservation purposes; because maybe the marker is ok for now, maybe it will last for several more years... but if it has to be rebuilt in ten years, will they still be able to tell what the exact dimensions were?  We had conversations on cemetery folk art and why its important. We discussed the "graffiti" on the interior walls of the sexton house shed. We talked about why Masons follow the customs they do, and how to get our local chapter engaged in the cemetery preservation effort we have put forth (he's a Mason himself). 

I can tell you, membership in the Association of Graveyard Studies has risen to the highest priority on my list. Absolutely. 

My day with David Via, preservation professional, is one I'll be thinking about for some time. I'm looking forward to working with him further, as we'll both be in and out of the cemetery in the coming days. I told my daughter he looked a bit like Santa Claus - and he does - with a long white beard, white hair and the right stature to play the part. I would have to say, he has become my "cemetery Santa." 

R.I.P. Bertha: I Got This

Yesterday I had the unique opportunity to appear on CBS4 News out of Denver to tell the story of Bertha's missing grave marker. 

You may remember I first posted about the situation earlier this month. As the local community and historical organizations have been working with police and the Town officials on this situation, I have  been doing what I can to get the word out on social media. Thankfully, CBS4 picked up the story, and decided to conduct an interview with me at Valley Brook Cemetery.

If you missed the newscast, here's the link.

Although I am hopeful that the marker will magically reappear at the cemetery, I am also too much of a realist to think we will ever see it again. It is a loss to our historical community and a travesty against humanity. Having said all of that, here is what I am hoping will happen now.

Someone will come forward who has the skills and ability to donate their time and energy and will make Bertha a replica marker. An exact match to the one she had. The one placed by her friends in the community. The one that I have been watching over for three years. The one that I was so overjoyed to find in the first place, because it was still legible.

If there is a kind soul out there, please feel free to contact me via this blog.

Let's make sure that Bertha's story can always be told, shall we?

This will continue. I am currently researching Bertha, her family, and descendants. I hope to be able to track living relatives and not only notify them of the situation, but be able to tell them that we are correcting it.

R.I.P. Bertha. I got this.