Tombstone Tuesday: Howard Mendenhall 1924-2005

Today, I needed a break from my kiddos and husband so I decided to drive a half an hour north to Rocklin (California) and search for a gravestone of my 8th cousin, 4x removed.

I found his grave on Findagrave.com...buried in Rocklin Cemetery. This is the picture on the site.

So, I jumped in the car, grabbed a strawberry acai refresher from Starbucks, turned up the radio (Pandora- Michael Buble radio) and set off for Rocklin.

With Google Maps, the cemetery was easy-enough to find but it's a fairly large site and I had no plot number to search by. I stopped by the office (which was closed because of Covid (open for appts only) ). Luckily, a man was leaving the office and he was super kind enough to lookup Howard's plot number for me!

At the time, there were several workers maintaining the grounds. I also saw some squirrels and a ton of geese... and I mean a TON... goose poop everywhere!

And found the grave of my distant cousin! 

I was a little disheartened... the gravestone has not been kept up... it's really dirty and weathered. Certainly different than the picture on Findagrave.com, which I can imagine was when it was new. 

I wanted to upload a video of all the geese but blogger is being difficult so Im uploading a tiktok a made of it this morning-

Cemetery Walk

Tombstone Tuesday: Baby Monster (1888-1889)

 Today's Tombstone: 

This stone belongs to John C. Monster (1851-1890) & his infant child. I'm primarily focusing on the lower portion of the stone that is dedicated to the infant.

"Baby Monster"

born: 23 Oct 1888, King County, Washington

died: 03 Feb 1889, King County, Washington, age 3 months

buried in Saar Pioneer Cemetery in Kent, Washington. 

Parents: John C. Monster (1851-1890) & Anna Marie Nelson (1861-1920)

The infant also had 3 Siblings: 

1. Christina (1880-1903) 

2. Charles (b. 1884)

2. Katharyn (1886-1949)

There are two questions that come up when I see this gravestone: 1. Why wouldn't they have given a 3 month old a name? It was just "baby". 2. If your surname is Monster, why use "baby"? I feel like writing infant would be less creepy...maybe that's just me LOL  :) 

Tombstone Tuesday: Gerhard Jeckering (1829-1898)

Today's Tombstone: 

 This stone belongs to my 3rd Great-Grandfather- Gerhard Jeckering. It's very simple but still is interesting! He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio.

 Gerhard Jeckering 

 born: 02 Feb 1829 in Hanover, Germany 

 died: 16 Apr 1898 in Dayton, Ohio, age 69

You can read more about Gerhard by clicking Here.

Tombstone Tuesday- George S. Bangs 1823-1877

Today's Tombstone: 

How amazing is this?! 

This tombstone belongs to George S. Bangs and is located in Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago, Illinois. 

George S. Bangs:

b. 20 Feb 1823 in Akron, Ohio

d. 21 Nov 1877 in Washington, DC (age 54).

George was a United States postal Service official- served as General Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service. He developed the railroad mail car and the concept of "fast mail"- improving mail service from several weeks to days. 

His tombstone, which was paid for by postal works and others who thought highly of George, symbolizes his life's work.

Here are some more pictures, close-up:  

Tombstone Tuesday: Henry Joseph Lo Conti

Tombstone Tuesday #1

Henry Joseph Lo Conti

Henry Joseph Lo Conti "Hank"

born: 17 Jun 1929

died: 05 Jul 2014, age 85

Buried: Maple Shade Cemetery 

                  in Independence, Ohio

Family

Parents: Giovanni John "John" LoConti (1891-1975) &

                        Philomena "Fanny" Bronstein (1899-1994)

Siblings: Andrew Nick LoConti (1914-2003)

                   Nick Henry LoConti (1916-2017)

                   Joseph LoConti

Wife: Bonita F. "Bonnie" 

Children: Kathleen, Judy, Maureen, Rick, Pam, Lisa,

                    Douglas, Robert, Carla, Christopher, & 

                   Joseph.