As you can see by the two previous days pictures I am getting into family history a bit. So today, I decided to take a couple days off and headed for Elkland, Mo. It was there that my grandfather Jesse's grandfather lived and was buried. I think that would make him my Great-Great Grandfather Solomon Tabor Reaves and his wife was Margaret "Peggy" Hughes Reaves. This is his tombstone and he was the Civil War Veteran from the picture on my blog a few days ago.
I 
stopped at the local post office and inquired about the old cemetery that my uncle told me about that use to be accessable by a road close to the old school. However, that old road had been closed so I had to find the back way into the cemetery. I spent quite a bit of time driving up and down back roads. Finally, I took a chance on an old lane that looked like it was going through someone's field. If I had been p
aying better attention, I would have seen the sign that said "cemetery lane".
stopped at the local post office and inquired about the old cemetery that my uncle told me about that use to be accessable by a road close to the old school. However, that old road had been closed so I had to find the back way into the cemetery. I spent quite a bit of time driving up and down back roads. Finally, I took a chance on an old lane that looked like it was going through someone's field. If I had been p
aying better attention, I would have seen the sign that said "cemetery lane". 
Sure enough, I came upon an old cemetery called "Old Pleasant View Cemetery" and there I found several old tombstones that belonged to the old Reaves family pioneers. A pioneer is anyone born before 1930 as far as I am concerned. Life was tough back then and that should make anyone that lived during those times a pioneer.
I have been on Ancestry.com and have dates and names of relatives from long ago, but now I need to find people still alive that can tell me stories. So that is my next mission. I have an aunt and uncle in their 80's that are still alive and still have excellent mental capacities so I plan on visiting them with my trusty old tape recorder in tow as my memory is not too good.
After walking across the field and snapping some pictures of tombstones (of which most were so old as to make them unreadable), I hunted down the family that are caretakers of the old cemetery and they had a paper that had some old records and names of who had been buried there. I had a wonderful time visiting with them and now we can begin to exchange information. They and their family have lived there for many years so they can help me track down where my relatives lived as the stories are told .
This stone for Annie and A.M. Reaves was in the newer Pleasant View cemetery and I have to do some more research to find out who they were.
And through the Ancestry.com program, I have met online some of my cousins who live in Oregon and have already done much research on our family lines. I am having a great time emailing them and swapping info. It really is a small world after all!!
So as you go about your way in life, don't forget to take time out to research your past so you will not only know the road you're traveling on today, but you will know where you came from in the past!
No comments:
Post a Comment