Gravestone 17 Amasa and Betsey Makepeace in Otterbien Cemetery, Chesterfield, IN.

Amasa and Betsey Makepeace's obelisk in Otterbein Cemetery, Chesterfield, IN. It is off to the left as you enter the cemetery, near a large tree.

 Close up of Amasa Makepeace's carving. He is my 5th great grandfather on the Forkner-Clifford line. Otterbein Cemetery.

Close up of Betsey Makepeace's carving. She is my 5th great grandmother on the Forkner-Clifford line. Otterbein Cemetery.  She was born Elizabeth Babbitt and called Betsey.

And we just take a moment to reflect on how surprisingly old they were when they died? Amasa was seventy while Betsey lived to the age of seventy-one!

Gravestone 16 Penniston or Croan Cemetery

Penniston or Croan Cemetery, Madison County IN: The farmer who owned this land in the early 20th century removed the stones and plowed the cemetery, destroying the graves of about thirty people. Now its a small fenced off area in front of a house with only this memorial to mark the burials.

Samuel Moore, listed as a known veteran buried there, is my ancestor. My research shows that his wife Eliza, along with her parents Isaac and Sarah Elizabeth are also buried here.

Gravestones 13 - 15 Nelson Cemetery in Madison County IN

I took this picture of Nelson Cemetery, with the side visible because there was one grave we were unable to find. My research shows that Elizabeth (nee Curtis) Hollingsworth, the first white woman in Madison County, is buried here but her grave is unmarked and forgotten. She is my 5th great grandmother on the Forkner-Hollingsworth line.

 

 Hannah (nee Cornelious) Forkner, Jesse's wife and my 5th great grandmother on the Forkner line. If you can see, the last name is spelled "Falkner" instead of the modern Forkner. Nelson Cemetery, Madison County, IN.

Finding this grave was kind of funny. My Aunt Sarah knew where Jesse's grave was but my research said Hannah was buried there was well. I remember turning from Jesse's grave and seeing "HANNAH" with "wife of Jesse Falkner" underneath. I looked at my aunt and said something along the lines of "I bet that's Jesse's wife's grave".

If my memory serves me right (my research is not at hand), Forkner was "Falconer" then "Faulkner" then "Falkner" and finally was changed to the modern "Forkner" spelling.

 Jesse Forkner, my 5th great grandfather on the Forkner side. Buried at Nelson Cemetery in Madison County, IN. Him and his wife are along the east side border.

 

I'm Still Here!

Sorry guys, I apparently have been REALLY lax in updating this blog. My apologies.

I do plan to post all my Cookman / Forkner cemetery photos, so watch for those.

My vacation this year will once again be genealogy related: My mother and I are going to New England for a week. We will be visiting Plymouth! So keep an eye out for grave pictures from there, as well as other photographs, because I'm sure that I'll take a ton :)

Gravestones 9 to 12 - Ridgewood Cemetery in Wellston Ohio

 

My great grandmother Calfernie (nee Braley) Fink. Also known as Granny or Grandma Fern. She's the original owner of my sewing machine and the reason it's named Fern.

 

Fern's parents: Cora (nee Gleason, daughter of Levi and California) and Ripley Braley, my great great grandparents on the Fink-Braley line. 

 

William and Minerva (nee Dupre) Fink, my great great grandparents. 

 

My great aunt Esther Jo, my grandpa Bill's older sister. Not a direct ancestor, but a favorite relative and probably the one that I got my obsession with genealogy from. 

All of these graves are in the Ridgewood Cemetery in Wellston Ohio. 

Gravestone #8 Levi and California Gleason

Levi and California (nee Bishop) Gleason. My third great grandparents on the Fink-Braley side. Salem Cemetery, not too far from Wellston. Their graves are near the little church that's in the cemetery. 

Levi, a veteran of the Civil War, also had his own gravestone. He served in the 194th Ohio Infantry.

Gravestone #7 Jordan Mascall Mannering and his wife Elizabeth

Jordan Mascall Mannering, my 6th great grandfather on the Fink-Ewing line. He was in the Revolutionary War. This is his new tombstone. Centerville/Thurman Cemetery in Gallia County, Ohio.

Jordan Mascall Mannering's original gravestone.

Jordan Mascall Mannering, both headstones. Jordan is the only Revolutionary War veteran buried in Gallia County.

Elizabeth (nee Clark) wife of Jordan Mannering. My sixth great grandmother on the Fink-Ewing line.