Tombstones in the News

The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has recently featured a couple of interesting stories on local tombstone mysteries:

• Historical society fills gaps in story of veteran's death
• Civil War tombstone at center of mystery (with a follow-up:  Civil War mystery starts to unravel)

Baby Nelson

My husband often teases me when we drive by a cemetery, pointing out "It's a cemetery!  Should I stop?  Do you want to take a picture?"  I assure him that I do not, in fact, routinely tour random cemeteries.

But on this afternoon in August, he wasn't along, so shhhhh...  My mom and I were on our way to northwest Iowa when we passed this little cemetery, two miles south of Fairview, South Dakota.  We didn't have any relatives there, but something about it was pretty in a long-forgotten, wistful sort of way.

I would love to know who Baby Nelson was and who mourned his or her death in 1889. Someone couldn't afford to buy a gravestone but also couldn't bear to leave the grave unmarked. I love that little sign of devotion.

Baby Nelson, d. 1889
Fairview Cemetery - Lincoln County, South Dakota

Tombstone Tuesday: Stanley Wangsgaard

Stanley Wangsgaard is a distant relative of mine, and I've only seen his headstone via FindAGrave.com, but I have to say, the backside is a genealogist's DREAM!

(click to enlarge)

image credit:  Nathan Bingham

grave of 
Stanley Wangsgaard (1920 - 2006)
Huntsville Cemetery
Huntsville, Weber County, Utah

Tombstone Tuesday: Muriel Nordseth

grave of
Muriel Theolyn (Peterson) Nordseth (1930 - 1973)
Mount Hope Cemetery
Watertown, Codington County, South Dakota

Happy Birthday, Grandma Muriel.

Tombstone Tuesday: Marie & Ted Peterson

On Memorial Day, my parents, daughter, and I visited the graves of many of our relatives around Irene, South Dakota.  Our first stop was to the grave of my great-grandparents, Marie and Ted Peterson.

Great-Grandma Peterson was the only one of my biological great-grandparents that I knew.  She passed away when I was 13.  I miss her still.

Tombstone Tuesday: Gurine Nordtvedt Nordseth

grave of
Gurine Randine (Nordtvedt) Nordseth (1867 - 1945)
Canton Lutheran Cemetery
rural Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota
photo: May 2007

Gurine was my great-great-grandmother and the wife of Jens Peter Nordseth. She was also the great-granddaughter of my "black sheep" ancestor, Søren Johnsen Nordtvedt, though the family seems to have been well established as successful carpenters and ship builders by the time she was born in 1867.

Gurine was born in Trondheim, Norway, as the third child of Søren Gerhard and Elen Marie (Solberg) Nordtvedt. When my mother and I traveled to Norway in 2003, I even got to see the house where Gurine was probably born. Her childhood has always seemed sad to me--her mother died when she was around 5 months old, and all family stories indicate that her stepmother was not very fond of her stepchildren. When the family immigrated to the US, 13-year-old Gurine began working as a servant on a farm. She eventually became the teenage bride of a handsome older man and raised a family of 8 children.

She is one of the long-gone ancestors I can most easily imagine as a "real" person, perhaps because my grandfather remembers her. He lived with her for a while, so he could go to high school in town. Years ago I also met a distant cousin, who told me more of the Nordtvedts' story, along with bits and pieces, like the fact that Gurine had red hair.

I wish she had kept a diary. I would have liked to know Gurine.

Tombstone Tuesday: Jens Peter Nordseth

grave of
Jens Peter Nordseth (1849 - 1922)
Canton Lutheran Cemetery
rural Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota
photo: May 2007

Jens was my great-great-grandfather. He was born in Klæbu parish, near Trondheim, Sør-Trondelag, Norway, and emigrated to Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota. There he married a girl from Trondheim and raised a family of eight children. One was Eline Marie, featured in a previous Tombstone Tuesday.

Jens was one of my first genealogical focuses and will probably always be near and dear to me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Kvam Kirke

old tombstones, resting against the graveyard's stone fence
Kvam Kirke
Kvam, Nord-Fron, Norway
photo: 2003

Tombstone Tuesday: Artur Salveljew

grave of
Artur Salveljew
Friedhof am Poseckschen Garten (Historischer Friedhof)
Weimar, Germany
photo: May, 2002

It's an odd feeling, coming upon a monument to a soldier who fought against one's country and might well have fought against one's ancestors. It's a good reminder, though, that the soldiers on the other side are people, too... sons, fathers, brothers (and daughters, mothers, wives). I wonder what Artur's story is.

I liked this headstone, too, for its photograph.

Tombstone Tuesday: Familie Hoffmann

(click on the image to enlarge)

Hoffmann Family
Friedhof am Poseckschen Garten (Historischer Friedhof)
Weimar, Germany
photo: May, 2002

There are a number of unusual and beautiful headstones in Weimar's Historic Cemetery, and this is one of my favorites. I love how the stone incorporates each person's signature, a small reminder that this is a monument to people, not fictional characters.

Tombstone Tuesday: Eline Marie Nordseth

grave of
Eline Marie Nordseth (1892 - 1897)
Canton Lutheran Cemetery
rural Lincoln County, South Dakota

Marie was the 4th of 8 children born to my great-great-grandparents, Jens and Gurine Nordseth of Canton, South Dakota. She was only 4 years old when she passed away.

Tombstone Tuesday: Historischer Friedhof Weimar

my favorite cemetery picture
Friedhof am Poseckschen Garten (Historischer Friedhof)
Weimar, Germany
photo: May, 2002

I wonder whom she was visiting.

Tombstone Tuesday: Peter & Anne Scriver

graves of my great-great-grandparents
Colman Cemetery
Colman, Moody County, South Dakota

Peter C. Scriver
1844 - 1917

Anne J. Scriver
1846 - 1930

Tombstone Tuesday: J. J. Hlavac's Stone Goes Home

I don't have a picture of a tombstone today, but I thought this story is perfect for Tombstone Tuesday. Go check out how South Dakota Gravestones (www.southdakotagravestones.org) volunteer Brad Kellogg brought the tombstone of J. J. Hlavac home!

Mystery of Lost Gravestone is Solved
Yankton Press & Dakotan
Yankton, South Dakota
Monday, 14 September 2009

Tombstone Tuesday: Marit Polle Nordseth

grave of
Marit Ingebrigtsdatter Polle Nordseth (1848-1924)
Klæbu, Sør-Trondelag, Norway
photo: 2003

Marit is the wife of my second great-grand uncle. Her husband, Jakob Jensen Nordseth, was the brother of my great-great-grandfather, Jens Peter Nordseth.

Tombstone Tuesday: Alvilde Stenseth Skaugen

grave of
Alvilde Marie Stenseth Skaugen
Gamle Aker Kirke - Oslo, Norway
photo: 2003

(This photo--which isn't mine--has a view of the name.)