A couple of months ago, I typed up a hand written account of how my mothers fathers family arrived to the Valley, and became more interested. Unlike most families I know, only three known relatives are buried in cemeteries; recently deceased relatives have had their ashes buried in my grandmother’s front yard. And, although that would be an interesting account to retell, I would rather write about my most recent cemetery account.
Yesterday, as I was getting ready to meet up with a friend and her sister for lunch and coffee, I had the brilliant idea to visit the local cemetery and find the one relative I had buried there in the ‘40s. Surprisingly, they agreed!
Although we could not find the grave, it was interesting and gloomy, reading all the tombstones; especially the children. To see that whole families, through the generations, laid to rest while markers for Unknown(s) were laid right next to them, unattended.
While walking through a section of the cemetery, it took me a couple of minutes to realize what area I was at. In the future, I would like to avoid the children’s section. Between years and months, their ages spanned. Some had no names, only living hours or days. What a hard life it must have been to live in the Valley at the beginning of the 20th century.
Among the graves, you could see when a tragedy occurred. One grave stated “Male Japanese Died” (see photo). Another reads “Burned Unknown Male, 1909.” Perhaps in addition to old newspapers and records, information from the past can also be found in the cemeteries.
For this week, I take the trophy for being an odd friend, who invites her friends to the cemetery on a bright summery day to find a long lost relative. But I can deal with that – I would do it again!
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