In a field of unknown graves, one more has been identified!!
April 18, 2005
Today was an incredible day. I got to be a small part of something that touched my heart in a way that makes all I do worthwhile.
I was contacted by Peggy to see if we could find out where her Great Grandmother, Cora Wells, was buried at the Marysville City Cemetery. I knew it would be a challenge, as there are no complete records or documentation for this cemetery. (I’m working on that now.) An obit said Cora was buried there, but she wasn’t listed on any current records I had. The cemetery is chock full of unmarked graves, and many times I haven’t had much success in finding an exact burial plot. I walk the Yuba County cemeteries, seeing many unmarked gravesites, wondering who is buried beneath. It’s sad for me to think that someone’s family lies buried here, but who?
I found the burial number for Cora in a book I’ve begun transcribing. Those numbers don’t always correspond to anything physical to identify with at the actual cemetery. Markers are missing, numbers don’t match, etc. I was lucky this time – the burial number in the book matched one written on a 1924 map of the cemetery. Colleen (my invaluable helper with the cemeteries) and I found what we strongly believe to be the location. I could hardly wait to email Peggy to tell her. With tears in my eyes, I hurried and sent her off a note. I also had to send out notes that day that I was unable to find burial plots for others……yet….. and was feeling extreme disappointment, but there was one I felt very sure was now identified.
Peggy, Colleen and I met at the cemetery today. I showed Peggy what I had found for documentation, and then we went and located the grave. Today Peggy was able to place a memorial to her Great Grandmother on the grave site and we “roughed out” a plot. A spot I have walked past numerous times without knowing who lay there, is now a very special place to me. Today one more person is remembered, in a literal sea of unmarked graves. Through Peggy’s incredible research, and my being lucky on this end, we were able to give honor to one more ancestor!
There is no way to describe how this has touched my heart. I don’t do what I do for the Yuba County site because I’m bored, need to “get a life”, or want recognition. I do it simply to help keep people’s memories alive, help those who may be searching for an ancestor to locate them, and to document the lives of those who helped make the history of Yuba County – each and every person. Then once in awhile, I get to have an experience like today – where I have a small part in something very special.
Before today, no one alive knew Cora Elizabeth Wells was buried in that spot. Cora, who died on July 19, 1923, aged 34 years 4 months and 18 days. The mother of 8 children, who died shortly after giving birth, due to acute nephritis (inflammation of the kidney). Only known in a book and on a map as plot #B430, Citizen’s Row. A wonderful, hard-working woman, who never could have known that almost 82 years later, her great-granddaughter Peggy would seek out this special spot, and not rest until she found it - - who brought with her a special memorial to place at this unmarked grave, and to honor this ancestor, whose blood she carries in her veins. Peggy plans to do more work on this gravesite, to honor the woman who should have had so many more years to spend with her precious children, and who is just as much a part of Peggy as Peggy is a part of her. I wouldn’t have missed witnessing this for the world!
This makes me even more determined to document this cemetery as fully as I humanly can, given the scattered and incomplete records available. I want more people to have the chance, as Peggy does, to give honor to their loved ones. I’m not always as lucky in finding the exact burial site for persons, but I certainly am committed to doing all I can to give that chance to others.
As an aside, Peggy and I are working together to also identify another great grandmother's unmarked grave at the Wheatland Cemetery - that until now was not in any records there.
Thank you Peggy, for giving me the honor of taking part in this very special day.
Kathy Sedler