I Have Internet!

What I love about cemeteries are the untold stories. The real people that history books have forgotten to mention. Once in a while I will go into a gift shop and there will be books on these almost forgotten people written by local authors. In the beginning I tried to research the cemeteries I wanted to go to. I would pick out names of famous people and tried to locate them. In a large cemetery it became impossible unless I had a map. In the process of locating famous people I missed out on so much. Now I just go and wander. Whatever catches my eye, my imagination or a new symbol I snap a picture.

When I return home, my research begins.

When I pull up my pictures I separate the pictures containing epithets. I usually type those up first and out of all of them my favorite has to be the one I found in Tombstone, not from the touristy cemetery but the little cemetery that sits outside of Tombstone.

"Here lies Old Nick, dead and in his grave
No more whisky will he crave
But on this tombstone can be wrote
Many a gallon gone down his throat."

Then comes the fun part of researching the name on the random photos of headstone. They were farmers, cowboys, poets, hell raisers, con artists, and so much more. Knowing that I can be a little compulsive I limit my time on my research. I start with the usual search pages and if I find a tidbit of information there, then I will start the heavy duty looking.

August 8th mom and I went to Evergreen Cemetery on Oracle Road. It was there that I learned the story of "Mamie." She was "born to the manor," so to speak. A true southern belle who lost everything in the civil war. Her story is one of overcoming bigotry, finding her soul mate, her travels, her accomplishments, and her losses. I discovered another remarkable woman, Josephine Hughes - a champion of education, religion, temperance, and women's right to vote. I found Cochise's close friend, Thomas Jeffords and the artist, Henry Buehman.

When I am gone, hopefully to ash, my children's inheritance will include the stories of my travels, the pictures I have taken, and the history I have wrote about. It will be their decision whether or not to toss it in the dumpster or to keep it. I will be dead so it will not matter to me. I have seen so much destruction (vandalism) in cemeteries, so perhaps I am preserving some history in my pictures and writing.

One person I am dragging my heels in locating is my grandfather, R. A. Richardson, who passed away in Tucson. He was a very cold, indifferent man. Not at all likeable . I admire him for reinventing himself but admiration is only one word in many that I have used in describing him and the person he was. I am going to find the location of his grave and take a picture of his headstone. Then I will slip it in with the little story I wrote about about him - which was written in a semi positive way. Somewhere between the time he was born and the time he left home at 13 he lost a valuable part of himself that made him "likeable." As the family historian I question the story of him leaving home at such an early age. My grandfather was an osteopath, optician, confidence man, magician, author, lecturer, businessman, the one great love of my grandmother...... just to name a few.

I am hoping the time we spend in Marana will allow me to get caught up on the family history and the pictures I haven't organized yet. The scariest question that one can hear from me is "Want to see my pictures?" With my children, the scariest statement is "Let me show you our family history." LOL

Stories and pictures of Evergreen have been posted, click here to view.