Ear Muffs, Hoodies and Head Bands

The two of us had quite a time finding the Moore graves in the Big Springs Cemetery.  It's true that the wind was blowing and it was cold.  Wind in Nebraska in May is typical, but not the cold.  I had been in the cemetery a few years ago, and knew "exactly" where the Moore graves were located.  They were along the fence.  Find the fence and you'll find the tombstones.  Walk the fence and you'll find the tombstones.  

You Go Girl #2, Cheri, looked at me and said, "Right!  Look how long that fence is!"  So we walked the fence.  Girl #2 was wearing her hoodie and head band.  I kept telling her to tighten the hood.  She kept hollering that she should have brought her ear muffs.  Ear muffs in May?  And she wears furry, brown ear muffs!  As we would walk a few yards she would grumble that she'd have an ear ache because she didn't wear her ear muffs.  Thank goodness they were at home.

Eventually we decided to look at the map of the cemetery at the caretaker's building.  That's usually a good idea, particularly when there is a long fence.  Sure enough, we located the Moores and counted off the rows so we could locate their graves.  Walk, count, grumble about the ear muffs ... no graves for the Moores.  Back to the map, count it off again.  

Finally we located the caretaker who informed us that in order to use the map you have to turn sideways and stand on your head.  Going the opposite direction, we located their graves.  They were about three rows west of the fence.  That's how my memory works!  

The two of us are going to Salt Lake City in a month.  I suspect somewhere in all of her luggage she will have those furry, brown ear muffs ... just in case ... rain, wind, cold.  Might as well go prepared!  

Girl #1 .... Ruby 

LOOKING FOR ADALINE

On a recent trip to eastern Nebraska, the YGGGirls made a visit to the quaint old cemetery at Blue Springs, Gage Co., Nebraska. It was a nasty and cold day with high winds but we were determined to find the final resting place of our Great Grandfather as well as some of our Great, Great Grandparents.

We arrived at the beautiful old iron gates of the cemetery which is located about a mile north of the little community of Blue Springs, Nebraska. This cemetery was started in the year 1860 and is the oldest recorded cemetery in the state of Nebraska. There is a great old central building in the middle of the cemetery with an old water pump next to it which made it a very picturesque scene. We could hardly even stand up due to the wind but started out to locate our ancestors. We first found Great Great Grandmother, Mary Eberhart on the west side of the cemetery. By then we were about to freeze out, having only brought sweaters on an extremely cold day, but we pushed onward while trying to not blow over in the wind!

Finally, we discovered the rest of the family who seemed to be all together. Father, Joel Moore and his son Thomas Moore were close together. It seemed natural that Adaline Moore who was the wife of Joel should also be close as we knew she was buried in the same cemetery. No stone for her, that was odd--but as we pondered her whereabouts, we noticed that an area of grass that was next to Joel's stone seemed to appear slightly sunken. Down on hands and knees, we began to probe the area with our hands. Sure enough , it seemed as though Adaline's marker was indeed there. We pulled grass and moved as much dirt as we could by hand in order to bring her marker to light. Both of these people had only the original metal plate markers which had been set in cement many years before. Adaline's had sunken below ground level and become completely overgrown over time.Her first name had been spelled incorrectly on the old metal plate. We cleaned the area out as best we could, knowing that she would surely be covered up again when the first rain came through and washed dirt over the stone. We hoped that at least for a few short weeks that she might "stay in the light of
day".

It was a great day to be able to find our Great Great Grandparents and other family in that beautiful little cemetery. I will visit there again someday but wonder who will look for our "Adaline" in the distant future and again re-discover her final place? We put out flowers, the first to be there to honor our relatives in many, many years and then hurried back to our little red car to turn on the heater and recover from our freezing outing. It was a great discovery for us and soon we were off to yet another cemetery for more research!