(Don't worry, Beth - there are no zombies in this story.)
It all started with a name: Thaddeus Constantine Hix. Uncle Gordon let Mom know that an ancestor of ours was buried somewhere near Auburn and sent her a document with all of the information he had on him...which was not much:
Born: Jan. 14 1818.
Lived in White Oak Township, El Dorado.
Died: Jan 19 1868, and was buried at New York Ravine, next to his daughter.
Mom sent us this information and suggested we go find where he was buried.
But White Oak Township doesn't exist anymore, and there is no record of where it was. And New York Ravine? The nearest geographical location currently named that is a 2-hour drive to the north of El Dorado County and is in the middle of nowhere. So we did some research, found a list of historic graveyards around El Dorado County, and decided to do a little hunting when Sarah came up to visit for her birthday weekend.
We hit four graveyards- one in Pilot Hill, a town of 415; one called Uniontown, which was behind a barn at the end of a narrow lane; Pioneer Graveyard (which seemed promising); and Mormon Island Cemetery, which had been relocated so as to not be at the bottom of Folsom Lake. Even though we hit the most promising spots, we had no luck locating Thaddeus...we're guessing his grave is one of the hundreds marked with a weather-beaten rock or simply labeled "Unknown".
Although we didn't find Thaddeus, we sure did find a lot of other treasures. We saw beautiful green countryside and dilapidated old barns and we pulled over at historic points of interest. At the end of windy back roads, we were rewarded with tiny overgrown cemeteries. We ate lunch at an old saloon-turned-cafe. We stopped in Sutter's Mill and saw the cabin where James S Brown lived. We watched a blacksmith at work and listened to an old lady playing violin. All in all, we had an adventure.
And maybe we'll find him next time - there are still lots of remote graveyards to explore...like this one.
Thaddeus Constantine Hix! They really knew how to name people back then.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Gordon looks certifiably loony in that picture. I always suspected he had it in him.
i think it is nice (and strange) that someone would go to the effort to etch a very nice "unknown" on a stone for a grave. was that done right away? "hey, anyone know who this poor guy is? anyone?", or was it later, when the wood marker was worn down and someone came thru and put unknown markers around as an annual service. humph. wierd.
ReplyDeleteoh and i'll pay someone cash money to name a kid Thaddeus. it's a family name, after all.
ReplyDelete