Oakwood Cemetery Trip, Part 1

I have known for a long while that my g-g-g-grandfather Aaron Walker (1788-1862) was buried in Oakwood Cemetery some three hours away in Metamora, Illinois.  But when I discovered his daughter-in-law Louisa (Dutton) Walker's stepfather Norman Dutton (1810-1889) had been reintered there from Kansas, I knew it was time to try and set up a road trip.

Norman John Dutton passed away and interred in Kansas, reinterred in Illinois with his wife.

Transportation and companionship was not a problem.  My oldest son is a bona fide "graveyard rabbit" and is always up for visiting a cemetery, especially an old one; The older the better.  He enjoys spending hours walking the cemeteries local to us reading gravemarkers, interpreting, and learning, and applying what he learns to local history.

I only wanted to make the trip once, so I wanted to do research ahead of time to make sure we got to visit all our ancestors.  I found allies in two FindaGrave.Com volunteers named Deb and Jane.  They made multiple trips to the cemetery on my behalf locating ahead of time what ancestors my research put there, looking for ancestors I suspected might be there, AND BEST OF ALL -- finding an ancestor who I never dreamed of finding on this trip!  But more about that later.  Jane put me in touch with the cemetery sexton Jerry, who could not have been more courteous and helpful, offering to meet me out there with his maps and book of names to show me around.

So the trip was set for yesterday and I am here to report we made it there and back.  A trip full of surprises, a scare, and the encountering of an angel.

Part 2 tomorrow.

Copyright © 2010 by Kevin W. Walker