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Boozhoo niji,
I have had something happen in the last couple of days that is really interesting, and I just wanted to get some input on it. It is certainly important in my life, but its not a Native issue, because of my mixed heritage.
The other day I get a phone call from my Uncle, my dads brother, about a gravestone that was found. This woman not far from us, about 13 or so miles was digging up a flower bed and unearth a headstone with the name James P. Whidden on it. (my last name is Whidden) Somehow she got ahold of my dad, either through the phonebook or whatever, told him about it. He called my Uncle, who looked up some stuff on the internet. He emailed me a website with a possible location for the grave of James P. Whidden, who is, btw one of my direct ancestors, about 4-5 generations back I think. The website also stated the headstone disappeared around 1972, but the grave was marked with a footstone. The cemetary is called... Whidden cemetary.
We met a cop a few miles down the road (there was some kind of forensic investigation done, to prove indeed there was no body buried in the ladies backyard, and that there was indeed a grave at the cemetary in question. He led us there and we walked to the grave, and indeed, you could see mortar on the headstone that was broken, and mortar on the basestone that matched that break. How cool is that?
Now I was taught a very long time ago that you do not go around disturbing graves, headstones or remains of any kind, period. But this was kinda different. He was my ancestor, and also we were returning something that was already disturbed. I took half a day off work and we got some supplies, went back to the cemetary and did some repair work. I had to drill out a hole in the basestone that had a piece of rebar going into it. I used to concrete epoxy to glue the headstone to the basestone and then I used some waterseal to help protect the headstone, and big surprise, it was made of marble, not granite.
The epoxy was awfully expensive, and once you open it and start squeezing it out, the rest will harden and go to waste. The previous day I noticed that there were other headstones that were broken or tipped over. So I decided to make good use of what was left of the epoxy and fix a couple of them that were actually broken into two. Both of them were infant graves which was kinda sad. One had a piece missing that was nowhere to be found, probably tossed by some punk kid.
There were probably less than 60 graves here, with space for maybe that many more. There was an old cedar tree in the middle that was gnarled and twisted with age but still alive. The grass was overgrown and dry, and cactus and flowers were growing everywhere. The boundary of the cemetary is marked only by four posts at the corners. There are not only Whiddens buried there either. I do not know if the others are related, maybe by marriage or whatever. The graves range from the early 1900's to present day, the last one only being about 10 months ago. Even during high noon there was a kind of spookiness about it. We were about half a mile away from a major highway, and you could not hardly hear a sound. The wind blew in many differnt directions as if the spirits there were not at rest.
Anyway tell me what you think. Should someone go in there and clean the place up? Or just leave it alone for time to forget?
Derek
I have had something happen in the last couple of days that is really interesting, and I just wanted to get some input on it. It is certainly important in my life, but its not a Native issue, because of my mixed heritage.
The other day I get a phone call from my Uncle, my dads brother, about a gravestone that was found. This woman not far from us, about 13 or so miles was digging up a flower bed and unearth a headstone with the name James P. Whidden on it. (my last name is Whidden) Somehow she got ahold of my dad, either through the phonebook or whatever, told him about it. He called my Uncle, who looked up some stuff on the internet. He emailed me a website with a possible location for the grave of James P. Whidden, who is, btw one of my direct ancestors, about 4-5 generations back I think. The website also stated the headstone disappeared around 1972, but the grave was marked with a footstone. The cemetary is called... Whidden cemetary.
We met a cop a few miles down the road (there was some kind of forensic investigation done, to prove indeed there was no body buried in the ladies backyard, and that there was indeed a grave at the cemetary in question. He led us there and we walked to the grave, and indeed, you could see mortar on the headstone that was broken, and mortar on the basestone that matched that break. How cool is that?
Now I was taught a very long time ago that you do not go around disturbing graves, headstones or remains of any kind, period. But this was kinda different. He was my ancestor, and also we were returning something that was already disturbed. I took half a day off work and we got some supplies, went back to the cemetary and did some repair work. I had to drill out a hole in the basestone that had a piece of rebar going into it. I used to concrete epoxy to glue the headstone to the basestone and then I used some waterseal to help protect the headstone, and big surprise, it was made of marble, not granite.
The epoxy was awfully expensive, and once you open it and start squeezing it out, the rest will harden and go to waste. The previous day I noticed that there were other headstones that were broken or tipped over. So I decided to make good use of what was left of the epoxy and fix a couple of them that were actually broken into two. Both of them were infant graves which was kinda sad. One had a piece missing that was nowhere to be found, probably tossed by some punk kid.
There were probably less than 60 graves here, with space for maybe that many more. There was an old cedar tree in the middle that was gnarled and twisted with age but still alive. The grass was overgrown and dry, and cactus and flowers were growing everywhere. The boundary of the cemetary is marked only by four posts at the corners. There are not only Whiddens buried there either. I do not know if the others are related, maybe by marriage or whatever. The graves range from the early 1900's to present day, the last one only being about 10 months ago. Even during high noon there was a kind of spookiness about it. We were about half a mile away from a major highway, and you could not hardly hear a sound. The wind blew in many differnt directions as if the spirits there were not at rest.
Anyway tell me what you think. Should someone go in there and clean the place up? Or just leave it alone for time to forget?
Derek
This is how I dance when your standing next to me...
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