Cemetery Serendipity

I find it amazing how often one can be gifted by the spirits of cemeteries.

I don’t mean to sound mysterious, but many times I have driven into a strange cemetery and found, to my amazement that when I look up, there is the stone I am looking for. Or even a family member I didn’t even know was buried there.

When my co-worker and I attended a genealogy conference in Monroe MI several years ago, we left early with plenty of time to kill. We took the scenic route, as boss lady doesn’t like to take good roads or expressways if there is a back way to go. We got to Napoleon in south east Michigan, when we both thrilled to the sight of their cemetery with the dry stacked stone fence all around it. We had to stop. (Sadly, this was apparently just before I got my digital camera as I have none of the great pictures in my computer.)

We got pictures of some great gravestones, and there was a huge Civil War veterans memorial and we were just having a great time. When we went around the newer sections, I saw a stone with the name Cross on it. I laughingly said, maybe that’s my long lost uncle or something, knowing full well I had no one in that area.

Imagine my surprise when I mentioned it to my father later. He replied that my Great Aunt Flossie Allen had married a Cross who was a teacher in that area. I later found her obituary and by golly! She was buried in Napoleon.

It happened in Copemish when I drove in and found “Stiver” staring across from the passenger window.

It happened again just down the road when I saw Hubby’s family in a stone that read “Walsworth” just as I was exiting the cemetery

So given all of that serendipity, why can I never just walk up to my great- and great-great-grandparents graves in Chase? I've been there lots of times, but I have to seach each time I go.

Do they just like hiding?