Tales from the graveyard (updated)

The site findagrave.com is a database of graves throughout the United States and in many other parts of the world. It relies on crowdsourcing, that is, anyone who wants can contribute to the database. One result, unfortunately, is that the entries are of uneven quality and they often contain mistakes. However, when the entries are done carefully, they can contain a great deal of information to those who are trying to trace genealogies. (It is no accident that ancestry.com purchased findagrave.)

Looking through the many thousands of graves that have been recorded from Weston Cemetery for findagrave, one can find interesting bits of Rensselear history. For example, do you know the contribution that Abraham Leopold made to building Rensselaer?

Another pioneer business man in Rensselaer was Fritz William Bedford who had a general store and also a brick and tile manufacturing business. He died in 1915. A bit later in 1934 Benjamin Fendig, part of an important family of retailers died.  James Chapman, one of the organizers of the State Bank of Rensselaer, died in 1935. Just a year later was John Eger, an early grocer passed away.

Weston Cemetery also has graves of people who were prominent elsewhere but are for some reason buried here. For example, Samuel Foster, prominent in Madison Indiana, died here visiting his daughter and is buried in Rensselaer, not in Madison.

There are also stories of personal tragedy in the clippings attached to some of the graves. (Very few of the graves have anything attached to them. Less than one third have a picture of the grave marker.) There were car wrecks and airplane crashes, fires and electrical accidents.

The story of a woman who died undergoing a Caesarean is very sad, but I think a suicide is even sadder.

(For maps of Weston Cemetery and lists of people buried there, go here and click on the links at the bottom of the page.)

Update: The trees were in the Halloween mood today, putting on their ghost costumes.

Health fair

On Thursday the Jasper County Hospital and Saint Joseph's College had a health fair at Halleck Center. Going in people could not miss the Marine Corp exhibit, which may not have been part of the health fair. The three marines were challenging the college men to see how many pull-ups they could do and the college women to see how long they could keep their chin above the bar.

 Inside the ballroom there were many exhibits, most giving out information (and freebies). There were also stations to have your blood pressure read, your blood tested for sugar, cholesterol, and oxygen, and your BMI bone density measured,

 On the way home from SJC I passed through Potawatomie Park to see how preparations were going for the volunteer day on Friday to plant a swale with rain garden plants. If you wondering what will be planted, you can check out the work from 10:00 till 1:00. My guess is that the plants will be similar to those planted in the rain garden at the water treatment plant (see here and here).

Cars and candy at the city council meeting

The City Council meeting on Monday night had no big surprises. Cars and candy were the main topics.

The Park Department wanted authorization to look for a replacement for a 1994 pick-up that is starting to have issues. The Electric Department gave an update on its search for a replacement for an old SUV that no longer is reliable, and at this point two citizens, one a car dealer, objected to the way the search was proceeding. The council had previously authorized bids for a new vehicle, but the two members of the audience argued that an lightly used vehicle would be as good and would save money. Further, they argued, the city should try to buy locally, supporting local businesses. The council responded by amending its motion of the past meeting to allow for used vehicles with 15,000 miles or less.

Planning has been going well for the upcoming Trunk or Treat event that will be held Friday evening at the Fairgrounds. About $7000 has been donated to the Truck or Treat or the Haunted House (14 rooms!) that the Fire Department is sponsoring. Lots of people are involved, and among other things, McDonalds will have a bouncy house there.

There will be Veteran's Day ceremonies on Nov 11 at 11:00 at Weston Cemetery. The Council approved some spending of public relations funds for a breakfast to honor RCHS athletic teams that have won their sectionals (so far boys soccer and girls cross county). The fire department's aerial truck seems to be working again. Soil borings will be made Monday for the new fire house. LED street light have been installed on Owens and Mattheson Streets.

Play

Today may have been the last great day of autumn, with temperatures in the mid 70s. What a great day for the local schools to have fall break I saw some kids enjoying the day in a very unusual way--they had a bounce house in their front yard.

High school soccer may be finished but some soccer league was still playing in Brookside Park on Sunday. The park was busy over the weekend.

 The farmers also appreciate the nice weather, but not for play. They work. The elevator was busy even late on Sunday with grain trucks delivering corn. Around Rensselaer it appears that more than half of the fields have been harvested.

Back to play, but of a different sort. The Columbia Players at SJC put on their production of Arsenic and Old Lace late last week. The play is a comedy about serial killers, some well-meaning and some not.

The leaves have been raining down all day and a lot of trees are now bare. This may have been our last great day of autumn, but we should have a few more good ones in the weeks ahead.

Downtown windows

The Beaver Law offices were getting new windows on Wednesday. I stopped by and asked what the final color would be and was told it would be like it had been.

This morning you could see the old colors reemerging.

 The new windows are among the few downtown on Washington Street that are not covered with messages of encouragement for the football team. I thought it was interesting that many of the messages meshed with the business of the stores.  Do you like your coffee strong and bold? 

 The sign in the left windows reads "Tic Tock No Stop on Our Way to The Top." Naturally, the store is Steffen's Jewelry.

Lyon's Crop Insurance has "Harvest a Win" and Claim A Victory." I did not see any "We are Banking on a Victory" messages at Lafayette National Bank, but that would have fit.

The one message I did not think fit the store at all was "Hustle, Hit, never Quit" on the windows of what was Bub's BBQ. 

I suspect the downtown windows will remain painted for a while.