Flabbergasted

"I've never seen anything like it in my life!" - Albert Blossom

If you need another clue to place that reference, well, recall a two headed llama.

What? You don't know what a Pushmi-pullyu is?

Yesterday presented me with the cemetery equivalent of the Pushmi-pullyu. And I've never seen anything like it in my life.

But more on that later.

The whole day started with a sojourn out to Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta for one primary quest and one secondary.

The first quest was to allow Mrs. Br'er to find an illicit cenotaph she had read about on Facebook. It seems that the family erected a cenotaph without the knowledge or permission of the cemetery. The cemetery cannot legally remove it, the family refuses to move it, and the monument company that was hired to place it will not remove it without the permission or direction of the family. So it is a three way standoff.

Personally I don't see the big deal. It is a stone placed by the family in the family plot. It is their space to do with as they choose.

Still, it is a funny story. When you add in that the man was a former slave as is considered a Confederate Veteran, well that just makes it all the better.

If you are so inclined you can read more from the two Find A Grave entries for the man at Oakland and Marietta.

The secondary quest was to see the rather large and relatively newly placed sarcophagus for country music star Kenny Rogers. If you click through the link to his Find A Grave memorial there are several photos. The design is clearly symbolic. And we were taken aback a little when we realized that only his name appears along with reference to the gospel song, "Will the circle be unbroken?" There is no reference to birth and death dates, family, nothing. Just the name and quote. Odd. Perhaps there is a bronze plaque on order. Perhaps not.

In planning that little outing, I checked the surrounding area to see if there were any interesting cemeteries we haven't yet visited. I located a smaller one (fewer than 1,000 burials, if that counts as "small"). Mrs. Br'er jokingly asks if there are any relatives in it. When you have several generations of family in an area it is almost a certainty that you will find them in various cemeteries. So checking for family surnames is a virtual habit.

Yup. Found one of the main surnames. Checked the family tree and wouldn't you know it? 1st cousin thrice removed and his wife. This gives us a specific goal when we get there beyond just traipsing around.

What we found, well, that was the shock. Not that it is an abandoned cemetery. No, that is expected. Even though this is a city area and one would hope it would be maintained by someone - a civic association if not the city or county itself - it is clearly not been maintained in some time. Though there has obviously been some recent work done in terms of grass cutting.

No it was the camper that threw me.

Seriously. A full size trailer camper. The kind you tow behind a truck or SUV. With a rather large portable generator providing electricity. And it has clearly been there for at least several days as there is a used campsite fire spot nearby.

And lest you think this was as abandoned, too, there were some three people living in it. We saw them as we pulled into the cemetery. A couple were in a back section and one was near the camper. 

Naturally we attracted their attention and one of the women (it was two women and one man) engaged with Mrs. Br'er (yes, I deliberately used her as a decoy while I sought to accomplish our mission to locate the distant relative ASAFP so we could get out of there) while I stayed focused on finding the graves.

I don't think anyone noticed, but I kept head on a swivel and my hand in my pocket at all times. Yes, I had a certain protection on me ready to deploy immediately if needed.

Good habits came to bear along with more than a little luck. There was already a photo of the headstone on-line so I knew what I was looking for. I have a better than average knack at pattern and shape recognition. So it is not uncommon for me to be able to spot a particular sought after marker at a distance just based on shape.

Such was my luck this time. I spotted the headstone less than a minute from exiting the car and mere seconds after the woman approached us. So I headed off to it while Mrs. Br'er chatted. A quick check to confirm the details are correct, everything is logged, and I am done. Well, almost. There is a small headstone immediately adjacent to these graves. I check and it is a child with the same last surname. Obviously a child. But the child's memorial in Find A Grave has no photograph or GPS, nor is it linked to anyone. I upload a quick photo, GPS tag it, and mark it for follow-up and head back to Mrs. Br'er and the car. All in all less than 90 seconds from spotting the headstone to being back at my starting spot.

Now ordinarily I am a chatty person in a cemetery. But all my alarms are going off so I do not want to be trapped into a conversation at the time. So I usher Mrs. Br'er into the car and we head back to the warren. On the way she shares with me that the woman told her they are there cleaning and documenting the cemetery. 

Yeah, maybe. Maybe not. I have never seen anyone doing any cleaning and research who sets up a literal camp in the cemetery before. And I am not wholly convinced that I have now. Yes, there has be some work done. But that could be a cover to try and keep from being run off. And I have encountered too many people who push for "donations" to "help with the upkeep". Mrs. Br'er tells me that the woman admitted to having done only some 6 or 7 Find A Grave updates. 

The whole thing is simply too sketchy for my comfort. So sketchy that I was not even comfortable enough getting a quick photo of the whole setup. Not even surreptitiously. My Bunny Brain was telling me to get the hell out of Dodge. So that is what we did.

So I am left with the mental image that "Cemetery Squatters" is a real thing. I have come across 'urban outdoorsmen' camping near or next to cemeteries and graveyards before. Just never IN the cemetery. I may have to return in a few days to see 1) If they are still there, and 2) If they have really done any additional cleaning. Maybe I will take a photo from a distance if I do go back, just as proof of the whole setup.

Back in the warren I set about looking into the child and my cousin's line. The only thing I could find on the child is the Find A Grave memorial. Not really surprising considering she lived no more than one day. If that long. Birth and Death are the same day. But considering she is buried next to the only two people with the same surname in the whole cemetery. I was comfortable and confident enough to link her to them as her parents. And to put her in the family tree as such. 

But all that led me further down the rabbit hole (pun intended) on this branch of the family and some interesting revelations.

See, the cousin we started out to locate was named for his father making them Sr. and Jr. Only there is some contention in the documentation on whether the father was Wallie or Walter who was called Wallie. Most of the files list Wallie. Most, but not all. Especially not the early census records.

Whatever the name actually started out as it settled on Willie. So we have Wallie, Sr. and Wallie, Jr. Then Wallie, Jr. has a son and names him Wallie III. (Yes, I am leaving out the details so you will not be able to locate any of the graves or the cemetery squatters). Care to take a guess what Willie III chooses to name his son? 

Yup. Wallie IV. Makes for the first person with a IV suffix I have in the tree. I think. That is not something easily searched for. It is the first I can remember at the moment. If I am wrong, sue me.

A side note: In the research I learned that Wallie, Jr. served overseas in the military in the 1950s. I have a record of the whole family - including Wallie III and siblings - sailing to Frankfurt. That had to be an adventure for the kids! This record also confirmed that Wallie, Jr. married late in life, and who the mother of the children was. There was some question as the records are sparse, and until the 1950 - yes, 1950 - Census is released in about 11 or 12 years this travel record is the only document I have linking them all.

Cases like this used to make me wonder if I would someday bump into someone and, after hearing their name, realize that we are distant relations. I say "used to" because it has kinda-sorta happened already. One of the nieces on the wife's side has a friend of many years. One day the two of them asked if I had a certain person in the tree. I did. Come to find out it was one of the friend's direct ancestors who was in turn a direct descendant of one of my ancestors making us distant cousins.

You never know where all this research will take you. Just look at the niece's friend. One day the world is wonderful. The next she learns she is blood kin to me. Talk about a nasty shock!